Published in Amateur Photographer : Beautiful bokeh
Like every photographer newly bitten by the photography bug, I read voraciously about my new hobby - although I think in recent years Youtube has become the main source of info for photographers. One of the magazines I would devour every week, was Amateur Photographer. It is incredible to think this magazine has been going since 1884. Incredible longevity.
And with that, it was quite an honor when the team at AP asked if I wanted to contribute an article on bokeh. It's one of my pet hates in photography when people interchange Read more inside...
A theme we have touched on regularly here is that “using the available light” is not a random decision. The best results with portrait photography in available light, is when we are deliberate. Deliberate in how we position our subject in relation to the light. This is the central idea in my book, Direction & Quality of Light - posing and lighting are inter-connected. With available light photography, it becomes a little harder to find light that is flattering - compared to using off-camera flash, where you can sweeten the light most of the time with the Read more inside...
My favorite adventure in photography for the past year or so, has been to explore vintage lenses. Many of these lenses render the background in an interesting or unusual way which makes them appealing in helping to create a distinctive look to your photography. A recent purchase was the Trioplan 100mm f/2.8 lens (affiliate) for use with my Sony A7ii camera. The Trioplan 100mm f/2.8 is well known as the 'soap-bubble bokeh' lens. Created by the Meyer Optik Görlitz company, it gives perfectly spherical circles in the background when used in Read more inside...
The Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 (B&H / Amazon), is an immediately impressive lens - it has that unusually wide aperture. Zero point nine five. Just how good is it then, you may well ask. Lenses with super-wide apertures tend to show some softness and optical aberrations when used wide open. Similarly then with the Mitakon Zhyongi - there are definite optical flaws, but this also adds to the character of the images you get with this lens. It's not just the super-shallow depth-field that defines Read more inside...
That crazy bokeh there is via the Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 (B&H / Amazon), taken at widest aperture, giving this wafer-thin depth of field. Even though this is a new lens, I would classify it as a classic or vintage lens. It is manual focus, and gives that delicious look to images exactly because of that DoF and bokeh. In terms of the composition, I like how the blue lights in the foreground is echoed by the same lights in the background.
How this photo session with Anastasiya came about ...
My friend, Parker J Read more inside...
The quest to add an interesting, eye-catching element to a photograph, often leads us photographers to start working with lenses that have a distinctive bokeh. One of the more affordable vintage lenses that gives a distinctive bokeh and is also a perfect portrait focal length, is the Soviet made Helios 40-2 85mm f/1.5 lens (for Canon / for Nikon). The 85mm Helios is also is surprisingly affordable as photography gear goes.
The swirly bokeh is fairly distinctive of the Helios optic. Adding this kind of Read more inside...
Yes, that's a Sony mirrorless camera - the Sony a7ii (B&H / Amazon). It's mine. No, I didn't switch to Sony. I still use Nikon DSLRs as my main camera system, and I can't see that changing in the foreseeable future. But I did buy this Sony A7ii. (I also bought a Fuji X-T20 as my walk-about camera.) But this Sony will be my "project" camera. I have a specific intent with it - to use any of the huge array of interesting vintage lenses. Some of these older lenses distinctive optical qualities - most often in how Read more inside...
Pixel peeping is that derogatory phrase used to describe photographers who scrutinize photos at 100% resolution to see any flaws there might be. The idea is that if you do that, you lose sight of the artistic nature of photography. You might become stuck on what is in many ways, an irrelevant part of photography - technical perfection.
I do love sharp images. Being capable of consistently delivering crisp images, are important to me as a photographer. The skills matter. At some point these skills should become second nature.
Yet, the impact a photograph has, Read more inside...
