Cuckoo Clock with a new lens

[pauliec]

On a few suggestions I bought the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens for my D40 last week. I'm still getting the hang of it and trying to realize its full potential. Here's a shot I took of my cuckoo clock. It's not quite what I was going for but already I can see the difference in image quality between the new lens and the stock 18-55mm lens. There's really a tendency to focus on one specific point in the frame and blur much of the rest. A few times in taking other shots I had difficulty focusing in on the object I wanted to focus on, and not something else in the frame.

Program Mode
.04 seconds
f/2.5
ISO 1600

 

[pauliec]

And one more, same properties as above...

Which do you guys like better? What could I have done differently?

 

[AliasPros]

It's kinda hard to see what exactly you want in focus...

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

On the first one, I find it interesting that the 2 faces are in focus (relatively). The clock face (the hands really) and the mans face ( a little soft). But I like that relationship.

 

[pauliec]

On the first one, I find it interesting that the 2 faces are in focus (relatively). The clock face (the hands really) and the mans face ( a little soft). But I like that relationship.

Thanks, that's what I was trying to do, so I'm glad you pointed that out. As to the second photo, I just wanted to pull back and give some context as to what I was shooting.