Tag Archives: depth of field

Scrabble geek

Most of my shooting for the past month or two has been with prime lenses. When I got into digital photography way back in 2010, I gravitated towards zooms. Good zooms with IS (image stabilization) are OK when the light is low, but there comes a time when a fast prime is needed–and fast primes (I gleaned rather quickly) are yet another photographic learning curve. This guy, unbeknownst to him, helped me while I was experimenting with focus points and shallow depth of field in a very low light situation.

Scrabble geek through a fast prime lens

Lens: Canon EF 85mm f/1.8. 1/60 at f/1.8, ISO 3200.

Canon 5DM3 geeking out in low light.

Fiddle player

Last night Maggie and I joined some friends and fellow musicians for an Irish seisiún at the Aqus Cafe. Maggie brought her accordion, but I left my guitar at home and brought a camera instead. The space was relatively dark so I put on my 85mm f/1.8, cranked up the ISO and went for it. Here’s a shot of my friend Scott working his instrument.

Fiddle player at a local Irish seisiún

Lens: Canon EF 85mm f/1.8. 1/30 at f/2.0, ISO 3200.

Canon 5DM3 working the prime time.

Wrangling the beast with lilies

With me and the 5D Mark III’s full-frame sensor it’s all a crap shoot, but I’m learning by going where I have to go. For the time being, depth of field is the challenge.

Yellow Asiatic lilies 2

Yellow Asiatic lilies 1

Lens: Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L.
1st shot: lens at 105mm, 1/250 second at f/4.5, ISO 100.
2nd shot: lens at 58mm, 1/1600 second at f/4.5, ISO 500.

Canon 5DM3 while relaxing on the patio.

Walking the dogs

I decided I needed to give the 5DM3 a go during the commute home today. I ended up going all the way out to Fort Cronkhite on the Marin Headlands to get this photo. What I learned along the way is that a full frame sensor camera handles depth of field way differently than a crop sensor camera. Time to tame the beast.

Woman walking dogs at Fort Cronkhite

Lens: Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 at 105mm. 1/640 second at f/8.0, ISO 200. (All 105mm posts so far with this lens!?!)

Canon 5DM3 while winding down the commute.