Dreams from a £30 Nikkor 50mm f1.8 D

Hammerhead64

Hammerhead64

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Paul
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I have finally got hold of a 50mm f1.8, luckily I found this 2nd hand one for £30 allowing me to use the Raynox lens which I have missed using.

Nothing special as a first shot but I really like this shot very close in of my son. Not sure others will like it as I deliberately wanted a soft focus (or OOF) effect on it.

3289210770_a0993fde7c_o.jpg


Any C&C welcome ..... (y)
 
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Thankyou for making an effort to comment but ....... :shake: if you are offering Critique ....... then I would appreciate you offering a fuller explanation of why it doesn't work for you ..... I posted it to get others opinions and realise that it does break certain photography likes ..... i.e. not pin sharp. As an image I like it as I can also relate to the subject ...... so feel free to give suggestions on how I could improve the shot while still getting the effect .... (y)

Paul
 
I can see where you were going with this and I think it works, although personally I would have aimed to have the eye area in focus, then again that may not have given he desired result.

I'm wondering if perhaps it would lend itself to a b/w conversion?
 
If that is what you wanted great but for me it does'nt work.
 
I think it almost works for me. I don't like the eyebrow being more in focus than the eyelash - it seems the wrong way round for the title 'Dreams' - but I love the overall effect and blurring of focus, colours and tone.
 
I think this is a 'Marmite' shot that will divide opinion.

It doesn't really work for me - sorry. It just looks like an unsaturated out of focus shot of an eye. Maybe if there was a bit more colour or contrast it might be better for me, personally I would prefer some part of it to be in focus even with a narrow depth of field? :shrug:
 
Freester said:
I think this is a 'Marmite' shot that will divide opinion.

It doesn't really work for me - sorry. It just looks like an unsaturated out of focus shot of an eye. Maybe if there was a bit more colour or contrast it might be better for me, personally I would prefer some part of it to be in focus even with a narrow depth of field? :shrug:
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:agree:
 
I have to agree, if you have achieved what you have hoped for then that's the most important bit. From my point of view however, I feel it's just an out of focus image that could have probably been achieved as easily with a lens other than an F1.8

As others have said, an image needs to be at least partly in focus otherwise, there is no focal point as such.

That said, there is a niche for OOF images. A guy I know on another forum sold a shot he took out of the rear window of his car for a couple of hundred. It was simply a yellow bus that was completely out of focus due to heavy rain but it appealed to someone.

As mentioned, it's a marmite shot. I love marmite, but this image isn't for me I'm afraid :(
 
Hammerhead64 said:
Thankyou for making an effort to comment but ....... :shake: if you are offering Critique ....... then I would appreciate you offering a fuller explanation of why it doesn't work for you ..... I posted it to get others opinions and realise that it does break certain photography likes ..... i.e. not pin sharp. As an image I like it as I can also relate to the subject ...... so feel free to give suggestions on how I could improve the shot while still getting the effect .... (y)

Paul
Click to expand...

No probs, just basically what Freester said (below). It's a love or hate thing, its too out of focus, it lacks depth in the image for me...

It's a bit hard to say how you can improve the photo when you say "Not sure others will like it as I deliberately wanted a soft focus (or OOF) effect on it." I dont see any room to improve there, it's your 'style' in that photo.

Freester said:
I think this is a 'Marmite' shot that will divide opinion.

It doesn't really work for me - sorry. It just looks like an unsaturated out of focus shot of an eye. Maybe if there was a bit more colour or contrast it might be better for me, personally I would prefer some part of it to be in focus even with a narrow depth of field? :shrug:
Click to expand...
 
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I think I like it. Although, for me, if there was just a little more focus on the eye area and maybe a slightly (and I mean only very slightly) wider area in view then it would work brilliantly. In fact I'm going to try something similar myself when me laddo returns from Scouts.

Andy
 
I agree with the focus issue raised .. however with the Raynox the DOF is so narrow this is not easy to achieve when you have a hyper 7 year old trying to keep still.

Andy would be interested on your attempt please feel free to post your photo in this thread.

Paul
 
Thanks Paul. If I ever find a minute when the little blighter is either here, still or asleep I'll give it a go.

Andy
 
OK, finally managed to get him to lie still (he's 11 and has a Playstation) and here are the results. I've not gone as far as you did but I'm reasonably pleased with them and will experiment a bit more at the weekend. I think I prefer the b&w.

Cal-Eye.jpg

Cal-Eye-b_w.jpg


Thanks for the inspiration Paul.

Andy
 
gingerjon said:
I think it almost works for me. I don't like the eyebrow being more in focus than the eyelash - it seems the wrong way round for the title 'Dreams' - but I love the overall effect and blurring of focus, colours and tone.
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My thoughts exactly.
 
Sorry, just doesn't work for me either, no part of the image is remotely in focus. However If thats what you were going for then fair enough. The 50mm f1.8 is probably one of the sharpest lens you'll ever use, do it some justice!
 
I have seen some really great images that are OOF but i agree with that majority that this image does not work (for me at least). If it the OOF look you were after why not shoot it in focus, then edit in PS etc and have a small area in focus and the rest with some blur?

just my 2p
 
I think the OOF and colour in the original actually add to the whole dreamy feel of it. Personlly, I think it works.
 
gingerjon said:
I think it almost works for me. I don't like the eyebrow being more in focus than the eyelash - it seems the wrong way round for the title 'Dreams' - but I love the overall effect and blurring of focus, colours and tone.
Click to expand...

Gingerjon - reading your post made me look closer at the image and the infocus area bugged me on reflection ..... so tried to get my son to resit for some more shots ... result was I didn't get the same effect focus or colours so ditched them and went back to original and did a bit of PP. This for me works better (see below).

3295446937_ce30093119_o.jpg


rrfierce said:
Sorry, just doesn't work for me either, no part of the image is remotely in focus. However If thats what you were going for then fair enough. The 50mm f1.8 is probably one of the sharpest lens you'll ever use, do it some justice!
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..... sorry but although I appreciate your comment I must disagree with it ...... I know the 50mm can produce pin sharp photos but my intention is to use the camera much in the way that impressionists use their brushes in art .... I do not want it in focus .... the original image was flawed in that some was in focus and the comments made by gingerjon pointed that out to me .... the colouration and composition was what was important to me and I know the OOF style is not for everyone but at least I do have a start of an appreciation society with ChrisMClark being the first and possibly only member ..... Cheers Chris (y)

...... just goes to show constructive citique can and does help so thx for all those that gave full explanations ... a comment that just says, "it doesn't work for me", is no use at all .... oh and Andy i like them both and in your case I think you are right the B&W does work better as I think it gives the image a better graduation of tones ..... (y)
 
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