This post is just a bunch of ultra-thin-depth-of-field shots taken with a Nikkor 300mm f/2 lens, at its maximum f/2 aperture. These all date back to 2011, after I first got the lens.

I have a category on my blog of articles with photos taken with this lens, but I'm prompted to post a collection like this after not being all that happy with the super-thin-depth-of-field shots that I shared the other day in “Kyoto's Souren-ji Temple at f/1.2”. Many of the shots on today's post aren't all that great either, but some are nice, as were the 300mm/f2 shots I posted the other day in “Thin on the Depth of Field, Thick on the Cuteness”.

(My favorite photos with this lens are on “The Kind Of Shot That Ultra Thin Depth Of Field Was Made For”.)

The shot above, taken an hour or so after I first got the lens, illustrates something many of the shots I've chosen for today illustrate: focusing on one small object, throwing the rest of the photo out of focus, often just doesn't work.

The focus in the shot above is the pair of shoes, but it really should be the lady facing the camera. I posted a similar shot of the same scene in “Street Photography (Sort of) In Roppongi Hills”, but not focusing on the photogenic lady facing the camera was a mistake.

This next shot, though overall somewhat boring, is a better use of the thin depth of field...

A busy shot, but I like the guy's slumped shoulders in contrast to the snazzy sports car.

More shots from Kyoto Station that first evening I had the lens appeared on “More Street Photography at 300mm f/2” and “Kyoto Station Evening at 300mm f/2”.

This is Pierre Nadeau, Japanese swordsmith, testing a friend's bike. I tried to follow focus as he approached, and with such a thin depth of focus I'm lucky I got anything at all, so I don't mind so much that he's barely in frame.

Zak plays shakuhachi as Pierre and Stéphane enjoy.

This next one is a perfect example of the lesson I'm learning in looking at this group of photos, that selective focus on a small object in the frame just doesn't work well...

It's hard to tell without clicking through to the larger version, but the focus is on the baseball in the water, which is there because the guy failed to get to it in time. (Other pictures in the sequence are on “Big Lens at the River: Focusing on Disappointment.”)

A couple of fun shots with more appropriate use of thin depth of field...

I've tried a number of times to get an interesting shot of fall foliage with this lens, but I've yet to get one. Here's one (of many) failures...

Compare to this shot and you'll see that I've still got progress to make.

I came outside (from my first meeting with my only Japanese niece) to see this sunset, so I very quickly grabbed the lens from the trunk and snapped a shot. The utility pole is ugly, but better than it would be at a smaller aperture.

Then there was the Gion Matsuri, Kyoto's largest and most important festival, Two months after getting the lens. This was its first real workout in my hands.....

Gion Matsuri is a month-long festival of events, with street parties the three nights before the main event (a procession of huge wooden floats). I went out each of the three nights that year, with many resulting blog posts starting with “A Thin Slice of Big Crowds at Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri Festival”, mostly with this lens.

Among those many photos are some of my favorite shots, highlighted on “The Kind Of Shot That Ultra Thin Depth Of Field Was Made For”.

I do this next shot all the time.... focusing on the screen of someone's camera...

...but in this situation the background was just too far out of focus, so you can't tell the situation unless you already know what it is. For comparison, here's a shot moments later with the focus further away...

A few wider shots... not sure that f/2 is doing much here...

Then we jump past the summer to a near-miss by a typhoon, a couple of shots that didn't quite make it into “Typhoon Was Mostly a Non-Event in Kyoto”...

For some reason I brought the 300/2 when I met Zak for coffee, and had planned to get some candids of him as he approached, but he saw me across the river right away.

Inside, I switched to a 50mm f/1.4 and tried the “focus on one small object” shot...

This time it seems to work better. A bit.