Category: Family

As I continue my journey in portrait photography, I knew that I had to have this classic portrait lens. The Nikon 85mm f/1.8 AF-S is a fast maximum aperture lens that is perfect for taking head and shoulder portraits. Although designed for FX, it will also work well on DX or crop sensored cameras. Wide open the bokeh is outstanding. Although I have experimented in different environments with this glass he following imagets were taken in my studio using Alien Bees B800 with a 60″ octagon soft box as the key light and several other strobes as fill and back lights. Exposures were metered using a Sekonic L-478.  This lens has continued to exceed my expectations.  I look forward to using this in an environmental setting in the near future.

85mm 1/250th at f/16 ISO 100

85mm 1/250th at f/16 ISO 100

85mm 1/250th @ f/16 ISO 100

There is nothing more precious that the love between a mother and her child. This image clearly reflects that love and bond.  This past weekend I spent two days shooting Vinny for his first birthday and first valentine day.  Now that his is more mobile, it took a little more work to keep him on the set.  The problem is that after 378 frames, it becomes more and more difficult to select one image over another.

The setup for this image was:

• 60” Octagon soft box as the key light
• 2’ x 4’ soft box as a fill light
• Back light with a 40-degree impact grid
• All strobes are Alien Bees B800 strobes

Camera:  Nikon 750 with Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G lens

Metered with Sekonic L-478

Hand held in manual mode: f/11 at 250/sec.