While at home in California I had the opportunity to shoot with the new Nikon 105mm f/1.4. Now I have never spent much time shooting with prime lenses or super narrow depth field. It’s a technique that I haven’t found a place for in my photography. The point of the narrow depth of field is to truly isolate the subject with the majority of the composition being out focus. In some ways this can be a very powerful composition.
One of the great uses with a lens like this is with a portrait. The narrow depth field really brings the focus onto the persons face without any distracting lines or shapes in the background. To test this I used the model airplanes with the pilot in the SBD as my subject. As you can see despite all those different angles and lines the pilot is tack sharp and the rest fades away. I might just have to find room in style for this technique.