I was reminiscing about all the DSLR cameras I've used and I came across a lot of images we made while using one of the stars of the DSLR epoch; the Canon 5Dmk2. This image was a combination of available light at ISO 100, 1/13th of a second shutter speed and an aperture of f2.8 mixed with some soft electronic flash from the front. I was using an 85mm f1.8 lens.
It's a text book example of how we used to use the ability to render a background out of focus before the more recent trend of slivering the depth of field to the width of a gnat's whisker. In the days before micro slicing depth of field we tried to keep an image in focus enough to keep out main subject nicely sharp while putting the background into the "recognizable, but vague" category, which covers a myriad of styling sins...
By using a bit of aperture restraint we are still able to see that our subject has both ears and that his shirt is wrinkly instead of looking as soft as pudding.
6 comments:
“Recognizable, but vague.” Sums up my photography perfectly.
Was the guy in the blue shirt planned or happenstance?
I remember seeing him walking through the rear of the frame and waiting until he was closer to the middle before firing off a couple of frames but I didn't cue him or anything like that.
I bought my copy of that lens in about 1995... still using it :)
Much better than those Zoom add-ons that try to decide where the subject's head ends and the background begins so it (the add-on) can blur it (the background).
"Bob! What happened to your ears?"
I loved that camera. For portraits, I used the 100mm f/2, a really excellent lens.
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