Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L USM

Nice Pat, as always.
I've been fooling around with some portraits. Had off, no food, raining out, no one to practice on but myself. My first ever self portraits...colors are just my face so black and white it is

All wide open

thanks wally, #1 is killer

How do you guys do self portraits so in focus? #1 is killer!

drPheta wrote in post #7369984
How do you guys do self portraits so in focus?

That's what I am wondering. Are these really self-portraits, or is someone helping you?

My friend Gitzo helped me...mirror on table angled down/up to match my eyes with the back of the body, live view 10X zoom and manual focused. Shutter tripped with a digital cable release

Two more

Environmental portrait

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The only environment I've been in recently is inside my house (or the damn office!) and the only portraits I have to offer are those of one of my 3 cats, Teri.

Teri, if you recall, was the one that almost left us May 2008 when she was diagnoised with Chronic Renal Failure.

Well, it's been 10 months and she's doing fine with daily ritual of medication and special diet food!

Oh, and she hasn't lost her "modeling" ways with the human (me!) with his stupid camera! The other 2 run like I was a dog or something, when I go at them with the camera!

Anyways, just getting reacquainted with a neglected lens that was collecting dust...believe it or not!

Good pics nick. Here's a picture of a friends cat. Not nearly as "clean" as your pics, ha. I was just documenting the night.

I might have found one second hand, apparently 'mint'. Trying not to get too excited in case it doesn't work out!

airfrogusmc wrote in post #7375306
Environmental portrait

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That's a great shot and perfectly describes what this lens does best on a FF DSLR: Wide angle (but not too wide) portraiture that puts the target (victim?) in their environment. Whilst minimising focal distortion, a 24L and 28/1.8 are too wide for this and a 50L is generally too long for this kind of shot.

GMCPhotographics wrote in post #7379359
That's a great shot and perfectly describes what this lens does best on a FF DSLR: Wide angle (but not too wide) portraiture that puts the target (victim?) in their environment. Whilst minimising focal distortion, a 24L and 28/1.8 are too wide for this and a 50L is generally too long for this kind of shot.

What lens/focal lenght would suggest to do just that on a 1.6 crop sensor body?

I'm very impressed by the pictures I see on this thread and really like that type of photography: snapshot of a person in their environment. Candid or knowing you're shooting them.

The background blur this lens can produce further reinforce the "wow" factor. It only focuses on the main subject but we can still discern the surrounding environment.

I couldn't do this with my Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8. Maybe because I didn't try hard enough, or maybe it's because F/2.8 won't allow for this and I need to get too wide to keep everything within the frame. Am I doing it wrong or do I need another lens (a fast 20ish prime?) or is it a "Full Frame" thing only?

Thx.

Well, that's the problem with a 1.6x crop. It's awesome for it's longer reach....but it becomes a hinderence at the wide end. The 1.6x crop also has a relative effect on your DOF. It's a bit complicated to explain, but assuming two a3 prints, each with the seam effective angle of view (eg 85mm on full frame and 50mm on the cropper), the scene will have a simular composition and effective focal length, but there will be a DOF difference. The 1.6x crop will have effectively 1 and 1/3 more DOF than the comparision ff shot. So to get a 35mm f1.4 ff shot to look simular on a 1.6x you would need a 21mm f1 (or less)...which doesn't exist.

A quick round up of the effective differences between full frame and a 1.62x crop is
a) increased reach by 1.6x
b) increased iso noise by about a stop and 1/3 (ff is generally less noisy)
c) increased DOF by about the same stop and 1/3.

Now, the shot that Ralph took was taken at f2 (according to the Exif) so a 24mm shot wide open (f1.4) would come pretty close. The only problem is the 24L doesn't have the same smooth Bokeh that the 35L has.The 24IIL seems to look better but it's very expensive.

Heres a shot with a 24L not the new one the bokeh aint to bad. And if you're careful you can get good results on FF. I would highly recommend the 24L for a crop.

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I actually love the 35L on my 1DII...and I wouldn't want it to be any wider. Well, I think I'd like to have the option, but for my needs, a wider fast lens like the 35L wouldn't be worth having in the bag (due to the $$$) on full frame....but in the normal range like on the 1D II, it's perfect, and I use it a LOT. I love it. To each his own! There's a reason everyone has a different kit....different styles for everyone.