Barbie's amazing new Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G lens on her Nikon D700 - lens used for photo: my Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro f/2.8GMy recent DSLR Photography Lesson students just keep getting more and more great gear making me more and more envious! In fact for our third of four lessons Barbie got so much new stuff we were only able to use some of it. Last lesson if you recall she brought out her new tripod, this time it was the amazing new Nikkor 85m f/1.4G lens!! I was very excited to get some hands on time with it and immediately was impressed. It was by far the fastest and smoothest focusing lens I ever used. The bokeh was stunning. You may think that $2,000 for a lens is crazy expensive, but I think it's worth every penny. It is the type of lens you almost cannot take a bad photo with, it is just that good.
Much like a lesson I had last week with Golda just using her 50mm f/1.8 lens, this lesson I focused on showing Barbie how to get the most out of the magnificent bokeh her 85mm lens can make. We also worked a lot on the mechanics of setting up and taking a shot, starting with the proper way to stand. I advised her to leave the flip-flops at home for future lessons and wear more stable footwear. She ended up taking most shots barefoot tonight actually! Since we were both using prime lenses, our legs had to be the zoom. My style is to get my body rock solid before even putting the camera to my eye. Once I look through the viewfinder if I cannot compose the shot how I like, I do not lean or sway. I pick up my feet and let them do the zooming. I then reset to my normal rock solid shooting position. If one does not start a photograph with this discipline, then it will be hard to repeatedly produce sharp images.
Barbie did get the new top-of-the-line Nikon SB-900 Speedlight as well, but we did not have anytime to use it at all. It is something to look forward to for our fourth of four lessons next week.
--Professional Model DSLR Photography Lessons now available!