natural light at f/2

Elaine · September 19, 2008

I'm still trying to get comfortable with my 50 1.4. It's certainly tricky to nail down the focus correctly. I think this one mostly worked.

gregneil · September 19, 2008

Elaine wrote:

I'm still trying to get comfortable with my 50 1.4 It's certainly tricky to nail down the focus correctly. I think this one mostly worked.

mostly? I'd say totally. Great shot! I love the expression, warmth, and the tight framing.

jeffreaux2 · September 20, 2008

ShepsMom · September 20, 2008

Got to love the eyes!

ChatKat · September 20, 2008

ShepsMom wrote:

Got to love the eyes!

This is my favorite kind of shot...totally nailed it!

Swartzy · September 20, 2008

Lovely!....Yea, at 1.4 there isn't much DOF at that distance...

. His eyes are sharp as a tack. Guess I've always had difficulty with the whole front of the face thing not being at least as sharp...prolly why I don't shoot the 1.4...haha..but you did a very well here Elaine. My how he's grown!

Elaine · September 20, 2008

Thanks, all! I say "mostly worked" for the reasons Swartzy mentioned...one eye does seem to be sharper than the other and I'm not sure if the rest of the face being just OOF is what I'm after or not. But I liked everything else about it and it's definitely a keeper for me.

Scott_Quier · September 20, 2008

Elaine - did some DOF calculations. And with a 50mm at f/2 and working 5 feet from your son (I think you were closer, but I can't really tell) it appears your total DOF is about .2 feet - that's just a couple of inches. No surprise that one eye is sharper than the other....

As for the photo itself, I think it's a real keeper - well done!

Elaine · September 20, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

Elaine - did some DOF calculations. And with a 50mm at f/2 and working 5 feet from your son (I think you were closer, but I can't really tell) it appears your total DOF is about .2 feet - that's just a couple of inches. No surprise that one eye is sharper than the other....

As for the photo itself, I think it's a real keeper - well done!

Thanks, Scott! I guess I was asking for trouble at f/2, wasn't I? No wonder I had so many more OOF than IN Focus.

Yay for digital...and shooting lots and lots and lots of pics!

ChatKat · September 20, 2008

Elaine wrote:

Thanks, Scott! I guess I was asking for trouble at f/2, wasn't I? No wonder I had so many more OOF than IN Focus. Yay for digital...and shooting lots and lots and lots of pics!

One of the issues I have looking for the creamy bokeh on this is shooting wide open. One of the local wedding photographers was telling me all his portrait work is at f4.0 at 40mm. I have my share of too low dof shots...

Scott_Quier · September 20, 2008

ChatKat wrote:

One of the issues I have looking for the creamy bokeh on this is shooting wide open. One of the local wedding photographers was telling me all his portrait work is at f4.0 at 40mm. I have my share of too low dof shots...

Two more factors for the DOF equation: subject-camera distance and sensor/film size

Swartzy · September 20, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

Two more factors for the DOF equation: subject-camera distance and sensor/film size

Just as an aside....should you go to a full frame (as in 5D) you will significantly change your ways from a 1.6 crop body.

Elaine · September 20, 2008

Swartzy wrote:

Just as an aside....should you go to a full frame (as in 5D) you will significantly change your ways from a 1.6 crop body.

Could you elaborate please?

Agnieszka · September 21, 2008

WOW ... wonderful photo!

Yuri Pautov · September 22, 2008

Elaine!
I like the result - very very good-catched expression!
Yuri

angevin1 · September 22, 2008

Slick
Nice, nice photo. and really nice lens apparently! Great work!

tom

urbanaries · September 22, 2008

Beautiful work! What an adorable guy. My favorite kind of shot, too. Got a few of these myself over the weekend but none as sharp and purty!

Elaine · September 22, 2008

Angie, Yuri, Tom, Lynne...
Thanks so much for your kind comments! I appreciate you stopping by!

LiquidAir · September 22, 2008

Nice shot!

Elaine wrote:

Could you elaborate please?

Shooting at f/2 at 85mm (equivalent field of view to your 50) on a full frame body has the same depth of field as shooting at f/1.6 at 50mm on a crop body. In general for equivalent framing, a full frame body as 2/3 stop shallower DoF than a crop body. The extra creative control you have with DoF on a full frame body is one to the things I love about my 5D, but it does demand that you pay some extra attention to focuing technique. I put many, many hours into learning how to use my 135/2 effectively when I got it. I feel now that that time has really paid off and made all my photographs better it was definitely frustrating when I first got my new toy and couldn't take a sharp shot with it.

Elaine · September 22, 2008

LiquidAir wrote:

Nice shot!

Shooting at f/2 at 85mm (equivalent field of view to your 50) on a full frame body has the same depth of field as shooting at f/1.6 at 50mm on a crop body. In general for equivalent framing, a full frame body as 2/3 stop shallower DoF than a crop body. The extra creative control you have with DoF on a full frame body is one to the things I love about my 5D, but it does demand that you pay some extra attention to focuing technique. I put many, many hours into learning how to use my 135/2 effectively when I got it. I feel now that that time has really paid off and made all my photographs better it was definitely frustrating when I first got my new toy and couldn't take a sharp shot with it.

Thanks very much for this explanation. I think I'd better stick with my crop body for awhile!

crockett · September 22, 2008

Great shot! I still can't get in line with the crowd that wants the vast majority of the head in focus.

If the eyes are in focus, it's a winner for me. I like this photo.

I was just looking at a famous portraiture photographer (German I believe, but l believe he shoots here in the US) and he does all kinds of head shots. They really are amazing and he uses a very very small DOF.

ahhh...what the heck I looked him up.

Marin Schoeller
http://mediastorm.org/0002.htm

Elaine · September 22, 2008

crockett wrote:

Great shot! I still can't get in line with the crowd that wants the vast majority of the head in focus.

If the eyes are in focus, it's a winner for me. I like this photo.

I was just looking at a famous portraiture photographer (German I believe, but l believe he shoots here in the US) and he does all kinds of head shots. They really are amazing and he uses a very very small DOF.

ahhh...what the heck I looked him up.

Marin Schoeller
http://mediastorm.org/0002.htm

Thank you very much! Cool link. I think I've seen his shot of Christopher Walken before. The lighting he uses in those head shots makes very interesting catch lights!

natural light at f/2

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