approaching a subject
No, I don’t mean asking people in the street if you can take their picture…
I was wondering if the chicken came before the egg. Do we see a subject as a finished picture, and work out what approach we need to take to make that picture? Or, do we have a fairly standard approach, and fit the subject to that?
I was thinking about how much I’ve pared things down since I started really getting into this. Even in the time since I bought my 100mm macro lens, it’s barely been off the camera. And so, that means that most of the pictures I take are either macro or have a very narrow angle of view. Because I like the lens so much and I’m so used to working with it, I can visualise how a shot is going to look before lifting the camera to my eye. Another aspect/constraint of my setup is the because it’s a 100mm lens, and because my hands are incredibly shaky, and because it’s on a 1.6 crop sensor body, I have to double up on the 1/focal length rule for handholding and shoot at 1/250th of a second. Now, Ireland is generally rather dull Рin a lack of sunshine kind of way, that is – and using that shutter speed generally forces me to shoot wide open at f2.8. I also happen to like shooting with a large aperture so it suits me fine, but it’s not like I’m getting much of a choice (if anyone’s reading this and may be thinking “use a tripod you eejit” but I find that it interferes with how I work – I took one out last weekend and used it for about 3 pictures before I gave up). So, anyway, what I’m saying is, I generally end up shooting handheld, at f2.8, at ISO 400 (which gives ample noise on a 350D) and with a narrow frame of view. You can probably even imagine what my pictures look like without having to look!
So, how is that affecting how I shoot? Is it stifling growth and development, or is it giving me the opportunity to spend more time seeing because I’m not making choices about gear and trying to work through visualising different options? Am I really seeing, if I have a ‘filter’ of that set of parameters to apply to every subject?
I tell you what Julie, next time we go out shooting you can use my 17-85mm EF-S with IS for the whole afternoon and see what results you come back with.
One thing I will say is that since getting me 100mm Macro (I’m still blaming you by the way :P) I find it hard to take it off the camera, very hard.
I tell you what Julie, next time we go out shooting you can use my 17-85mm EF-S with IS for the whole afternoon and see what results you come back with.
One thing I will say is that since getting me 100mm Macro (I’m still blaming you by the way :P) I find it hard to take it off the camera, very hard.
You got the 100mm? Yay!
I had been thinking of forcing myself to use the 18-50mm next time I’m out – or even the next couple of times, to see if I tune in to it and it forces me to do something different, or if I struggle because I have to think about it harder. Next mini-meet is tomorrow, Dublin Castle and the chambers building ;) ;) ;)
You got the 100mm? Yay!
I had been thinking of forcing myself to use the 18-50mm next time I’m out – or even the next couple of times, to see if I tune in to it and it forces me to do something different, or if I struggle because I have to think about it harder. Next mini-meet is tomorrow, Dublin Castle and the chambers building ;) ;) ;)
we’ve had a symposium this week, with several professional photographers talking to us about their work. it seems like most of them find a niche to explore when they start out and they work in it for quite a while before they get the urge to explore something different. sometimes ‘different’ isn’t reeeeeally that different; sometimes it’s pretty radical.
i wouldn’t worry about it. do what you do as long as you’re happy with it. when the time comes to do something else (or do something in parallel) you’ll know it.
we’ve had a symposium this week, with several professional photographers talking to us about their work. it seems like most of them find a niche to explore when they start out and they work in it for quite a while before they get the urge to explore something different. sometimes ‘different’ isn’t reeeeeally that different; sometimes it’s pretty radical.
i wouldn’t worry about it. do what you do as long as you’re happy with it. when the time comes to do something else (or do something in parallel) you’ll know it.