Shortly before Christmas I was asked to photograph a "new baby" shoot just down the road, it was great experience and good fun to do. It was also a chance to use the Minolta 50mm for a proper shoot and make use of that wide aperture!

Natalie and Leigh were really good fun and it turned into an enjoyable morning taking these. I originally turned up with a few lighting options, a reflector, second flash and all that but it wasn't really needed. The other flash provided a bit of fill-light but we moved around a lot and it was more important to keep the photos quite natural and fun.

The new(ish) Minolta 50mm lens really came into its own on this shoot, it's since turned into my favourite lens and now tends to stay on the camera. It's frustrating sometimes to want to zoom in or out and not being able to, and it's also a little upsetting that it's as sharp as my Sigma 24-70 EX DG for a quarter of the price! That wide aperture gives me a chance to be a little more daring in low light and lets me play with de-focused backgrounds.

The photo above shows off that aperture, it's sharp on his eye but softens at the edge of his nose. It gives the photo an intimacy and I'm pretty happy with it :)

All in all, I had a great morning and really enjoyed taking these pictures. If you're thinking of having your own portraits done, you can get in touch with me at ed.johnbryan@gmail.com.