[NIKON D750, 35.0 mm f/1.4, Mode = Manual, ISO 640, 1/30, ƒ/1.4, (35mm = 35)]

Why would I like this lens so much? I believe it is mainly because I can do with it what I could never do with a smartphone camera–Shallow Depth-of-field.

It is a great way to isolate a subject.

Bokeh is defined as “the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider.” Simply put, bokeh is the pleasing or aesthetic quality of out-of-focus blur in a photograph.

Most of the time I want to add context of a person in their environment. That is where shooting with your lens closed down to ƒ/5.6 or greater really gives you context because more is in focus.

However, often keeping something out of focus, but yet still discernible like this of a lady working out with her trainer the shallow depth-of-field allows for some context.

One thing that affects your depth-of-field is how close you are to the subject. Getting really close will give you the shallowest depth-of-field. Sometimes if you get too close with some micro lenses your subject will appear out of focus because it is too shallow.

Here in this photo of the bud on the plant you can actually see the “Circle of Confusion”.

In optics, a circle of confusion is an optical spot caused by a cone of light rays from a lens not coming to a perfect focus when imaging a point source. It is also known as disk of confusion, circle of indistinctness, blur circle, or blur spot.

I just love my Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 and love it even more on the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera. What a great combination.

When shooting in a restaurant kitchen you don’t want to always show the working kitchen, but I still wanted to feature the team members. Shooting at ƒ/1.4 and getting close to the model helped me achieve a feel of the kitchen and keeping details from being seen.