Recently had a shoot with the wonderful Charlie and used my 1DS3 with two prime lenses - a 45mmTSE and a 90mm TSE. The shoot went well, Charlie was perfect for the ideas in mind and I got some great images

BUT

the sharpness and detail from this camera / lens combination is BRUTAL! There isn't a pore, line, freckle or eyelash that didn't come out razor sharp, and given I was manually focussing, much to Charlie's amusement ("Does anyone still manual focus?") I am pleased at the result.

However, it does mean that a little bit more post-processing is required to get suitable portraits. Sometimes you can get too much of a good thing!

I can suggest a simple solution for your problem. I have an old 20d which does not show up detail like that. I will gladly swap it for your 1Ds3 and your problem is solved!

martinphoto wrote:

the sharpness and detail from this camera / lens combination is BRUTAL!

That's why some camera companies made soft focus lenses, sharpness is everthing anfd nothing depending on what your shooting, try shooting portraits with a macro lens then show the unedited results to,the model

This one of the reasons I ignore PIXEL peepers

McBrian wrote:

try shooting portraits with a macro lens then show the unedited results to,the model

because you want me dead??????

Still it's better to start with the sharpness and work down rather than never being able to reach the zenith.

Damn Bill beat me too it lol!

Was gonna offer my wee soft 24 - 70 lol

Keith

PS Nice set of shots

D700 is blessed with the same pimple enhancing technology. Slide clarity down a little in lightroom to help but it does make post pro more necessary in a lot of cases.

Brian can I ask you is there a reason you use TS-E lenses?

S

Ordinarily I use them outdoors to mess with depth of field - I can get whatever DOF I like almost regardless of aperture depending on the tilt amount and direction, then there's the obvious verticals correction.

In the shoot with Charlie I wanted to try the same trick, the location was a small room and even at low power I was getting F8 so a bit of reverse tilt was being applied to get lower DOF. This was a bit of an experiement. The other thing I like about using primes (1 Have 50 adn 85 f1.8's too) is I can get caught out with zooming too wide adn getting unintentional distortion. A prime is a safety net for my own stupidity.

Downside on the DOF manipulation is keeping the plane of the face - eyes / lips both sharp while tilting out the ears. Still experimenting.

of course it helps if you like super clarity

i am much more interested in shooting men these days precisely to be free to show whats there, enhance it even.

or find girls with excellent skin and the ability to wear very little make up, and masses of confidence too helps:)

ill tell you why im trying my level best to get away from too much airbrush.

go out to whsmith. go buy a copy of 'sophisticates hairstyle guide'. its american. its current. its horrific and god help us (and in particular our daughters) if that is the way imagery of women or men for that matter goes. i think its actually creepy to see a girl of 18 airbushed to look like a doll. painted teeth and whites of the eyes etc. unless its supposed to look that way. ,maybe surreal or avant garde etc. anyway yeah i think im happy with as little airbrushing as possible these days.

A Hasselblad rep told me a while ago that Softar lens sales had gone through the roof for portraits for same reason.

Quote::

pimple enhancing technology

Is sharpening on in the camera? I've always switched it off in camera and apply later, on Fuji S5, which has a softer look anyway that I prefer. But then it was developed specifically for the social & wedding market originally.

... Alex

deadmansclickcreative wrote:

go out to whsmith. go buy a copy of 'sophisticates hairstyle guide'. its american. its current. its horrific and god help us (and in particular our daughters) if that is the way imagery of women or men for that matter goes. i think its actually creepy to see a girl of 18 airbushed to look like a doll. painted teeth and whites of the eyes etc. unless its supposed to look that way. ,maybe surreal or avant garde etc. anyway yeah i think im happy with as little airbrushing as possible these days.

I've done exactly this type of thing with my 15 year old - go to the teen mags and point out all of the reworking done on her heroes - to let her realise that they don't start that way. She also gets to see the "before" shots I take. After that she got relaxed that portraits of her were PS'd to get rid of bad skin days.

Alex wrote:

Is sharpening on in the camera?

Nope this is sharpness in the old fashioned sense - good lenses and accurate focus - all my shots are raw and the sharpening turned down in Lightroom so that all that is added is when I take the conscious decision.

I do use Guy Gowans method for contrast improvement and I find this adds a bit of exta bite through local contrast adjustment.

yeah the magazine i mentioned is a particularly extreme example, worth seeing just for the 'oh my god' factor.

ruthlessphoto wrote:

D700 is blessed with the same pimple enhancing technology. Slide clarity down a little in lightroom to help but it does make post pro more necessary in a lot of cases.

Nikons have always been a but harsher the way they treat detail. Canon use a stronger anti-aliasing filter which softens the image slightly.