Black Thunder Girls (Candids with the 85 f/1.4)

[Onyx]

I was at the Mind Body Spirit festival today, held at Sydney convention centre. Pics of that event officially doesn't exist, as "unauthorised photography is prohibited". Unofficially, I practiced disguising something as bulky as a D70, and to shoot from the hip! Got a few decent shots out of it, but that's not what this thread is about.

Radio station 2Day FM had their promotional vans pull up to the front of the venue at about lunchtime, with their crew handing out free stuff. I'm not one to pass up on free stuff or sexy girls, even if I ashamedly don't listen to that station!


Taken with the 85/1.4, I love this lens! Optically it's superb - some claims it has the best bokeh of any lens. It has fantastic contrast, flaring is well controlled even with direct light source shining at the camera, and I found very little purple fringing which the 105/2DC was somewhat prone to. Thank you Birddog for loaning me this super-duper lens!

Although I had previously found the reach of the 70mm the kit lens a little wanting, I was surprised at how far back I had to stand from the ladies using this 85mm prime, and being at the back of a crowd trying to take shots of mini-celebs was kinda challenging too. Anyway, having a maximum aperture of f/1.4 is astounding! Stopping down a stop gets f/2, and stopping down two full stops you're only at f/2.8!! It's amazing to be able to use such short depth of field as a compositional tool. I'm no longer restricted to framing factors to isolate the subject. I have the luxury of not worrying too much over certain elements partially blocking my view of the subject. With the kit lens having comparatively large depth of field wide open, this was a problem - not so with the 85 f/1.4! eg:


Although I probably won't be able to afford this lens, it's tempted me to seriously consider the 85/1.8 alternative as my next item of lust.

I like the following shot - Winners are grinners. They won the concert tickets to some American singer's thing at the Metro...


Ack, I'm typing writing too much already... and it's 4am. The full gallery:
http://dr-cbtan.fotopic.net/c345117.html

[Geoff]

The photos and the first 'sample' inparticular..hehe . Nice one!


Geoff.

[birddog114]

Onyx,
Can't see anything only red x

[gstark]

No problems here, Birddog. Might be worth retrying; might be a local/server issue?

Onyx, nice work.

[birddog114]

No problems here, Birddog. Might be worth retrying; might be a local/server issue?

Onyx, nice work.

Thanks Gary,
Got it now, didn't work before. check your PM please.

Edit: what do you think for our gathering next year on the anni. of our forum, we will have some nice models like that "to decorate" our spirits

[gstark]

Professionally, I'd consider that sexist.

But photography isn't my profession.


I responded to your pm last evening, if that's what you're referring to. Otherwise, I just sent you back an email

[Onyx]

I quite like that sexist idea... not that I'm affirming the sexism, but I like the idea of a model shoot - which I can see how it can be construed as sexism.

Are the images not so red x'cy now Birddog?

I just took a look at the uploaded shots on Fotopic - they look horrible. The auto jpeg recompression applied has muddied up all the details, and I'm afraid nobody's appreciating the beauty of this lens as I did in the orig images - how they have clearly defined details and the separation of that from the background. Very pleasing transistion to OOF areas too.

[MCWB]

Would you like me to host the originals for you Onyx? PM me if so bud.

[jdear]

Unofficially, I practiced disguising something as bulky as a D70, and to shoot from the hip!

im curious (always curious) what did you disguise your d70 as?
yay for candids! Try walking around bondi beach with a "disguised" d70 or better yet, comfortably with a 600mm + tele... hmmm tele...

JD

[gstark]

Try walking around bondi beach with a "disguised" d70

I do that quite often.

[Onyx]

Seeing some of his Bondi candids, and paired with the lack of posts regarding being approached by the boys in blue... I have no doubt Gary knows the magic of making the D70 camera disappear better than I do.

MCWB - thanks, but currently I'm trying out fellow forum member Kristine's free gallery, pixspot.com. So far I'm liking it, I might end up abandoning Fotopic altogether.

jdear - I didn't disguise it exactly, but held it in my hands inbetween the showbags that stall holders freely hand out. The camera was usually pointed to the side or behind where I was facing, and the shutter noise kept freaking me out as I kept thinking I would be booted out by event staff/security... That event was full of looneys - picture of your aura, paint your guardian angel, have your palm read to reveal the secret of your love lives, etc. The guy on stage performing the talk to dead relatives segment was hilarious in that he didn't get ANYTHING right!
"What was his name - P, Peter, Pete, Paul?" "Frank". "Have you got two children?", "No three". "Oh, is it two girls?", "No, two boys". "Did he die in March?" "No, December". Making a career by preying on the vulnerability and desperation of individuals - it's dispicable. Yet the legions of fans lining up waiting to talk to the other side via this man - unexplainable.

Edit: uploaded images to Pixspot (far better quality than fotopic gallery).
http://www.pixspot.com/thumbnails.php?album=15