Portraits of daughter

[Do'Urden's Eyes]

Ive been interested in how the lens works. is there a switch to turn the feature on and off and to adjust the intensity of the softness?

 

[Josh66]

Yes. It has 3 settings - 0, 1, & 2. 0 is no soft focus and the lens functions normally (and is actually pretty sharp).

The switch is actually more like a lock, sliding it down allows you to rotate the front of the lens until it clicks into the detent for the two soft settings. It feels like you could use it between the settings (it just wouldn't snap into the detent), but I haven't tried that.

Someone else could explain the physics behind it a lot better than me, but basically it introduces spherical aberration to give the soft focus effect. It also affects the minimum focus distance slightly (it can focus closest on the soft 2 setting); not sure why that happens, but it doesn't really matter - more just an interesting side affect.

The main reason I got this lens is because Canon only makes two 135mm primes, and the 135 f/2L was outside of my price range (about $900). The 135 f/2.8 Soft Focus is about $300. I don't use the soft focus feature much, but it is fun to play around with.

 

[Josh66]

5

70-200 f/4L @ 200mm, f/4

6

70-200 f/4L @ 122mm, f/4

 

[MrsMoo]

awwh she's a total babe

#1 the focus is slightly off, but working with kids isnt always easy

#2 & #6 are my favs tho

 

[Josh66]

Thanks!

#2 & #6 are my favs tho

Mine too.

 

[93rdcurrent]

#'s 5 & 6 are very nice. Great job.

 

[basic jammer]

how does one classify wen the focus is off. sorry for the numb question, i'm stil learning. as i am a people photographer, i need to know exactly what to focus on.

#5 rocks. love the eyes. did u use flash

 

[93rdcurrent]

The most important thing to have in focus is the eyes. You can play with DOF (depth of field) from there.

 

[thomprecision]

Your daughter is so adorable! Keep taking pictures of her, because she will growing up so fast. I can see how much she has grown especially in #5, with that look of seriousness. Thanks for sharing.

 

[andrea86]

the second one is wonderful... and the 6th too... seems wonderin' "what the hell do we have here?!?!"

great

 

[Josh66]

Thanks everyone!

#5 rocks. love the eyes. did u use flash

Thanks! No, actually I used a 1000 watt work light on a stand (it's two 500 watt lights, side by side) that I got at the hardware store for about $20. As long as you correct the white balance you can get good results with it. (I think I also had all of the windows open to try to get more ambient light.)

I cloned out one of the reflections, just thought it looked better with only one light source reflecting in her eyes.

 

[amkphotography]

I love the one with her hands up and the ones in the red dress. She is a cutie. I think it would be good to brighten her eyes in all of these, to make them stand out more. Nice shots though.