Candid Portrait, Dia de los Muertos Parade – Austin, Texas
Yesterday, I posted monochromes from the Dia de los Muertos Parade, shot with the Olympus PEN-F with a 50mm equivalent. Today, the same event with a distinctly different lens. The Olympus 75mm f1.8 mounted on a OM-D E-M5 Mark II, which gives a 150mm equivalent focal length. I like both looks, although the photos have a very different feel.
The Olympus 75mm is one of my finest quality lenses on the Olympus micro 4/3 platform. I love the way it renders, both the sharpness as well as the soft bokeh. No wonder it’s a preferred lens to create portraits, though at a 150mm, it’s on the long range of what I find comfortable. Unless it’s a head and shoulders portrait, I find the distance to the subject farther than I prefer.
No distance problems at the Dia de los Muertos Parade, however. In fact, the lens worked so well, I might make it a stable for these kinds of events. Both before and during the parade, it worked wonderfully, isolating subjects from potentially cluttered backgrounds. Even though I used a f2.8 aperture for most the photos, the background was pleasantly defocussed. Perhaps next time, I’ll even experiment wide open at f1.8.
Here’s a mix of candid portraits from before and during the parade.
Interested in the lens? Here are other posts where I used the Olympus 75mm f1.8.
Please support this blog by clicking on my Amazon Link before buying anything.
atmtx photo blog 
These are superb. Wonderfully shot and executed. Wish I’d made the effort to go. Call me next time, we are overdue for a photo walk.
Thank you, Jerry. Yes, we do need to do a photowalk. Welcome back from your trip.
The princesa portrait is superb!
Thank you, LostFunZone.
I’ve had the 75 mm on my wishlist for a long time. The price is simply too high for me, at least right now. You’ve done wonderful things with it!
Thank you, Marilyn. I consider it a specialty lens but certainly very nice.
I keep this lens on one of my E-M5.2 all the time. These days, I cover a lot of political events, demonstrations and marches. This lens (along with the Oly 12-40mm 2.8) works really well in a large crowd for picking out individuals or a few people and capturing expressions and reactions to speakers or he action going on. Last week I had a night
time demonstration with a light but persistent rain/mist. Shooting wide open (@ISO 6400) I came back with some great shots that were picked up by local media. I can’t say enough good thing about this lens.
Hi Rene, yes, I can see why it will work really nice for political events and crowds. That paired with the 12-40mm will make a nice combo. Thanks for your visit.