Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM

from my "Strangers Project"

all taken wide open, natural light:


Stranger No. 29

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Really nice work M.Shalaby!

Hatch

Stranger No. 34 is stunning, the other ones are nice too!

Wow, those stranger shots are all incredible. Fantastic work with the light, comp, and processing. Awesome stuff!

Great stranger pics! How do you approach them?

courier wrote in post #12025569
Great stranger pics! How do you approach them?

+1. Great idea.

#30 and #34! #30 and #34! Favorite from this current set.

courier wrote in post #12025569
Great stranger pics! How do you approach them?

Yes, it’s been asked and stated before, but I don’t mind repeating my approach:

I very kindly, with a smile, and try to be as personable as I possibly can, and say:
"I'm working on a photography project, capturing just random strangers in the streets – and would you mind if I took a shot of you?” - a little more work goes into it then that (can't give away all of my secrets at the risk of giving up the intrigue of the project, but yes, thats my basic approach)

Love em all M. Shalaby!! Great portraits! Do you only select the good looking strangers? They all look like models...

Yeah M, where's the "character" stranger shots? Great work, that guy in 34 made me laugh out loud with that grin he's sportin! Amazing how many of em actually do look like models, suppose you might have had something to do with that in the mysterious context of your wherewithals.

Thanks for sharing, fantastic lens, gotta have one some day...

joonrhee wrote in post #12026322
Love em all M. Shalaby!! Great portraits! Do you only select the good looking strangers? They all look like models...

I was just about to say the same thing!

superb portraits as always shalaby. you have definitely sold me on this lens

lol... now now, i'm not bias toward only good looking people - i have shot some pretty interesting characters before. Just becuase I found them photogenic in their own right - like this guy,

Stranger # 21 - he was just so interesting and fun, I had to shoot him.

Very nice!

nicely done, on all occasions. How is it that the 135 f2 seems to be able to keep your subject...all of your subject...in focus while eliminating the background? Most fast lenses used wide open have a comparatively narrow band of focus that shows fairly clearly on a face. I've seen so many shots in this thread that seemed as though the subject was highlighted for the camera then the rest was blown away. Amazing! I took some engagement pics last night with the 5D2 and 70-200 2.8IS at f4 or 4.5 and while the background had a very pleasant bokeh (bg was fairly distant as well) the couple clearly showed where the band of focus was. Either/or was in focus but not both, even squarely facing them or very nearly so.