DSLR Practice

As you may know, I've recently acquired a gently used DSLR and I'm trying to learn how to use it. I attended a beginners class that I had a Groupon for (woo hoo!) and I actually learned a lot. I've been practicing, but I've noticed that my shooting has been limited because I didn't have a very wide aperture on my lens. That's when I learned photography lesson #1: In order to shoot blogworthy photos, you need a 50mm lens.

Fortunately, I had an anniversary coming up. We had decided to stick with paper-themed gifts, since the first anniversary is the paper anniversary. Dave had come up with some ideas, but he wasn't thrilled with any of them. So of course, he was absolutely psyched when I point blank asked him for a 50mm lens. He knew exactly what would make me happy, I got to further my shooting practice...everyone wins except for the element of surprise!

I've been practicing with my new lens a lot, and I thought I'd show you some of my first attempts at using the wider aperture. This, of course, means that you just get to see a bunch of random pictures of Chelsea. You're welcome.

Oh, I also took one picture of Dave watching How I Met Your Mother:

I'm excited to keep practicing with my new toy! What's your favorite photography tool?