Poor man’s Depth of Field effect
Sunday, December 30th, 2007If you ever need to take a portrait style picture of yourself— say for Facebook or maybe some lame-o online dating site that only a desperate loser would ever resort to— one way to make yourself stand out from the background is to purchase a hideously expensive special lens for your hideously expensive digital SLR camera.
Another much cheaper alternative involves the use of a regular compact camera and a swivel chair:
- Sit on swivel chair
- Hold camera at standard awkward arm’s length
- Hold shutter button down halfway to lock focus
- Give the chair a spin
- Hold as still as you can and take the shot while chair is still spinning (and try to time it so you don’t have light source directly behind or in front of you)
- Be careful standing up, because you’re probably dizzier than you realize (you’re not twelve years old anymore)
I was concentrating quite hard for the first one. Using a monopod would probably be helpful for getting less blur in the face for higher resolution shots, since you could prop it against the chair to keep it relatively stable.
As you can see I have yellow hair again (In these shots it is more orangey because it is still wet). This time I’m not going to bother trying to tint it to get rid of the yellow since it just ends up making my hair look kind of like grey straw.
December 30th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
If you already have a hideously expensive Nikon DSLR, Nikon makes an excellent 50mm F1.8 AF lens - beautiful depth of field, and the lens can be found online for just over $100. It’s one of the least expensive lenses you can find, and it’s more than worth every cent.
December 30th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
oh, i remember the beautiful 50mm f1.4 nikon lens from my old F5 days. (i think it was F5, no maybe it was F2, or no, it could have been an FE)…. ahhh my mind is going!
December 30th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I’m thinking about an SLR, but what stops me is a) size/portablility and b) I’m not actually so interested in the SLR mechanism, (wearing glasses makes it a pain to use a view finder) really I just want a camera with good optics and large CCD. I’m yet to find the ideal model for me…
December 31st, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Just tried this spinning trick out.
Pretty cool.
I feel sick now.
I think I’d better have a little lie-down.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Very funny Mark! Can I quote you?
When there are no spinney chairs, or volunteers ;) the expensive DSLR does work adequately.
http://www.pbase.com/michael_toye/image/89177328
December 31st, 2007 at 11:44 pm
By the way, apart from when sleeping, I am forced to wear glasses. It doesn’t interfere with my photography at all.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:54 pm
Of course you may quote me anytime :)
That’s a nice shot BTW
January 1st, 2008 at 12:06 am
and i did :)
http://chefdude.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/i-really-am-reconsidering-why-i-spent-6-grand-on-a-camera-and-3-lenses/
January 4th, 2008 at 12:46 am
hey mark,
just saw etown has the Nikon D40 kit (6MP model, not the 10MP D40X) for $699 inc GST which includes the 18-55mm lens.
it’s a very compact DSLR which is too small for my taste but you said you want a small camera. the bad thing is, you still have to use the viewfinder and it doesn’t support the great and the cheap AF-D 50mm f/1.8 lens (well it does, but you have to manual focus)
January 4th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
i swapped my entire nikon system to go to canon. better lens range than nikon. try a canon 400D.
January 5th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Wooo boy… we’re talking NZ dollars here! That’s $1400 or so in my money, a little more than I’m expecting to pay :)
Although, it does remove dust… DUST… …
Until I watched that clip I had never thought about dust problems before, now I’m going to have nightmares about dust clinging to my eyeballs
January 5th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Canon may have a better professional grade lens range but
for most of us who can’t spend $2000+ for a L lens, Nikon has just as good if not better lens range for the casual/beginner-intermediate photographers compare to Canon.
the dust is a problem for SLRs but it’s not really as bad as it seems.
just don’t change lens in the middle of queen street and if you have to, put your camera facing downwards and you should be fine. And with the help of a small air blower, you should be fine even if some dust get inside the camera.