{"id":1824,"date":"2011-07-19T00:58:53","date_gmt":"2011-07-18T15:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2011-07-19\/1824"},"modified":"2011-07-19T00:58:53","modified_gmt":"2011-07-18T15:58:53","slug":"the-kind-of-shot-that-ultra-thin-depth-of-field-was-made-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2011-07-19\/1824","title":{"rendered":"The Kind Of Shot That Ultra Thin Depth Of Field Was Made For"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDude, She is *So* Into You<\/span>\ntwo people alone with each other amid a crowded<\/span> sea of revelers\n<\/div>\n\n

The photo above is pretty much exactly the kind of shot I had<\/span> in mind\nwhen I first<\/span> thought to venture out into the\ncrowds<\/a> at Kyoto's Gion Matsuri festival, and seems to be what the Nikkor 300mm f\/2<\/a> was made\nfor. I don't<\/span> know how many hundreds of thousands of people were milling about,\nbut as far as the lens was concerned, at that moment there were only two people on earth.<\/p>\n\n

I bet they felt the same.<\/p>\n\n

Just compare it to a shot taken a few<\/span> seconds later at f\/11...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/11, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMuch More Crowded at f\/11<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Back to the isolating effects of f\/2...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nYou Knew This Was Going To Happen<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMutual Brain Freeze<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPortrait Mode<\/span>\nShe's still digging you in a big way\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I've lived in this area on and off for 22 years, but I hadn't<\/span> been to\nGion Matsuri for 21 years because it's usually so incredibly hot and\ncrowded, but a few<\/span> weeks ago a friend<\/span> told me a bit<\/span> about how festive the\nevening atmosphere would be when the streets were closed, and I commented<\/span>\nabsentmindedly that it would be great for my 300mm f\/2<\/a>. The more I<\/span>\nthought about it, the more an image formed in my mind of what I wanted<\/span> to\ncapture, and how to do it.<\/p>\n\n

I went to a home center and spent $10 on a small<\/span> folding stool that I\ncould<\/span> transport easily while on foot, and stand on to put me above the\nriver of people when using the camera. I packed<\/span> the 300mm f\/2 into a\nlens<\/span> backpack<\/a> and threw a 50mm<\/span> f\/1.4, my GPS unit<\/a>, and my wallet\ninto a pouch.<\/span> On the side<\/span> of the backpack, I attached<\/span> my monopod<\/a>, sporting a\nrecently<\/span>-acquired Really\nRight Stuff<\/i> MH-01<\/b> Hi-Capacity Monopod Head<\/a> (like most\nReally Right Stuff<\/b> stuff, a wonderful<\/span> bit of engineering).<\/p>\n\n

On the first night<\/a>\n(of three), I took a<\/span> bunch of shots showing the mood, and I'm really happy\nwith them, but I found<\/span> I enjoyed<\/span> the people shots more, which is what I had<\/span>\nin mind in the first place. That's why most of the shots from day two<\/a> are people. By the time<\/span> day three<\/a>\ncame about, I had a<\/span> pretty strong idea of what to do: set up in a location<\/span>\nthat doesn't block the flow of the crowds, and watch 20-50 meters away for\ninteresting looks, cute kids, classy women, happy couples, and smiles.\nMostly smiles.<\/p>\n\n

On the first night I got this shot<\/a>, which\nfelt very right... it was exactly what I had<\/span> described to my friend when\nthe idea had first struck, and made me feel great to have an idea validated\nin practice. <\/p>\n\n

On the third day when I first set up shop at a particular<\/span> spot early in\nthe evening, I immediately<\/span> noticed the happy couple seen in this post...\nthey were sending such a great<\/span> vibe that it was impossible to miss, and\nimpossible not to smile with them. After a minute<\/span> or so, I was so<\/span> thrilled\nwith the photos that I wanted<\/span> to share with them, so broke down my gear and\nheaded off to find them, catching them just as they were jaunting off arm\nin arm. I showed<\/span> them a shot<\/span> or two and gave them my card. I hope they<\/span> contact\nme so I can<\/span> send them the full set, and thank them again for their smiles.<\/p>\n\n

UPDATE:<\/b> they contacted me, loved the photos, and I sent<\/span> the whole set. \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The photo above is pretty much exactly the kind of shot I had in mind when I first thought to venture out into the crowds at Kyoto's Gion Matsuri festival, and seems to be what the Nikkor 300mm f\/2 was made for. I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of people were milling about, but as far as the lens was concerned, at that moment there were only two people on earth.<\/p>

I bet they felt the same.<\/p>

Just compare it to a shot taken a few seconds later at f\/11...<\/p>

Back to the isolating effects of f\/2...<\/p>

I've [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,26,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}