Philadelphia Street Style: Wanda, Sansom St

These shots were taken with my new 50mm lens opened to its widest aperture (F1.8). On my 85mm that makes for some pretty lush blur. Not as lush as it gets — my 85mm, after all, opens up to F1.4 (that's even bigger for those of you who don't speak camera) — but pretty lush nonetheless. The bokeh on this lens is much more controlled. The strobe effect is less pronounced with the little balls of light that make up the background blur noticeably smaller, and the subject in the foreground, on which the lens is focused, decidedly sharper. I like it, but it's quite a different thing than I'm used to, and it furthers that illusion of realism I mentioned in my last post. But don't be fooled. The 50mm distorts in its own way. Look at the image below, for instance. The portions are slightly off, even if they may be flattering to the subject. That's called parallax. Whatever is closest to the lens gets magnified. The 85mm, because it requires me to stand so far away, makes parallax barely discernible. 

Wanda, incidentally, is wearing all thrifted clothes. The tank top is by Joe. She got it at a second-hand shop in Williamsburg. The pants are from Fishtown's own Circle Thrift, the shoes from the local Buffalo Exchange. The sunglasses are Ray Ban. She has no idea what brand the bag is, but she got it on a trip out to Portland, Oregon. She loves the West Coast and is hoping to get back out there soon.