civilized ku # 214-17 ~ getting a head
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 10:01AM 
Back of a head # 1 • click to embiggen
Back of a head # 2 • click to embiggen
Back of a head # 3 • click to embiggen
Back of a head # 4 • click to embiggenThank goodness for B&H Photo - if I had not been able to visit the store over the weekend, I would have purchased the aforementioned Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens, sight unseen. Upon its arrival I would have been packing it back up for a return to the store.
Not that there was anything wrong with the lens, per se, it's just that once it was on my camera in the store, I was convinced that it was just bit to long - hence, a smaller field of view - that what I wanted. Casting about for alternatives, the sales guy found a Zuiko (Olympus) 25mm f2.8 lens (a "pancake" lens) that seemed to be the right focal length but f2.8 didn't seem to be capable of the narrow DOF look I was after.
Further casting about led to a Leica Summilux 25mm f1.4 lens that was absolutely perfect. It did everything and more that I was looking for, except for 1 small issue, the price - $ 899.00US. At that point, the DOF of the Zuiko lens - $ 199.00US - was looking better and better. Not to mention the added bonus/fact that the wife would still be the wife, not the ex-wife. Need I say more?
So, I left B&H and immediately started to picture within the confines of a "normal" field of view, wide-open at f2.8 of course. Within the span of about 3 hours I had explored this picturing approach 165 times, beginning with back of a head # 1 - I had returned to the camera department after picking up the lens at the merchandise pick up department and discovering that it did not come with a lens shade.
In any event, the back-of-a-head theme keep popping up over the next 3 hours. I can't explain it other than to say that back of a head # 3 really got me going on the idea.
Reader Comments (5)
back-of-a-head theme or "the stalker"... either one will work.
Mark #3 is fantastic, this is a great project idea.
Just how do you get those nice borders - I take it you do it in photoshop.
There has to be an easier way to get a head in this world.
yes Jimmi - you know gravitas always choses the most difficult path...