About to order a Sigma 85mm 1.4!

^^^
Lot's of very bright but small highlights that are not very far away make smooth challenging.
Also because the lens is so sharp at 1.4 (sharper than the 85Lii link), the OOF discs are quite defined as well.
 
To be fair it's not the hardest job in the world to smooth out bokeh like that in post, and it's not like the 85L would do an awful lot better in that situation anyway.

Backgrounds are rarely that close to the subject and they're rarely that busy anyway, so if anything, the degree of isolation it affords is very commendable.

Just about to put in an order for one of these myself :)
 
Here's another...

700_5602-Edit.jpg
 
Gorgeous light, gorgeous goldie (I assume), lovely lens as well.

Hope you don't mind, I chucked the image into photoshop to see how the specular highlights clean up (I've had to get used to doing that with my Canon 50 1.4) and it came out very nicely. Obviously it's not something to put absolutely every image through but it does a good job of adding even more of the dreamy aesthetic than the legendary 85L by getting rid of occasionally distracting highlights. It's not adding bokeh so much as smoothing out those specular highlights.

YtQHk.jpg


The nice thing about lenses like these is that you can do that quite easily as the background is thrown so far out of focus, that a slight outline or masking error isn't usually a huge problem for this.

Again, before we get into a fauxtography argument I'll put the disclaimer I only ever do this on images I get printed or ones I really think need it. :)

EDIT: This is a bit of an exaggerated effect as the bit of the original I left is pretty much the busiest part of the image, but you get the idea :)
 
^^^
Yeh, I'v done some bokeh smoothing before, I find you need to be very careful how much you apply though, and blur looks like blur and tbh hurts my eyes. However bokeh doesn't, so I generally would only soften the bokeh slightly, as well as may reduce contrast.
 
Thanks Rojin,
He often get's compliments by passers by also, he seems to enjoy having his picture taken and is more than happy to pose in exchange for a biscuit.

I thought about making a little sign saying "will pose for food".
 
An Exception said:
^^^
Yeh, I'v done some bokeh smoothing before, I find you need to be very careful how much you apply though, and blur looks like blur and tbh hurts my eyes. However bokeh doesn't, so I generally would only soften the bokeh slightly, as well as may reduce contrast.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know what you mean, generally it's just a couple of irritating ones that really pull focus away from the subject if I sort anything out. The obsession with the dreamy softness of the 85L has been rubbing off on me to convince myself I can get the same effect with the Sigma :D
 
Ksanti said:
Yeah I know what you mean, generally it's just a couple of irritating ones that really pull focus away from the subject if I sort anything out. The obsession with the dreamy softness of the 85L has been rubbing off on me to convince myself I can get the same effect with the Sigma :D
Click to expand...

There isn't much in it from what I can tell from peoples samples, although apparently the sigma isn't really 85mm, it's something like 82mm as it's slightly a wider angle.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=11118103
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom