Top portrait lens

mobilejunkie wrote:

Jonathan Brady wrote:

like this..

Excellent photo. Do you remember roughly how far you were from subjects? Also, I would have expected more shallow focus at 135 and f2.

I want to buy this lens but I'm not sure about working distance.

I was a LONG way away.  I couldn't communicate with the couple unless I yelled (there was a semi-busy street behind me).  Remember, for DOF, the further away you are, the deeper the DOF given the same aperture (the DOF at macro distances is paper thin, regardless of the aperture chosen).  Also, we're looking at a small version of this image.  Printed large and viewed up close, the DOF is small

Working distance has two factors: angle of view as well as minimum focusing distance.  In this case, for portraits, the angle of view is the only limiting factor (and is, I'm sure, what you were referring to).  It can be quite large depending on how much of their body you want to include in the image.  If communication with your subject is important and you're going to be shooting full-body images, consider the 85mm focal length instead.  Additionally, you could stick with 135 and simply place a cell phone (on speaker) on the ground behind them and wear a headset to communicate with them (if you MUST have the 135 focal length, or even longer like 200mm).

Look at some of Lisa Holloway's work.  She shoots from a long distance quite often, with the 200mm f/2L IS and the results are STUNNING (her post-processing skills are second-to-none as well).