I've been a bad, bad girl

cue Chris Isaaks... and since this is photo post, click the images to see detail

You see, it's a disease. A disease, I tell you. It's not my fault. It's not because I am weak.

I am a lensaholic. That's right.

One lens isn't enough. Neither, apparently, is two or three. And I very much doubt that four will be either, You see, they all do different things. And, again, apparently, that matters.

So, for the record, the two new babies are the Nikkor 55-200mm VR zoom, and the Nikkor 85m f/1.8 prime lens.

The zoom is cheap as zoom's go. I haven't played with it a lot but it will be handy for those days when I want a relatively light lens that gives me a range of focal lengths. I have been having some trouble freezing the boys into nice sharp images. They won't stop moving! You may have noticed that from my many posted pictures of the boys. Almost all of them are all ever so slightly blurry; some more than ever so slightly :-). The jury is still out on whether this lens is the solution to sharp dog pics, but I think it may be a closer step. The downside is that it's absolute crap when the light fades but until then, it works fine.

This was taken all across the yard with me on my back porch. I should learn that only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the noonday sun. Rule # 10 of photography: Don't shoot picture in the harsh light of day. If you click on the image, you will see what I mean. Ouch. could have been a cute photo. (But I still love it cuz Tucker looks like a teddy bear).



Bo is not really so fierce as he seems here ... did you notice, the stick is magically suspended. I am amazed it's as focused as it is (of course, it could be lots better, but this is me taking the pics, remember). Reasonable light, although sometimes dappled light is not what you want, their coats look nice and actually a little lighter than reality. Don't think I did too much in Elements for this one. I am trying, actually, to ramp back the amount of post-processing I do for each photo. I like the natural look generally, although, I reserve the right to totally swing the other way when the mood strikes.



This was also taken from across the yard. Much better light but still a little in the harsh range. You can tell by their coats. I may have even de-saturated some of the reds and yellows, but I don't remember. Focus is good though. Happy with this one.



But it's the 85mm f/1.8 that I have fallen in love with. It's a prime lens and fast and while it doesn't auto-focus on my camera (yes, another one, sigh!), and it cost almost as much as the camera itself, I already love it. This one, and my 50mm f/1.8 give me that magic combo of sharp with creamy, dreamy backgrounds. At least theoretically. Now, I don't often get those pictures, but hopefully I will with time and practice (and a new camera on which the lenses will auto-focus, isn't that right honey!). And while the dogs pics below aren't that magic combo, I did say I need to practice. And sometimes, you want more sharpness and less fuzz.



I may be a lensaholic but the Tuckster is a stickaholic!



Is this a kiss or a cheek grab?