You may have noticed that I’ve recently increased the number or glamour and portrait-related posts and #anythingcanhappenday seems a perfect place to continue this trend by featuring a portrait of Pam Simpson. Today Pam and I scheduled to shoot in my partially dismantled home studio. Look for a post about that session, perhaps as early as next week.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Five Ups of life: Buckle up, Start up, Keep it up, Don’t give up, Cheer up.” ― You By You
On today’s Lens Look, I’m looking at the Lumix G Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. lens. It’s another macro lens that’s also a good match for portraiture as well as for close-up photography. If you missed my post about how I came to own this particular lens, you can read about it here.
Macro For Portraiture?
The Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. lens costs $797.99 but my used lens from KEH cost less than $200, making it an optical bargain. This lens is designed for Micro Four-thirds system cameras from Olympus and Panasonic producing a 90mm equivalent focal length. Its optical design uses aspherical and extra-low dispersion glass elements to reduce aberrations and distortion for sharpness, clarity and color accuracy. It’s multi-coated elements are designed to minimize lens flare but I’d still use the included (when new) lens hood if only to protect this expensive lens. My lens did not come with a hood and I just ordered a used one ($38) from eBay. Let you know how that goes.
The Macro-Elmarit lens has internal focusing as well as built-in image stabilization. Yes, it’s still a macro lens capable of a full 1:1 reproduction, allowing you to work as close as 5.9-inches but I also like to use this lens for portraits too, making it a two-in-one lens. And hey, it’s a Leica with all the good stuff that comes along with that brand.
How I made this photograph: This portrait of Pam Simpson is from our sixteenth session together and like many of our shoots together this one was made for publication for a review of the Westcott 2-Light Daylight D5 Softbox Kit, that used fluorescent* lamps, (See above right setup shot.) This kit has since been replaced by their uLite LED 2-Light Collapsible Softbox Kit that I would like to get my hands on to try.
For this catalog-style shot of Pam wearing a TAKU tee shirt, one of Westcott’s D5 lamp heads with a 24×32-inch soft-box was placed at camera right with only three of its internal FLD lamps turned on. The second D5 head, also with a 24×32-inch soft-box, was placed at camera left and slightly behind the subject, with all five bubs illuminated. The background was a 5×7-ft Savage Photo Gray Infinity vinyl background suspended on JTL background stands.
This image was made with a Panasonic Lumix GH4 and the Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 lens. With the main light using three of the daylight balanced bulbs, the exposure was 1/80 sec at f/4 and ISO 640. The JPEG file made before my current RAW+JPEG regimen and was lightly retouched, then enhanced using the Glamour Glow filter from Color Efex.
*Be aware: Because fluorescent lamps contain mercury, they are classified as hazardous waste. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends fluorescent lamps be segregated from general waste for recycling or safe disposal. Home Depot in my area used to have a recycling area for FLD bulbs and Batteries Plus will recycle fluorescent lights for a modest fee.
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My book Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography is full of tips, tools and techniques for glamour and boudoir photography and includes information on all of the cameras used including complete exposure data for each image. Used books are available from Amazon starting around ten-bucks, as I write this. The Kindle version is $19.99 for those preferring a digital format.