Just ordered a new lens

I am cheap. And now that I stay home with the kids, I am super cheap (not when it comes to buying takeout and weekly toys for the kids--those are needs right?) --when it comes to buying something for myself. I finally just bit my lip and ordered myself a f1.8 lens. I NEEDED it.

A random person might ask, "Well Amanda, 'Need' is a strong word don't you think?"

To this I say "Nope." I just ponied out 600 bucks on a camera. I have two small children that move faster than the speed of light, and speaking of light, we are moving into the Winter months in the U/P. which means light is non-existent.

So to take a decent picture of my wiggly little munchkins in December, I need to use a very fast shutter-speed. Something like 1/125 will do in a pinch, but I prefer 1/250. If I use a shutter-speed like that indoors in natural light, my image will come out black--No joke black. There is not enough light to properly or even poorly expose the photograph. The reason this happens is that my kit lens will not open up to a wide enough aperture (3.5) to allow enough light in. So to get some decent images out of my camera, I NEED this lens. A much bigger aperture of 1.8 should give me just what I need. I will post some pictures soon.

Some of you clever, clever folks are thinking 'Wait a minute, there is another way to allow your images proper exposure at a higher shutter speed." Well my dear friends you are right, that would be the ISO setting. A higher ISO would help me get a more properly exposed image, BUT if you were paying attention earlier, you would remember that my SLR is cheap. That means less performance at High ISO's. This gives images a grainy appearance. In my camera's case, noise reduction software only takes you so far. It's not a bad camera, it's just not a $3,000 camera. I think we will get along just fine once I get the new lens.

You could also say, "Amanda, why not buy a speedlight?"

"HEEEEELLLLLOOO, I am cheap remember?"

To Summarize:
1.Amanda is cheap with a cheap camera ;)-Sorry I like using my name so much. Staying home with two kids means I don't hear it very often.
2. You need a faster shutter-speed when photographing children, but this means less light to properly expose your images.
3. You can compensate for your faster shutter speed by turning up your ISO or setting your aperture to a lower number (Lower number means bigger opening. Bigger opening means more light enters the lens). Ideally, you don't want to crank your ISO all the way up. Some combination of ISO increase and Aperture decrease is usually best.

I would love to see some of your images post them below!