About that Bokeh (Another FF/m43 comparison)

BruceB609 wrote:

This shot, in NYC, has enough information in the background blur to indicate a city location, that she was probably sitting in relation to standing figures in the back. The circles in the blur accentuate the same in her eyes or what she's wearing. If I'd taken this same shot with extensive blur I'd have marred this opportunity. I may as well have shown you something that was taken in front of a bright mottled canvas backdrop in the studio… or wherever.

Thanks for the positive feedbacks but I'll be quite honest about this shot, it was just an opportunity to test the new Oly 75mm I'd purchased. I wanted to see what advantage there was to distancing the camera from a subject and still getting portrait qualities. With other primes, I'd have to be much closer for this kind of blur. I shot quite a number of people and very few even noticed me. As for the blur strategy here, well this wasn't staged. With people on the street, speed and number of frames lend to better frame selections later rather than trying to get it all in just one or two well thought out shots, an odds thing with me. The other thing to consider is that if the angle I shot had had been slightly different, the highlight circles could have appeared different. I just get enough shots to raise odds of getting some payoff.

Unrelated to the blur subject, the lighting on her is characteristic of many Manhattan streets in sunlight reflections. It comes off all the glass that tower over typical locations like this. It's the same principle of reflectors in the studio because direct sunlight on her would probably be too high in contrasts. A welcome convenience in the city.