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Which do you prefer?


robert_byrd1

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I recently did a series of glamour shots. Here is one taken with

the 1.4 85mm AIS lens. This is a celebrated lens, but I can't get

too excited about the result. Is there a flaw in my technique here,

am I being too critical about the image, or is my lens not so hot?

 

Robert<div>0049QF-10464584.jpg.da1ca6a7ceeabe167f55f9f071f57e3e.jpg</div>

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You are way out of focus. The 85 1.4 (if you're opened wide) has a very, very shallow depth of field and needs a perfect focusing technique. It looks like you're focused well past the model (judging by how well features of the backdrop are showing up).

 

The notable features of this lens are sharpness and contrast (which are not bad wide open, but will improve if you stop down a bit) and fantastic bokeh (which you don't need at all with a plain background). So stop down a couple more stops, focus a little more carefully, and see how much detail you can pull out of it.

 

How are you focusing? Split image on the hair or towel?

 

Ciao!

 

Joe

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Yes, the light was pretty hard. A Lowel DP through a diffusion disc, with a large reflector for fill. I don't think I used the split-image to focus, which may be part of the problem. As I recall, I focused on her left arm. I believe I was shooting at about F4. Do you think this is overexposed, or about right? I was shooting Ektachrome 100S, with a blue gel on the light to correct it to daylight temperature. I used an incident meter. Here is another shot from the same series, with the same light and lens.<div>0049Qe-10464684.jpg.488bf0486ebc9d0c32b8fad272c9b287.jpg</div>
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Glad I opened this thread at home and not the office � downloading images like this can get us corporate types in lots of trouble. Please include a disclaimer in your title (contains nudity � whatever) so some of us won�t be ambushed in the workplace.

 

BTW, I�m a corporate photographer, so visiting photo.net while at work is within the scope of my duties (I view it as any other trade publication). But corporate policy is corporate policy � and in my case, no nudes is good nudes. I hope forum members will be understanding; I�m not trying to spark any free speech debates. I�d just like to continue to participate on this site and keep my day job. : )

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I was about to post exactly what Mike Scott points out. I am glad that I first read this thread at home too. Who would have guessed that a title "Which do you prefer?" in the Nikon Forum contains nudity, which is strictly against company rules.

 

I don't read the Image Critique Forum very often, but I think they have the convention to specify nudity in the subject line. Can we do the same here?

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