Category: Photography

Studios come and go, it is very difficult to make money in this space. If you set up a studio for your own use and you can make good use of it, great. If you are putting your studio out for hire it gets difficult. Models booking studio days and amateur photographers want weekends, if your working in the portrait space then your customers want a weekend booking.

One of the local studios I use for fashion work is closing end of this month, which is a shame, there are not many good spaces conveniently located, and travel can become an issue.

I know a couple of local photographers with studios and i’ll be reaching out to them to see if I can rent their space occasionally.

If you have a local studio, do try and use it.

So back to the what lens question. For day to day use, I often have a 35mm or 50mm on the camera, and I can see why so many people are attracted to the Voigtländer 40mm f/1.2 and Nikon 40mm f/2; but I am still experimenting on what should be my go to lens in the studio.

I know a number of photographers that have standardised on the 24-105; 24-120mm f/4 and certainly for event photography its a very useful range.

A 180mm can be very pleasing for headshots but not one for regular use.

The 135mm f/1.8 Z lens from Nikon looks stunning but is it too long for studio use. I took my 70-200mm f/2.8 to the studio last month and did a selection of test shots at 135mm to see if its a suitable length for general use. I feel that again like the 180mm, it has a place in your camera bag but not for general study use.

So it looks like the often mentioned 85mm is the lens for me for general studio use.

But sometimes for full length shots or when your shooting in a small space, a 35 or 50mm is needed.

So after all that what to own. If your sensible the 24-120mm f/4 zoom, and a 85mm f/1.2 would seem to suite nine out of ten scenarios, and you might want to add a fast 35mm or small space and lower light work.

So what will be in my bag for studio work, likely a 35, 50, 85 and 135mm, so the 85mm is next on my shopping list as I build out my studio primes.

Last month I was doing a fashion photo shoot with Kimberly; but at the end of the session we decided to have a bit of fun. A Christmas background and a few Christmas props and away we went.

Merry Christmas everyone.

We had a nice summer, and I managed to get a few summer shoots in.

My last outdoor shoot which was to be last month, had to be cancelled due to the training bringing my model got cancelled as did its replacement.

We have had some lovely days, and I took the opportunity to get out and shoot some film medium format.

Generally though the weather is heading colder and we have been having a little mist in the mornings and some fog at night.

This has led to a few photographic opportunities and a few nice moody pictures.

The final bursts of colour are now coming to the end as we reach mid autumn.

Here’s hoping for some nice days, and of course moody weather to produce worthwhile images.

A new named lens from Nikon, the Z mount 135mm f/1.8 Plena. We are promised no vignette and beautiful rendition and transition to the the out of focus areas.

From what I have seen from the preproduction models, that is what we have gotten. A stunning lens, not to big, about the same as the 85mm f/1.2 and yes if your asking, f/1.8 at 135mm is more then fast enough to blow away the background and get impressive subject separation.

That now leaves me with a dilemma; the 85mm or the 135mm first?