f/1.8

So for Christmas I got a killer little fixed prime lens. It's a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and while the fixed focal length really limits how you can use it, I didn't want it for the focal length...I wanted it for the shallow-as-Paris-Hilton depth of field. At f/1.8 it's one stop slower than the fastest Nikon lens or even Canon lens for that matter. Hell, you gotta get this really obscure Leica to get like f/0.95 and cough up something like $9,000 for those 2 extra stops. BFD. It's 7 stops faster than my other telephoto lens and that's HUGE. In other words, it captures 7x more light wide open than the other lens and that gives you some serious options.

Anyway, I rarely shoot this lens anything but wide open and you can see why. That ultra shallow depth of field and the bokeh it gives you are just gorgeous. The key with this lens and shallow depth of field is getting the subject/foreground razor sharp and the blurrier the background the better. As you can see, it does a damn fine job.

I haven't shot that many photos with it just yet, but here are a few that turned out well. Have a look and make sure to click the photos to make 'em look all big and purdy...