14 | 52

So I got a new lens and I have not been happy with it. I upgraded from the 50mm 1.8 to the 1.4. I was super excited to try it out while at my mom's, so I rounded up my nephews and tried to keep them still long enough for some practice. Now, I know that every lens has it's learning curve and it takes some time to find that sweet spot, but I was so disappointed! I could not get a sharp shot to save my life! I tried everything: different focal points (center was obviously the best), manual focus, BBF, shooting a full two or three stops down from wide open, using a tripod and/or faster shutter speeds, and even setting the darn camera to full auto!
I was getting 6-8 super sharp shots out of every 10 with my old 50 and now I was only getting 3 or 4 out of 10 with this new lens! And it's the same kind of lens - it's not like I was going from shooting everyday with a prime to having to relearn how to shoot with a 70-200 2.8!!! I should have been much more consistent and getting better shots, not worse, with this faster lens! The color was off a little too - much more yellow and green than I'm used to with my old lens. I took it to my photography teacher and he suggested that it was just a bad lens or that it needed to be calibrated. (Ugh... just my luck!) So I took it back to Ft. Worth Camera where I bought it and they swapped it out for me! Easy as pie and were super nice about it. They said that it sounded like I had already done everything that they would have suggested and that sometimes ya just get a bad one. They agreed that it seemed a little off and were awesome about the whole exchange!
All that to say that this week's photos were two shots that I was actually happy with. They turned out pretty well among all the frustration that resulted from my shooting all week.
Next week will include some with the replacement lens!

So this week I'm grateful for awesome customer service at Ft. Worth Camera! And, more importantly, two of my handsome, stinky-sweet nephews!