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60mm f2.4 vs 56mm f1.2 for Portraits

Started Sep 7, 2019 | Photos thread
Cagey75
Cagey75 Senior Member • Posts: 1,347
Re: 60mm f2.4 vs 56mm f1.2 for Portraits

Montanawildlives wrote:

Hmmmm....all this talk of "rendering" and "pop" requires me to ask all you folks to define your terms (which parts of the photograph are you talking about, specifically?).

Otherwise, I'll assume you are just talking about wider aperture and the consequently more blurry background.

I'd honestly like to know if there is something specific you can point to and describe.

Thanks!

To me 'Pop' in images refers to an almost 3D-like quality, subjects have depth, great contrast, images don't look flat or lifeless.  You do not need shallow DOF to achieve it with the right lens.

I'm not really seeing that here, no offence to the OP, I guess they meant it more so as shallower DOF - but that doesn't always make images 'pop' - they can still seem quite flat.

If you asked someone not into photography which images they might prefer, chances are they will opt for the ones with more in focus, not the faster aperture ones.  There was a YT video on this a while back, think it was Denae and Andrew did it.  They show a bunch of non photography people various images shot at varying apertures, and most tended to prefer images with more detail in the background, because more of the subjects were in sharp focus.

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