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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.
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Flowers wide open
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Do you think this wide-open approach works?

#1 Nikkor-H 85/1.8 Ai´d with PK-13 extension. Actually, this is at f/2, not wide open.


#2 Helios-81N 50mm f/2 with PK-13.


#3 Helios-81N 50mm f/2 with PK-13.


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Wide open gives very smooth OOF, but severely limits the DOF. These have "dreamy" quality because of those two factors, and if that is what you are looking for, then it works fine


patrickh


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It works also fine for me, the dreamy effect together with the pastel colors are perfectly in harmony, well done and what a great lens!


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terrific, painting-like photographs...

#2 is striking !

Cheers
Tobias


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#1 is lovely for me, better than others ( which are good however)


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very nice rendering wide open !


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Hello, Markku !
Great painting-like rendering ! Love especially 1 and 2 !


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I like all three very much!


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Thank you all!

I like the element of surprise in this kind of shots. The human eye doesn´t see the world this way, it focuses automatically, do we see everything sharp. And when you are very close to the subject, a small movement can change the background from shade to light.


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I like numbers 1 and 3 a fair amount. Number 2 has some shadowing around it that looks like a Photoshop artifact (though I know it's from the lens being wide-open at close range.)


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David wrote:
I like numbers 1 and 3 a fair amount. Number 2 has some shadowing around it that looks like a Photoshop artifact (though I know it's from the lens being wide-open at close range.)

+1


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Number 3 gives me an optical illusion lol, is it convex or concave, weird Very Happy


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I like them all. Great captured.

For me much better than the complete flowers sharp.

Wink


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Rolf wrote:
I like them all. Great captured.

For me much better than the complete flowers sharp.

Wink


+1


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It sure works. I also like to photograph flowers this way. Your samples are very nice for me.
Two reflections:

1- with this style of photograph, framing is crucial. You generally don't want large areas of a flat colour in; also, partial
shapes of flowers other than the main subject have to be evaluated carefully (if they look good, if they are distracting, etc.)

2- background colour is also crucial. It needs to match the main subject well. You may want to consider the use of
selected cardboards for backgrounds if the ambient backgorund colours do not fit your image in an ideal way.