Should I use my new lens????

[mom2rtk]

I bought the Sigma 30mm f1.4 before our recent trip to Disney. I got some great shots at the Halloween party as I had hoped. I chickened out and didn't use it for much else, since I didn't have much experience with it yet. I just went with my kit lens and Speedlite flash for the character meals.

So tomorrow I hope to take my annual pictures of all 3 kids in Halloween costume at my favorite fall color photo spot. So it occurred to me.... should I stick with my kit lens and Speedlite flash for fill? Or should I try out the new lens? My boys are older and barely put up with the photos, so I'm not likely to get more than one shot at this....

I guess my main concern is how the DOF will affect a group of 3. Am I likely to end up with 1 or 2 in focus, but not the 3rd? Would you still use the fill flash? I'm hoping it will be sunny out, but we'll be under some trees in the shade.

 

[KarenAylwood]

I'm no expert! (but I have the lens)

Likely if you're outside you won't have to use a large aperture, and may not be able to use a large enough aperture to get a really shallow DOF anyway. It's great for portraits and gives really smooth bokeh. You could try f/4- that'd likely put them all in focus leaving the background a little blurry. Try going outside today and seeing what kind of depth of field you can get from different apertures. Kind of a practice run.

If it's shady or shadowy you might want to use the fill flash no matter which lens you use. I'm not a flash fan so I wouldn't use it unless I absolutely had to.

I love the color that the Sigma 30mm gives too!

 

[WDWFigment]

I would use the kit lens at 55mm (that's its highest focal length, right?) and wide open (f/5.6?). I think that gives you a better DoF look than a 30mm lens @ f/4. That's just personal preference, though.

 

[bob100]

I bought the Sigma 30mm f1.4 before our recent trip to Disney. I got some great shots at the Halloween party as I had hoped. I chickened out and didn't use it for much else, since I didn't have much experience with it yet. I just went with my kit lens and Speedlite flash for the character meals.

So tomorrow I hope to take my annual pictures of all 3 kids in Halloween costume at my favorite fall color photo spot. So it occurred to me.... should I stick with my kit lens and Speedlite flash for fill? Or should I try out the new lens? My boys are older and barely put up with the photos, so I'm not likely to get more than one shot at this....

I guess my main concern is how the DOF will affect a group of 3. Am I likely to end up with 1 or 2 in focus, but not the 3rd? Would you still use the fill flash? I'm hoping it will be sunny out, but we'll be under some trees in the shade.

I don't have the Sigma lens but I would certainly try it at smaller apertures for a wider DOF. The best might be the kit lens (18-55IS) because it's pretty sharp at smaller apertures. I would definitely use the speedlite flash if you're in the shade, also try different settings in the sun. But then if you just have one shot at it ..... promise them a big Halloween treat if they stand still longer!

 

[handicap18]

Why not use the Sigma 30mm with the speedlight. Just because it has a wide aperture doesn't mean you have to use it with just the wide aperture.

I've used my 30mm f/1.4 as a general purpose lens many times both with and without my flash. It is a very sharp lens and I would guess sharper than your kit lens.

If you use it without the flash with a wide aperture you will have to make sure all the kids are side by side and your directly in front of them otherwise you are correct that you very well may have one or two in focuse and one or two slightly out of focus.

 

[mom2rtk]

Thanks to all you guys for your quick response yesterday on my question. My boys at 14 and 16 don't give me much time with the camera any more, so I have to know what I want to do when I head into it......

Of course the day started out sunny, so I thought I'd have good light, but clouded over in the afternoon before we made it out for our photos.

I love this spot because it has fairly young maple trees that turn a stunning golden yellow in the fall. The part about them being young is important because they are low enough to the ground to capture behind the kids in the photos. This is my 6th year doing Halloween photos here. I also love the black iron fence as a backdrop.

Here's the location:

The 14 year old is back and forth about dressing up this year, but decided so far that he won't. This (boo hoo!) will be our first year with one of the kids not dressing up. The 16 year old scaled back this year and decided to go as the anoymous Kansas City Chiefs fan. Purely a ruse to get a new jersey, but what the heck......

I took a few group shots, then let the boys escape and was indulged in many more photos by my daughter. She's been a great model for my costume business through the years, and is usually pretty accommodating:

In the end, I did end up using both the kit lens and the 30mm f1.4, both with and without the flash. I still need to sift through the images to see which I like best, but I'm thinking the 1.4 will win out on the individual shots, and the kit lens will probably win out on the group shots.

 

[handicap18]

Very nice shots. That background/setting is awesome! Very very cool!!

 

[Steve's Girl]

I am wayyyyy late to this discussion. However, I'll throw in a piece of advice anyways. When using shallow depth of field for outdoor portraits with a flash, you have to be aware of your flash sync speed. With a shallow depth of field, you may end up needing a shutter speed that is faster than your flash speed. Some cameras do have a menu setting to compensate for this, but it does result in much less output from the flash. If you do not change a menu setting, your camera will default to flash sync speed for a shutter - usually around 1/250 or so. Depending on the lighting, you could end up really overexposing your shots.