New Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control: First Impressions from Itsjoycegrace

Paris-based photographer Emma, also known as Itsjoygrace, transports us to a subtly surreal world of her own making in this series of portraits taken with our new Art Lens. We asked her about her experience with our New Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control lens as she took it for a spin around the City of Lights, and how it helped her create these intimately composed portraits.

Photos by Itsjoygrace with the New Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control. Model : Sarah Conrad

Hello Emma, how are you? Can you introduce yourself?

Hello, very good thank you ! My name is Emma, I’m 21 years old and I’m a photography student, as well as an author-photographer at the same time in Paris, France.

What motivated you to start photography?

I think it came when I was in high school, I have always been very sensitive to the different forms of art, I was thinking of what I wanted to do later, and I came across an old photo album of my parents with lots of film photographs taken during their travels. It all started from there.

Photos by Itsjoygrace with the New Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control. Models : Paola di Monica, Flora Mezino, Sarah Conrad.

You mainly do portraits, is this your favorite subject?

I think we can say that, but I really like to get out of this "comfort zone" by doing fashion and concert photography on the side. However, I always orient my pictures around the human and emotions, it's something that touches me. The shootings when I get to meet people are incredible moments that animate me and inspire me enormously for the future.

What were your impressions of the New Petzval 55mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control ?

I loved it! I was very surprised, it’s totally manual and I did not know if I was going to succeed in mastering it but I actually did very quickly. I was also very happy to discover the sharpness, it is beautiful and leaves a surprising background blur.

Photos by Itsjoygrace with the New Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control. Models : Flora Mezino, Sarah Conrad, Paola di Monica.

What did it allow you to do differently?

With its circular bokeh effect it offered more dynamism to some of my images, I tested things more or less subtle, I found this aspect in any case more interesting in motion.

Can you tell us what inspired you for these series of photos?

I wanted to test this lens with several environments: outdoor without a reflector and a lot of wind and architecture, indoor with artificial light and staging, and in the subway in total improvisation. These 3 shootings allowed me to use it in different situations and to be able to make compositions that I wanted to realize for a while.

Photos by Itsjoygrace with the New Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control. Models : Flora Mezino, Paola di Monica, Sarah Conrad.

One last tip for those who wish to do portraits with the New Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control ?

Take your time, I would say! Everything is manual, and in my opinion there is no need to rush trying to get the image we want. This way of doing and taking into account each detail offers another vision of the shooting and allows to be more precise in our work. Also be curious to test new things, with the different bokeh levels the lens offers, we can easily tell another story by using the same angle with different features, it is very interesting.

Photos by Itsjoygrace with the New Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control. Models : Flora Mezino, Paola di Monica.

Discover the whole universe of Itsjoygrace through her Instagram, as well as her website. You can also find her models on Instagram, Sarah Conrad, Flora Mezino, Paola di Monica.

written by Anna Carestia on 2019-06-10 #gear #news #people
translated by Anna Carestia

New Petzval 55mm f/1.7 MKII Bokeh Control

Introducing the New Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 — the first Lomography Art Lens designed specifically for the ever-growing mirrorless market. The Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 features refined optics, a sleek industrial design, and a better-than-ever bokeh control system. We’ve added a delicately smooth focusing ring and a new stopless aperture diaphragm for video functionality, making the Petzval 55 mm f/1.7 more flexible than its predecessors.

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