A Snapshot with my Nikon 35mm F2

I know a lot of people saying that there is not much nice scenery to take in Singapore, and to a certain extent I seem to agree with the general consensus. Therefore those living in this island city state will have to make do with what we have got and play around with different focal lengths to get the effect we want. Shown here is a rather interesting and also expressive snapshot taken in an outdoor natural setting! Taken at F2.8 aperture, the gem of the lens exhibited great flare control and allowed me to use a fast shuttle speed to freeze the subject in motion, in this backlit green patch of the beach. Moderately wide, the 35mm F2 would make a nice environmental portrait lens. The D700 Auto White Balance worked surprisingly fine in this case, though I have to say not always in cases like very warm evening sunshine or in shaded forrested areas. It would help a lot, but no reflectors were used in this shot, though the sand helps throw back some reflected light onto the subject. Its a snapshot anyway!

Just added another recent snapshot update: Too lazy to create a new post. Took this picture while strolling along Arab Street on Labour Day. Hat's off to the 35mm F2! Cheers!

Another Natural Light Portrait with the Nikon 50mm F1.4 AF-D

What do I like about the D700 and the Nikon 50mm F1.4 AF-D combo? They make up a very useful natural low light combination that is great for on location portraits, maintaining some sense of the surroundings. It also provides closer interaction with the subject for better communication and feedback with the photographer. Many people think that the 50mm focal length is a boring lens, but for me, I feel it closest replicates the eye and hence is the most honest of the lens without distorting reality for dramatic effects. A very general purpose lens that can give stunning results under the right hands. Lens are tools to be used like the brushes of the artist on a canvas anyway.

Backlit Portraits with the Lovely Nikon 85mm F1.8 AF-D

Here are samples of two backlit portraits with the Nikon 85mm F1.8 AF-D and Nikon D700, with nothing but available light. No lens hood was used and this picture was taken at aperture F2.8 for a nice balance of Depth of Field and Bokeh. Surprisingly the lens did not seem to flare in this sample at such a big aperture setting. Full frame is the way to go for 85mm focal length in my opinion, giving good subject and photographer interaction, and lessening the distance for portraits, hence producing shallower DOF while maintaing a decent level of sharpness at F2.8 as these examples show.