One of the (many) things I love about Tim is the way he supports me in my photography hobby. He doesn’t only model for me, or provide me with lens and camera combinations that create beautiful images, but he also provides opportunities for me to learn more about photography. We went to Sydney a few weeks ago so that I could attend a workshop on portrait photography. It was fabulous because a whole lot of technical things clicked for me, allowing me to take more control of what I’m doing behind the camera.
I don’t know if my developing skills are apparent to anyone else but me, but I’m now taking images where I control all the really important elements – and by that I mean the light.
Here’s a shot from an impromptu shoot this morning where I was testing a different lens/camera combination than my usual set-up. This was taken using a 42.5mm lens (full-frame equivalent = 85mm), at f1.2. It’s a beautiful lens – look what it does to the background: it gives a gorgeous bokeh* and beautiful separation of subject (Tim, in this case) and background.
The bokeh forces the viewer to focus on the subject and thus its appeal in photography. If all of the greenery had been in focus, the image would have been very busy and the background would have been competing for attention.
Thanks Tim for being a model and especially for being the means of me continuing to learn about photography.
*Bokeh – a Japanese word meaning ‘blur’.
Musings from the cold 