Shooting Secrets, Revealed!

Ok, so this isn't really a secret, or even anything spectacularly helpful! I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I keep forgetting. So here it is- the first official post where I share what lens and settings I used to take a particular photo. I've always been intrigued by the impact different focal lengths, apertures, and proximity to a subject have on the final image. I search Google images all the time when I get curious about what kind of "look" a certain focal length can produce, and I'm always curious what lens and settings a photographer used to get a particular shot!

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.4
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: f/2.2 (That says two point two. This font is hard to read!)
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 100

Maybe this will satisfy the curiosity of other photographers who are as interested in this stuff as I am, or give a new photographer insight into lenses and camera settings!

Now here's another little tid-bit of helpful advice for a beginner. It took me until about a year ago to even begin to understand this concept, so brace yourself for something important! The Canon 5D Mark II is a "full sensor" camera. What does this mean? I'll explain it by comparing it to a camera with a "crop sensor," which is almost every single digital camera on the market, except for very high end professional cameras. Basically, a 50mm lens on a crop sensor camera would be more telephoto, depending upon the camera and the sensor it has. For example, if I were using this same exact lens on a Canon 60D, it would probably be closer to an 85mm or so (and that is a shot in the dark- don't take my specific numbers as fact, just the general concept).  In other terms, to take this exact shot with a camera with a crop sensor, I would probably have to be about 5 feet FURTHER from the subject because a crop sensor makes a lens more "zoomed." Does that make sense? Maybe. I'm starting to confuse myself! But the subject is on the table, and perhaps when I learn how to explain it better and in more "photographically correct" terms, we can try again. In the meantime, feel free to email or comment with any questions :)