I”ve had several inquiries recently asking what lens I use to take such sharp pictures.
The short answer is I use this lens that came with the Canon Digital Rebel EOS camera I use.
The long answer is that I stuggle with getting sharply focused images for several reasons, mostly due to my own deficiencies — not the lens.
First, I tend to shoot under low light conditions — before work, after work, on overcast days (we have lots here) to avoid harsh shadows. Consequently, I usually have very shallow depth of field.
That’s compounded by my eyesight, which isn’t what it used to be. I usually use manual focus and just have a hard time seeing if I’ve got a sharp focus in the viewfinder. Particularly when shooting closeups, I’ll ‘bracket’ my focus and hope that when I get them open on the screen one of them will be presentable.
That’s also compounded by my none-too-steady hand. So even if I get an image focused the way I want, I’ll often get some shake in the image at marginal to slightly-to-long exposure times.
My limited skills are a good match for the digital age: I can make a lot of images without worrying about developing costs. Then I can choose the ones that come out OK, enhance them in PhotoShop, and display them at 500-pixels wide. (If you click on most images on the blog, you’ll see a 1200-pixel version, most of which are passable.) If I blew most of these up into large format prints, my shortcomings would be quickly revealed.
Sometimes the results are pretty good. Even a blind sow gets an acorn every now and then. Then there are times when I have a great subject and great conditions and think I’ve made a great image, only to find that on the large screen it’s hopelessly flawed. But the more I shoot, the less this happens.
