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My neighbor's advice about shooting wide open almost cost me a whole roll
My neighbor Louie, who shot weddings in the 80s, told me to always shoot at f/8 or f/11 unless I was doing portraits. I ignored him last month on a trip to Asheville and shot a whole roll of Portra 400 at f/1.8 on my Pentax. About half the frames came back with the focus landing on the wrong part of the scene, like a tree branch instead of the person in front of it. I finally get why manual focus with a shallow depth of field is a trap for me. Has anyone else had a mentor's old rule turn out to be right after you fought it for years?
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wyatt8621mo ago
Louie was probably half right, but f/8 is more of a starting point than a law. The real trick is knowing your lens and your distance. At f/1.8 you gotta be sniper-precise with that focus ring, and even then, breathing after you lock it can throw it off. I shot a whole roll like that once at a family picnic, got maybe 3 keepers out of 36. These days I'll shoot wide open if the light is trash, but I focus on the eyes and then stop down to f/2.8 or f/4 if I want any margin for error.
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