Just some sample images playing with lenses.
These were done with an old school portrait lens, and are hand focused. I got the mic stand as often as the face, I’m afraid, but it still exposes great with a non-Z, non AF-S lens.
These were done mostly with the 24-70 zoom. Note the exposure and quality at f4 and higher (it is an F4 lens, not a fast f1.8, so I had to use the image stabilization and/or run the ISO super high). And still, it came out OK.
The stands fuck up the composition, but whatever.