I brought my camera along on a recent visit to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, with the intention of focusing more on shot composition. In addition, every photo from this outing was shot wide open at f/1.4 to force myself to more carefully consider focus point selection.
ILCE-7M2, SAMYANG AF 50mm F1.4 II, 1/2500, f/1.4, ISO 100
ILCE-7M2, SAMYANG AF 50mm F1.4 II, 1/640, f/1.4, ISO 100
ILCE-7M2, SAMYANG AF 50mm F1.4 II, 1/1250, f/1.4, ISO 100
ILCE-7M2, SAMYANG AF 50mm F1.4 II, 1/2000, f/1.4, ISO 100
ILCE-7M2, SAMYANG AF 50mm F1.4 II, 1/250, f/1.4, ISO 80
ILCE-7M2, SAMYANG AF 50mm F1.4 II, 1/125, f/1.4, ISO 100
That said, shooting wide open wasn’t always the right choice. Take this landscape, for instance. It would have benefited significantly from being stopped down; too much of the foreground falls completely out of focus, which detracts from the actual subject.
ILCE-7M2, SAMYANG AF 50mm F1.4 II, 1/1250, f/1.4, ISO 100
Or this macro shot, also captured wide open, where I inexplicably chose an unnecessarily thin ellipse as my focus plane.
ILCE-7M2, SAMYANG AF 50mm F1.4 II, 1/400, f/1.4, ISO 100
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