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General Photography
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Dr. Randy Soloman : Professional Head Shot - for literature, articles, web presence
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<blockquote data-quote="Robert Mitchell" data-source="post: 95171" data-attributes="member: 11282"><p>Hello Rick,</p><p></p><p>You're correct. Most often I'm working within the sweet spot of my lenses, typically between f/5.6 and f/11. Sometimes I'll stop down further and I've been known to shoot at wider apertures but the bulk of my work is done in that sweet spot.</p><p></p><p>Not only do most lenses perform and resolve better in that range but I'm very particular about depth of field and what is in focus and out of focus. I know a lot of people that just don't pay attention and it drives me crazy. I've never liked the look of a near eye in focus while the far eye is soft and most of the time I like to have everything on the facial mask as sharp as possible with slight falloff starting around the back of the ear. </p><p></p><p>I don't like having the eyes in focus and the tip of the nose soft and I don't like seeing the cheeks out of focus.</p><p></p><p>When you're using lenses that are 85mm or longer, it's surprising how shallow the depth of field can be when you're 6 feet from the subject and shooting at f/4, f/5.6 or even f/8. Sometimes when I do tight shots (which you may have noticed are a good deal of my shots), even f/9 can give me too shallow a depth of field.</p><p></p><p>I never shoot wide open just to say I did it and I give it a lot of thought if I am going to use a shallow depth of field, paying careful attention to the various planes and how to accomplish the shot I have in my head.</p><p></p><p>Like I said, I'm very particular. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Robert Mitchell, post: 95171, member: 11282"] Hello Rick, You're correct. Most often I'm working within the sweet spot of my lenses, typically between f/5.6 and f/11. Sometimes I'll stop down further and I've been known to shoot at wider apertures but the bulk of my work is done in that sweet spot. Not only do most lenses perform and resolve better in that range but I'm very particular about depth of field and what is in focus and out of focus. I know a lot of people that just don't pay attention and it drives me crazy. I've never liked the look of a near eye in focus while the far eye is soft and most of the time I like to have everything on the facial mask as sharp as possible with slight falloff starting around the back of the ear. I don't like having the eyes in focus and the tip of the nose soft and I don't like seeing the cheeks out of focus. When you're using lenses that are 85mm or longer, it's surprising how shallow the depth of field can be when you're 6 feet from the subject and shooting at f/4, f/5.6 or even f/8. Sometimes when I do tight shots (which you may have noticed are a good deal of my shots), even f/9 can give me too shallow a depth of field. I never shoot wide open just to say I did it and I give it a lot of thought if I am going to use a shallow depth of field, paying careful attention to the various planes and how to accomplish the shot I have in my head. Like I said, I'm very particular. :) [/QUOTE]
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