Gallery
Through the prism of ethnicity and race, we explore the intricate details of people’s eyes and the stories they tell us. Going into a thematic portrait series, a lens is what brings us unique character and style. In this case, it is Sony's FE 100 mm F2.8 STF GM OSS that creates the look of this series.
I wanted to isolate the eyes from other features. This lens was able to do that by providing the smoothest and most natural out-of-focus bokeh of any lens ever made.
When the focal point is the eyes, the color performance has to be accurate to avoid any unnecessary distraction.
The lens has the incredible ability of capturing sharpness in detail. It enhances the skin and hair of my subject with lifelike quality. For instance, the intricate texture of hair and brows here are portrayed with ease.
For this pair of eyes, I wanted to capture the freckles in detail and make them shine without using a lot of image-editing software. The lens, accompanied with the right lighting, allowed me to get that easily.
The purple in the headscarf was a jarring color which risked being distracting. However, the lens controlled color information well to balance it with the skin tone and eye color of my subject.
Green is a difficult color to capture correctly but the lens did a great job of getting her green eyes perfectly in tone.
You really get immersive depth and dimensionality with the lens. It’s almost as if she is right here in front of me when I look at this photograph.
Cinematically sharp and wide open at F2.8, it feels almost like I am using a film lens.
In the evocative stillness of the eyes, there is beauty, and there is experience of life.
FE 100 mm F2.8 STF GM OSS
SEL100F28GM
About The Photographer
NICKY LOH
Is a full-time photographer and director based in Singapore and Shanghai. His work aims to capture naturalistic images that convey an emotional truth. He is drawn to the unguarded moment, the spontaneous interaction, the exchange of glances—the intimacy, joy, or excitement in someone's eyes.