Some things in life you do because you have to or because they're the logical or practical thing to do at the time. Some things you do in life because you can. Shooting portraits with this lens definitely falls into the latter category.
Coming to you from Tony and Chelsea Northrup, this awesome video follows them as they shoot portraits with a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens, a piece of glass that sits well north of $12,000 in price. Obviously, it's the sort of lens you expect to see in the hands of a sports or wildlife photographer, but when you have a piece of glass that nice in your possession, there's no reason not to have a little extra fun with it. In case you're wondering, the depth of field at 40 feet and maximum aperture is about 3.7 inches, about the same as an 85mm lens at f/1.4 and a subject distance of about 10 feet. But of course, the crazy focal length combined with the truly stunning glass inside the lens makes for some very unique shots. I'll have to drag out my 400mm f/2.8 for some portraits this weekend; I could use the arm workout anyway.
I mean, or you could actually use a tripod to lock out your frame, find an interesting foreground and background that you could stack to utilize abnormal focal length while all along strobing it to make a cool photo....
Holding anything bigger than a 300 (let alone a 600, lol!!!) that way, even more attached to a "small" body is a BIG No-No. Please, everyone.. PLEASE: GET A MONOPOD!!
That was fun to watch!