Conrad Samuels wrote:
>
>
> How do people manage to shoot at f1.8 or even wider and still get
> their image sharp?
Very, very carefully!
> For goodness sake, even my 105mm f2.8 has a
> depth of field at f2.8 and close up (about 2 metres) of less than 12
> cm!
Someone tell us what the number is for the 85/1.4. It's ridiculously
small.
> With my 55mm lenses at f1.8 if I don't focus exactly spot-on
> perfect dead accurate the results are not acceptable. I have taken
> endless head-and-shoulders portraits by available light at f1.8 or f2
> to find to my chagrin that the tip of the nose is sharp but the eyes
> JUST out of focus, or else the ears look great but pity about the rest
> of the face.
>
> What is wrong here? How do the available light men (and women)
> get their overall sharpness at big f-stops? Excepting for the fact that
> large aperture lenses make lovely bright images to focus by (I like)
> what good is their large aperture for actual shooting?
Well...like anything else it's a toss up. Due to the DOF, not everything
is going to be in focus, but you learn quickly which parts matter. For
portraits, generally it's the eyes.
Many people, myself included, like a really short DOF when doing
portraits. A short DOF gives a photo a certain 'look' that sometimes
works. Also, it helps to obscure stuff you're not really interested in
showing.
Here's some examples:
http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tom/sweetgum-fall.html
http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tom/pug2.html
http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tom/ollie-corner.html
http://www.bigdayphoto.com/tom/oranges.html
tv
-
This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe,
go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to
visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
