My name is James D. Lee, and I'm a photographer based in Oakland. I recently got around to posting four years worth of selected photos shot in and around the San Francisco Bay area strictly on tilt-shift lenses. I completed this project while working full-time marketing/photography positions.
The progression that is the discovery and appreciation of photography is a journey unique to the voyager. Whether the path is walked through a textbook, an online forum, or alone, there is no two that are alike.
Why do the new iPhone 7 phones have to simulate a shallow depth of field? The short answer: physics.
My name is Will Chao, and I'm a wedding photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. I’m a huge fan of large aperture lenses. I shoot every lens almost 100% of the time at the maximum aperture possible. At any given wedding, over 90% of my photos are taken with 35mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.2, and 200mm f/2.0, each at its widest aperture setting. I’m also one of the few people who use f/1.2 and f/1.4 for group shots.
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong shot the portrait above a couple of days ago using a Nikon D4, a $9,000 Nikon 400mm f/2.8G lens, and a few iPhones for lighting. The extremely shallow depth-of-field was achieved using 36 separate exposures and the Brenizer Method.
A compact camera probably isn't the first thing someone would grab when looking to make a photo with an extremely shallow depth-of-field, since the small aperture and small sensor limit it in this regard. That might soon be different: a recently published patent application by Samsung shows that the company is looking into producing achieving shallow depth of fields with compact cameras by using a second lens to create a depth map for each photo.