300mm

The last weekend of January, and I'm stuck in doors. Saturday I was busy which meant it all depended on Sunday. We were going to Flower Farm for breakfast; cake and tea. It would make up for me not cycling yesterday.

I woke up to heavy rain being blown against the bedroom window. I was just about to send an abort text; Matt beat me to it.

So what to do with my day? I haven't had a photoshoot since this one. After breakfast it was time to get the camera out before it started raining again.

I have plans for March that include using a 300mm prime lens. It's not one I use very often so I needed to see how it performed as a portrait lens. I wanted to use it at its maximum aperture. This would blur the background and help the subject stand out. Giving a 3D effect. I don't think a camera phone can do that, even with the software and two lens trickery they now have. I have previously used a 80-200mm for portraits but I hadn't used the long end of the zoom for full length shots. Preferring around 100mm because I could still use the flash on camera to obtain the right exposure balance. With a longer lens the flash would have to be closer to the subject. This would be difficult without an assistant.  In March I have a second person helping me, so he can hold the light.

Photographing my bike which isn't very tall meant I had to open the side gate and leave the garden to get it all in, I ended up over thirty feet away.

I like the result, I think it does have a 3D feel. High speed sync meant I could control the ambient, or background light with the shutter speed. The trigger allowed me to adjust the power of the flash remotely, so no walking back and forth. I intend to test this setup again to make sure there are no problems in March when there'll be people to wonder what the problem is if I stop shooting. The bike just stood there impassively, only showing some impatience by falling over. Although that could have been the wind or the bricks moving.

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Dulwich Park

Third shot with Janayah. She is quickly settling into the photoshoots now. She's not bothered by passersby. You can see it in her face, she just looks relaxed.

It was also an opportunity for me to use a new speed light. It supports High Speed Sync (HSS). This means I can use as fast a shutter speed as I want with the speed light. There a lot of explanations about what HSS is and how it works. So I wont go into to a lot of detail.

When a flash of any kind is used there is a maximum shutter speed that can be used, it's called the sync speed. If you go above this speed a shadow is cast on the sensor by the shutter as the flash fires.

Why would you user HSS? If you want to alter the exposure you use a smaller aperture, right?

If there is a well lit background, you either expose for it and have the subject in silhouette, or expose for the subject and have the background over-exposed. With HSS you expose for the background with the combination of shutter speed and aperture. And use the flash to light the subject.

If the location is well lit, without HSS you would have to use a very small aperture to in order to be able to user a shutter at your camera's sync speed. A side effect of a small aperture is a big depth of field. So the background will be in focus. By blurring it with a combination of large aperture and HSS, the subject stands out more.

My speed light isn't powerful enough to completely overpower the sun, so the nearly cloudless sky is still largely over exposed. But Janayah isn't silhouetted and the rest of the background is well exposed.


Two different styles of outfit, two different areas of the park. I think the bridge suited the dress Janayah was wearing. I also used a 80-200 that I had only previously used for motorsport. The long lens is used to foreshorten perspective. Combined with a large aperture it made Janayah stand out more, almost giving a 3D effect. It meant standing a long way from Janayah, losing a little of the connection I like to have in my pictures. But I liked the results, I'll use it again if space allows.

I hope you like the results.

85mm lens

These two are at 200mm on my 80-200mm telephoto zoom

And then with HSS and the 85mm again

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