Elisa, larger images

[Orio]

Old 5D and Contax Planar 2/135 MMG:

[Katastrofo]

Unusual comp in the first photo, very original. I think it would be great in
B&W as well. Love the lighting and her expression in the 2nd, beautiful hair and perfect exposure!

[Orio]

Thanks Bill.
I always make composition with women's legs, I did a couple of good ones with Anna too. In this case I found the lines just magic and took the photo immediately. Yes it's wide open (as you asked in your original comment), I really had no choice because I found out that there is a 1975 law that says that if you have a Planar 2/135 and do not use it wide open to take advantage of it's bokeh, it's considered national crime!
In this specific image, I find that the bokeh and the colours convey an atmosphere that is a bit reminscent of the old autochromes. For this reason I did leave it in colour. I thought of B&W too, but somehow I found that it was losing something.

I am also super happy of the second photo - well the first photo is more "personal" of course, more like my own aesthetical vision, the second photo is a classic glamour pose, but, it doesn't need just that, you also have to make it right, don't you?
I maybe immodestly think that this photo shows that a 135mm is not obsolete for portraits as many say. Of course, it must be one of the best 135mm lenses. And I think I've got the best ot them all

[Katastrofo]

I have no doubt your 135 is the best, but I think subject matter lends a
certain synergism to the photo as well.

[Orio]

[Orio]

Another one, taken with the Planar 2/100 Contax MMG:

[Olivier]

The first one is top !
Congrats.

[Attila]

First one WOW,WOOOOW

[poilu]

great series, superb portrait with the 135!

[Orio]

Thank you guys, here's another portrait with Planar 135 wide open:

[Katastrofo]

[martinsmith99]

Who says 135's are obsolete?

Middle two look best for me and they seem a little sharper?

[Orio]

Thanks guys.

Martin, yes, the middle two are sharper, because they are not wide open.
In fact, the other two are not much unsharp in the focus point, but the focus area is really narrow, because at the very short distance I took them, a 135mm f/2 really blurs fast as soon as you go OOF.

About the 135mm lens, there is people who think that the 135mm is an obsolete focal lenght, and that most people today prefers to portrait at 85 to 100 mm.
In fact, there are not many new 135mm lenses produced recently. Even the autofocus ones like the Canon seem to be quite aged.
In the past instead 135mm was a more popular focal lenght than 85-90mm, mainly because it was cheaper to produce, so especially in the cheap section of the market you find a lot of 135mm lenses, and a lot less shorter teles.
So in the 50s and 60s you have a lot of cheap Tessar-likes and Sonnar-likes 135mm teles with slow apertures such as f/4.5, f/4 or f/3.5
In the 70s there was the "boom peak" of the fast 135mm lenses, such as this one Planar, and the ones from Nikon, Canon, etc.

[Orio]

One from Planar 1.4/85 Contax (stopped down around f/2.8 or f/4):



On a side note: it took me half an hour to "iron out" digitally the bad rides in the fabric background. After three days of workshop it was in a really quite bad state. Conclusion? If I had to build my own studio, I will get paper backgrounds, absolutely.

[Himself]

#1 - You missed the focus again or on purpose. Hard to tell. The focus is on her left foot. As a composition is the best.
#5 and #3, have standard colors on my screen, while #4 has that yellowish tinge.

[Orio]

[Himself]

Mea culpa, I meant leg.
That's why I said that would be hard to tell whether you did it on purpose or not.

[Orio]

It had to be done this way. If I did it at f/8 with full DOF and details, it would have been, like, a butcher shot?

[Himself]

[Orio]

Sweet legs!



(Planar 1.4/85 Contax)

[poilu]

[Orio]

Your wish is my command!

Sweet everything:



(Planar 1.4/85 Contax)

[poilu]

[Orio]

[Orio]

To help the girl with her portfolio (and help myself with mine, also), here's a grungy one:



For those who think that I'm a boring purist: I betcha thought I couldn't do it!

(P.S.: Planar 1.2/85 Contax 50 Years series, wide open or f/2 I can't remember)