Thar She Sews!: Oh, and my other birthday presents...

Does anyone care so much about what birthday presents I want or received? Probably not, and I realize this is my third post on that topic. But I know a lot of us who create and blog about it -- or those of you who sell your wares on etsy -- do care a lot about photography.

I love taking photos and really want to take better ones. Maybe you do, too. Three years ago, I got myself a DSLR. A Nikon D40, which is an entry-level DSLR and pretty much the only one I could afford. I've used the lens that came with that camera for the last three years, first the original one and once I busted it, a used replacement replica. Now, I don't know a whole lot about photography, no doubt a big part of my photo troubles. But I began to really hate my lens. Lately, I just can't get a non-blurry photo. I truly think the lens was busted again. Here's an example of a "crisp" photo from my old lens.

See how it is infuriatingly just a bit soft and blurry? And this was taken in natural light in the middle of the day. Annoying, right?

And so for my birthday, two new pretties entered my life!

One is made to purposely make my photos dreamy and soft. The other should help me get crisp photos in pretty much any situation I'm in. Today, I'll introduce you to the first, and tomorrow, the second.

Let's take a looksie, shall we?

The first lens is the Diana + 38 mm SuperWide lens. I am so under informed when it comes to trends in photography, so I realize I am perhaps the last person to hear about this lens. I still am not even sure what I'm doing with it. But the idea of it is to take photos that look "dreamlike," or sort of retro. It's just $60 and plastic and it is nice to have a lens I don't have to be freaked out to ruin. Cheap is good for me.

Is it good for my photos? Here are some of the first shots I took.