I read an article about shooting with aperture wide open this week. The shots were amazing (you can see them here). Dreamy, as the writer suggested. And it is true that if you get it right you can have brilliant shot, but it is easy to get it wrong, especially if you use the auto focus. Well, that’s my biggest problem anyway. I find it tricky sometimes to “lock in” a focus point, because then just a slight movement to my camera, the focus suddenly “hop” on to the next spot just a split second before I hit the shutter. And just like that a shot was ruined. I have had a lot of these overall blurry shots, or shots where the subject I wanted to focus on was blurry when the background was super sharp. All crap. But, don’t take my word for it, because I have a slight suspicion that it’s just me; this is just the thing that I have to practice on. And, yes, I’ve started shooting with manual focus as well, gave me crossed eyes from time to time, but what the heck.

Anyway, I was using my fast prime lens (Nikkor 50mm, 1.4G) for today’s shot. I bought the lens less than a year ago but it seems that our honey moon period is far from over. It is now my most frequently used lens. I only have two options really, having only two lenses to date. My other lens is a kit lens which I take out for a stroll when the guilt (of not using it often enough) became unbearable.

I went outside to see if there was anything that caught my attention. My shadow, a.k.a Bruno my labrador walking close behind. Well, more like walking with his wet nose on my leg, that’s how close. Then I saw him just staring at the street with the setting sun lighting his face. I was not sure what he was staring at, or what he was thinking, but he was sitting still like that for a few minutes. I opened the aperture really wide at f/1.4, shutter speed 1/800 and using Auto Focus.

Doesn’t he look super duper handsome in this photo?