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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Your eyes don't work like lenses....



One of the first things I tell people when they get started in photography is that lenses "see" differently than your eyes do. That is, they offer a much broader range in terms of field of view, as well as having the ability to isolate a subject through selective focus.

In this example, as I was walking around a busy marketplace in Hoi-An, Vietnam, the one thing that stood out to me was a small concrete bridge across an adjacent waterway.

Although the scene beyond the bridge was rather cluttered and busy, through the use of selective focus with my telephoto lens, I knew I could keep the bridge in focus while throwing the distracting background out of focus and nicely soft.

On top of that, the bridge was beautifully backlit, so all I had to do was wait.......

And waiting...as always...generally pays off!

Nikon F4 with Nikkor 180mm f2.8 lens

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Details, Details....



I was wandering around Hong Kong's famous Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, unfortunately packed to the gills ( feathers? ) with tourists, trying to figure out how I could shoot without getting Bob and Carol Metcalfe from Muncie, Indiana in my shots...when it came to me...

Move in tight on the details! In this case...birds. Sometimes things get so overwhelming visually, that we can tell the story better with the details rather than the big picture.

You don't need a macro, or close-up lens to shoot this tight, generally. Most modern day zooms allow you to focus and zoom close enough to capture some nice detail without having to switch lenses.

So...the next time you just can't find the wide shot that works....move in tight!

Canon 1Ds Mark-II with Canon 24-70mm 2.8 @ f4.0

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