Some time ago, I received an email from a safari participant. Heed my message to study your viewfinder so every time you pick up your camera, you walk away pain-free. By sharing my words, I hope I can save you the same heartache and frustration I endured. Because I committed the “crimes” a number of times, unfortunately, I qualify as an authority. At the very least, it was fun, and I suppose a fun assignment every once in a while is just what we need, anyway.I stand accused and admit my guilt in regard to the concepts about which I write in this week’s tip. I was most satisfied not specifically by the images, but the exercise in both patience and timing. Each time I shot, it was for one to two hours, and I shot no more than 50 or so frames. Also it took a little play to get the aiming and tilting consistently accurate. Some of the obstacles were shutter speed and camera shake - but it didn't always detract from the image. I have shot this assignment twice and am so far happy with the results. This was the lesser used of the methods, but yielded more thoughtfully composed images. The final approach I used was to find my shot, focus and wait for the moment to happen. These images were still spontaneous, but I found that the blurriness sometimes lent itself to a complimentary effect. There were fewer shots as I had to wait for the subjects to be the right distance away, but it also made for a fun exercise in timing. I tried this same style of shooting while working in manual focus. These images were more about a spontaneous moment or passing person. This happened when I was shooting while walking – it worked better than average for speed shooting and allowed me to get several shots (mostly in focus) that I would have otherwise not been unable to. Using this same relationship of settings for the shutter and ISO, overcast is f8 - f/11 and shade is f/4 – f/5.6. ![]() If you are shooting ISO 200, the shutter speed goes to 1/200 (ISO 400, shutter speed of 1/400, etc.). As a rule of thumb, if it is sunny outside, and one is shooting in direct sunlight, set the aperture to f/16, ISO to 100 and shutter speed to 1/100. I knew there would be a reasonable amount of leniency in terms of exposure, especially if following the Sunny 16 Rule. I wanted a perspective that would be a little forgiving, so I opted for a 35mm lens on a full frame sensor – the 24mm equivalent on a crop sensor. If I wanted to turn the camera, I turned my body. Resting my arms on top, I tried my best to look casual while my finger always remained on the shutter button. This also allowed for a lower perspective – one reminiscent of shooting a medium format camera. In terms of gear, I opted for no battery grip and a strap around the neck. This added an addendum to the rules: always be observant. Am I documenting, observing or creating a portrait? I decided that I wanted to document, but if I missed the opportunity, I would not double-back unless I could do so without being obvious. This is a very fine (and I’m sure debatable) line, and I don’t want this to be the focus of the assignment, but it’s an ethical question to keep in the back of one’s head. But for me, I wanted the oblivious portraits, and I tried my best to catch people naturally and off-guard (although some people weren’t fooled). For example, am I taking a picture of the homeless person because they look interesting or because I am interested in the person? In some situations, it’s not beyond the realm of reason to talk to the person you are taking a picture of first. Think about why you are taking the picture. There are a lot of unique characters found in New York, however, I find it’s also important to try to not let my images be exploitative. People ignore tourists – except when they walk really slow and congest the sidewalks, in which case tourists are vehemently berated with a barrage of unimaginative swear words and rightly so. There is a camera around the neck of one out of every five pedestrians, easily. Luckily, living in New York, cameras are EVERYWHERE. I wanted to move fluidly and try to be as inconspicuous as possible. Now, I had to break down my plan for this logistically. So ‘rule one’ was to shoot without looking. ![]() But just because one can, it doesn’t mean one always should. With digital this is obviously not the case. ![]() Film, of course, forces the photographer to slow down and be more discerning with both the amount of shots and the variety. He notes that, despite his skepticism and the digital world being ‘phenomenal,’ there is a method of deliberateness from film that he still respects. The assignment came after watching a documentary where Don McCullin tries digital for the first time.
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