Photography Specs: Equipment

I am a very amateur photographer, but since I received yet another lens for my birthday this year, I decided to share a little about the equipment I use. Thanks to my wonderful husband I own a Nikon D40 It really is a good quality camera that packs a lot of punch for the price. It’s been very good to me.

It came with a standard 18-55 mm lens, which I love. It’s versatile and works in most situations just fine.

It works great for close-ups:

And distance shots:

When I feel especially creative, have time to switch lenses, and want to capture tiniest details, I use my 60 mm lens. It usually requires that the subject be still, at least for my amateur taste, so I normally use it to capture the beauty of nature:

This lens is also fabulous when it comes to portraits and extreme close-ups. I love to use it when I can catch Hudson holding still long enough for me to get the shot I want. This doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, I usually really love the effect it creates:

These days I usually use for straight up portraits:

This lens is my most challenging one and I am still trying to figure out how to shoot with it the way I really want. I am in the process of mastering this one and some days are a lot better than others.

Last, but definitely not least is the newest addition to my lens family — brand-spanking new 55-200 mm lens. I have not had much time to explore this one, but so far, I really really love it. It doesn’t work well at short distances (less than 5 ft), but with a toddler who loves to zoom around (pun very much intended), this one is perfect. I can position myself in one corner of the yard and just click away while he runs around:

This lens gives me a lot of freedom and allows me to catch and amplify moments that I otherwise couldn’t have. I also think that since I am out of Hudson’s way and not in his face with the camera, he responds to it better — instead of turning and running away, he actually looks right at me and moves toward the camera, which I appreciate: