Canon 85mm f1.2 Screen Grab

M

Magnus387

Active member
Just shot this last night as a Bokeh test. Iso was at 100, and 2- 1x1 light panels were spotting mostly on the female subject (I wanted to keep him dark). The lights are the NYC skyline. Enjoy!



View attachment 20379
 
Kinda distracting to be honest. I'd like to see the actors 2 stops hotter. Or rather the background down 2 stops.
 
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I agree with the distraction. It was more of a test than anything. Here is one more image from the shoot.
 
In other words this a prime example of mis-using shallow depth-of-field instead of just using short depth-of-field to soften the background somewhat to keep attention on the actors. You were standing in a fan-fragging-tastic location and with the choice of lens and aperture made it look like a black studio with xmas-lights on the walls. Stick a 35mm on the GH1 instead of that 85 and shoot at f/2.8 and let us viewers get a feel of the location. You know, give us kids some production value.
 
martti ekstrand said:
in other words this a prime example of mis-using shallow depth-of-field instead of just using short depth-of-field to soften the background somewhat to keep attention on the actors. You were standing in a fan-fragging-tastic location and with the choice of lens and aperture made it look like a black studio with xmas-lights on the walls. Stick a 35mm on the gh1 instead of that 85 and shoot at f/2.8 and let us viewers get a feel of the location. You know, give us kids some production value.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Thanks for the advice Martti,

That shot is one that I wanted to have as an option in the editing room, because this is going to be cut in with some very nature heavy scenic shots. The darkness is something I wanted to play off of.

At the risk of sounding like I'm defending myself I won't preface the following picture with any explanation.

1283452805.jpg
 
Magnus387 said:
Thanks for the advice Martti,

That shot is one that I wanted to have as an option in the editing room
Click to expand...

OK, I should apologize for sounding so patronizing. Reading repeatedly in this forum that 5DmkII is the only good HDSLR with it's "superior shallow DOF" has made me a tad weary of such pictures, therefore the rant you don't deserve. Actually I figured you had other shots with a less blurred background.

Let me continue the discussion a little more by saying I'm not totally anti using such shallow DOF - if it's used with a purpose it can be really effective. As I hinted in my first remark a shallow DOF takes the viewer out of the location and makes the image more abstract. So in this context with a man and a woman talking one way of usage would be to shoot them talking over dinner with short DOF cuts like the two-shot there and then when finally the woman drops the bomb:
Code: 
[CENTER]WOMAN
By the way, I'm leaving to you to live
with Duncan cuz he's hung like a donkey.[/CENTER]

That's when one cuts to a reaction close-up of the man using that shallow DOF of the 85 to enhance his feeling of disorientation upon getting dumped in such brutal manner. Ditto for the shot when the girl in a horror flick realises that the killer is actually in the hallway behind her. And so on and so forth. But as a general look a shallow DOF is very limited in usefulness.

BTW your images are indeed looking great. Hope to see the final piece soon.
 
Martti,

I didn't think you were being patronizing at all. I would much rather an honest response than a fluff one. I appreciate all comments, the ones I agree with as well as the ones I don't. In this case I was in complete agreement, but I assure you that I shot this thing from every conceivable angle and focal length.

On a side note, your included script needs to be greenlit immediately.
 
Thought I would post some of the cut in shots that I got this weekend. This is just one shot, but I was going for a nostalgic look... the idea being that this is a moment that the two people in the short will never have.

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I AGREE
 
i thought you were being a little bit harsh martti...

but then i read on and agree with your point, it takes someone to point out these things before we can all learn these little do's and don't tricks :smile:

i know i will question issues like this a bit more now as i prepare a shoot!

thanks magnus & martti! good stuff!
 
Looks good. Also "Postcards from Far Away," nice choice...does it have distortion on it? I didn't like the distortion (on the song) but hard to tell, on built in mac tower speakers right now.
 
Ben_B,

I did not put distortion on the track, but now that I listen to it, it does sound like something odd is going on. I think this could be a result of grabbing the track from youtube... probably serves me right, although I did purchase the album when it came out so I can't feel too bad.
 
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