Originally posted by clackers With extra time, and having nailed some standard shots needed for both your portfolios, wouldn't you use the now good relationship to attempt more adventurous poses, lighting setups and expressions?
I think we may have different philosophies, Zzeitg!
It was tricky enough to convince my wife that it was actually her idea to bring female models home for shooting**
Actually, I basically limit the time to around some three to max four hours at once as that should be enough for more reasons. The main reason is that I kind of get tired after three hours of shooting in the afternoon/early evening as I usually get up very early (it's like 3:50AM here now and I'm already up and finished with emails and checking the stuff for the work today) Anyway, I'm a bit messed up now that you mentioned portfolios... So far I had no intention to work on a portfolio as I imagine one but once I get to have a decent number of those "yes!" shots, I might consider doing that as well. The model is also just a "plain" everyday working person who has probably absolutely no idea what to do with a bunch of photos showing her in the best light... Except for personal pleasure of feeling good about herself. That is kind of what I'm trying to get. A perfect shot of a person proving her wrong thinking she doesn't look good just because of all the lousy mobile shots she has around on social media... I usually ask the potential model to show me her best shot and I usually get two answers, one is "I'm not looking good on photos because the camera doesn't like me" or get a smudged something with insuficient amount of light shot with a crappy mobile... Anyway, I'm a bit puzzled with what you mean by "more adventurous poses" ? If you mean nude, that is kind of off the table as I'm not really willing to get into that. Yet. And so far, I'm completely happy that I get what I ask for... Asking for more might end up as cutting shortcuts. And you know what happened with red riding hood when she took a shortcut... She met the big bad wolf...
** Every man can be a succesful one. A succesfull man is a person who can do whatever he wants. The secret is simple: he has to convince his wife that it was actually her idea...
---------- Post added 12-27-16 at 04:17 ----------
Originally posted by LesDMess The 100mm f4 is already there wide open. Even more so since the crop sensor only uses the center portion. This is a good thing since crop sensors starts hitting diffraction sooner.
Of course in the used market, it may be possible le to get a bad sample of a lens.
---------- Post added 12-26-16 at 06:33 PM ----------
I would suggest controlled retesting for two reasons. One is that crop sensors exhibit deeper DOF at the same aperture as full frame and also hits diffraction sooner. I can't imagine both eyes not in sharp focus before f8 so perhaps there's a focusing issue? Handheld manual focusing with tiny viewfinders - specially without good manual focusing screens, can be very challenging.
I do get sharp focus on both eyes at around F4 but not on every shot if there isn't a sufficient amount of light. That's why I went for the monolights as I became completely aware that DIY El-Cheapo lighting setups do work some times but I can't get consistently reliable results working with such a setup. Not to mention the clumsiness of such a setup... When I get enough light, it's all okay. So, I wouldn't blame the gear yet for my own lack of knowledge, bad eyesight and lack of experience working with people