While I was at cars and coffee, Jia Jia asked me to take a photo of her next to the SF skyline. I snapped a couple pics really quickly to see what the 35mm 1.4g could do at a couple different ranges.
Just a quick disclaimer, I probably could have done a better job with the composition. I realize now that the dock in the background was a bad choice—it’s distracting… and the rocks are a little too tall. They’re visually aligned with her shoulder line, which is doesn’t look awesome. Anyway, I learned a lot from this experiment.
I was about 8′ away from Jia Jia when I shot this. At f1.6, this is pretty good. The was a ton of green fringing around high contrast areas, but I think with the strong color grading, I was able to hide some of the flaws.
I was about 4.5′ when I shot this. While the blurred background looks good, I think I could have shot it at F2.8 to help give the photo more context. I also think that I should have shot this at a different angle because the perspective is so flat. It’s like 3 planes glued together. When shooting at this range, I think I’m going to have to really pay attention to not just the foreground, but what’s happening in the background. The lens is wide enough to give a lot of context.
And lastly, this one was shot at around 3′. Nice separation from the foreground and background. Again, I really need to pay attention to what’s not in focus.
It’s amazing what the 35mm can do. With all those choices, you have to be thoughtful. I’m just amazed at what professional photographers and cinematographers can do.
