Window to the World
A friend of mine's eye, taken in a graveyard at noon. Used 1 extension tube with a NIKKOR 50mm f-1.8
A friend of mine's eye, taken in a graveyard at noon. Used 1 extension tube with a NIKKOR 50mm f-1.8
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Jun, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken in one of the larger cemeteries in my hometown, since we were doing a shoot and needed somewhere natural but open. I wanted to get the reflection in the model's eye, but the lens I was using only focuses to about 2 feet, so it was a good excuse for me to use my extension tubes!Time
This was shot in the afternoon, around 3pm. I was waiting on a confirmation from the model, and as soon as I got the call I headed out. I was glad actually, because I wanted to avoid noon lighting.Lighting
I wanted to avoid straight top-down light, but the trees where I was shooting were actually thick enough that in the end it didn't matter anyway. The dappled light and heavy shade made this picture much easier to create, especially since my style leans toward more moody-looking shots.Equipment
This was shot freehand on my little old Nikon D5100, with my much older 1988 Nikkor Series E 50mm f/1.8.Inspiration
My original plan for the photoshoot was to do facial shots for intense black and white portraits, but we started with full body shots. As the shoot went on I wanted to push the intimacy a little and focus more on different parts of the model's face. 10 years ago I did a series of eye pictures with a variety of people and it was great fun, I realized I hadn't taken one since so I had the model sit and look into the distance while I took out an extension tube and got the lens in close.Editing
This one was fairly simple, nothing too complex. First it had to be changed to black and white since I only shoot RAW, and then I had to balance the highlights and shadows to a place I felt looked the most appealing. I did some mild sharpening to bring out the crisp sliver of her eyelashes and a bit of the reflection in her eye, but not enough to ruin the dreamy softness of the bokeh.In my camera bag
My bag is very packed! It's a budget setup but it's large. I have My D5100 and a long list of lenses. My 1972 Nikkor-Q 200mm f/4, 1963 Nikkor-S 50mm f/2, 1988 Nikkor Series E 50mm f/1.8, two modern DX kit lenses: the Nikkor VR 18-55 and the Nikkor 55-200, an Access P-MC 28mm f/2.8 (built like a tank!), a Zykkor 135mm f/2.8 (also built like a tank!), and a Holga 60mm f/8. Accessories are a Nikon SB-20 flash unit, a Vivitar 3-pack of extension tubes, a Quantaray 2X AF teleconverter, and a Hoya Star-Eight filter. My backup kit is a Nikon D90 with a Sigma 28-90mm Macro D, a Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO Macro Super II, another Nikkor Series E 50mm f/1.8, and an Olympus T-20 flash unit. I have a large variety of extra filters but I don't usually carry them with me due to space.Feedback
Be prepared to take a few more shots than you expected. Eye models tend to blink with the click of the shutter, so you might be surprised with how many flubs you have to go through before getting the right one! I was lucky to have a composed model and this was only the fifth shot, but with extension tubes it can be difficult to put your model at ease with how close you have to get to the face. Lenses with higher zoom can make it more physically comfortable for the model, but the shake of both your hands and the model's face at higher zoom can also make it harder to capture a sharp shot.
