The 85 1.4 is a wonderful portrait lens for torso and 3/4. If you have a high megapixel camera these days, you can shoot from the distance of a 105 and crop it to a 105 angle of view with no noticeable loss of quality. You are making a great choice with a 50 mm gap to 135. The nikon 135 2.0 dc is an one of the best portrait lenses out there. With only 7 elements, the micro contrast dusts most other newer lenses and can be had for about $700 used like new. You will hear people who don't know how to use it about CA. I tend to shoot it at 2.8 or above and in studio, I can't get both eyes sharp below 3.2 at which aperture CA is gone of gone with 2 clicks in post. But the bokeh, Ken Rockwell calls it the bokeh king and the angry photographer ranks it right there with the 105 dc as the best portrait lens. Oh, I was rushing to finally get out of captivity and head over to the beach that opened yesterday so I wasn't clear in my typing, not you shooting cranky bordello, that's the 70's background folks. You are doing great work, and be aware, that is your skills, not a lens. Oh, I don't know if you have a 35 for portraits, but that is what I use for environmental portraits when the background and surroundings tell part of the story. The zeiss 35 2.0 distagon is produces zeiss pop, a 3 d effect when stopped down giving great background separation without throwing it out of focus.
mrca wrote:
The 85 1.4 is a wonderful portrait lens for torso and 3/4. If you have a high megapixel camera these days, you can shoot from the distance of a 105 and crop it to a 105 angle of view with no noticeable loss of quality. You are making a great choice with a 50 mm gap to 135. The nikon 135 2.0 dc is an one of the best portrait lenses out there. With only 7 elements, the micro contrast dusts most other newer lenses and can be had for about $700 used like new. You will hear people who don't know how to use it about CA. I tend to shoot it at 2.8 or above and in studio, I can't get both eyes sharp below 3.2 at which aperture CA is gone of gone with 2 clicks in post. But the bokeh, Ken Rockwell calls it the bokeh king and the angry photographer ranks it right there with the 105 dc as the best portrait lens. Oh, I was rushing to finally get out of captivity and head over to the beach that opened yesterday so I wasn't clear in my typing, not you shooting cranky bordello, that's the 70's background folks. You are doing great work, and be aware, that is your skills, not a lens. Oh, I don't know if you have a 35 for portraits, but that is what I use for environmental portraits when the background and surroundings tell part of the story. The zeiss 35 2.0 distagon is produces zeiss pop, a 3 d effect when stopped down giving great background separation without throwing it out of focus. ...Show more →
Robert, thank you again for your feedback and kind words. I used a 42MP camera for the session and I did crop some of the images in PP. Yes, I do have a 35mm f/1.2 now but not for the session above for environmental portraits. I will post some images taken with that lens later. Okay, somehow I didn't quite get your previous comment but I understand now.
Yes, we have been living in Iceland since Jan 2019. Before that I was in Silicon Valley, California, for 25 years (not Canada).
Ah, okay, I could have sworn that you used to live in Canada for whatever reasons. Iceland is one of my favorite destination for landscape photography.... in the winter .
One minor quibble, does she have a small smudge of makeup on her left eyelid?
Should be easy to fix but it appears in several of the shots...
Thank you very much for your kind compliment, Guy! And yes, she is very lovely and she photographed well. I didn’t realize the smudge, not while shooting nor during the PP. Since it was close to be unplanned, we didn’t use any make-up artist. Lilly did her own make up and during the outfit change, she did touch it up. Unless it is very obvious, I am oblivious to that while shooting .
dalite wrote:
Oh wow! what else can I say? Disclosure: do you use some kind of skin softening software?
More please.
Thank you very much for your feedback, Dennis! I did remove some minor blemishes on her face here and there. I did using a Nik Software filter called Tonal Contrast and I lowered the setting for all 3 spectrum by -30 and applied that setting selectively on her face and body only. To answer your question, yes, I did but not a skin softening software. Nik Software has a filter called Dynamic Skin Softener, which is more heavy-handed than by just adjusting the tonal contrast. Judging by her complexion, I felt that by just lowering the tonal contrast her final skin rendition was sufficient.
Here are 3 more images of Lilly from the same session then. I played with the sun's position in the first 2 images. The last one was during the sweet hour of the evening. At the end, I shot a few more with the flash behind her and a reflector in front of her to get some rim light effects. They were good but not quite to my liking.
bobby350z wrote:
Nice set, would like to get out and do a shoot but stuck at home. Isn't there a lockdown in southern CA unless it was taken before?
Thank you very much, Vishi! That was from well before the lockdown. I am itching to do some more portrait shooting myself but I have been doing wildlife/bird photography as you don't mingle with others in close proximity.
AGeoJO wrote:
Thank you very much, Vishi! That was from well before the lockdown. I am itching to do some more portrait shooting myself but I have been doing wildlife/bird photography as you don't mingle with others in close proximity.
Thanks Man. I love your shots. Once this virus thin clears out, would love to come down and shoot with you sometime.
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. Stay safe!