Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/10/19

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Subject: Re: [Leica] My first Leica shots
From: Per Claesson <per@visimedia.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 10:09:37 +0200

Thanks Ted,

That hit the spot :)

/Per

fredagen den 18 oktober 2002 kl 15.43 skrev Ted Grant:

> Per Claesson wrote:
>> And yes, street shooting with a wide angle is an interesting  
>> challenge.
>> Part of the reason I am doing it is to overcome my shyness and to try
>> to develop that right kind of "rapport" with people, to become more
>> personal.<<<
>
> Per,
> Always smile and if you are caught taking the picture don't turn away
> quickly, smile and nod... and indicate "may you take a picture?"  
> Because if
> you appear like you are doing something wrong, you will be perceived to
> doing something wrong. ERGO: a hostile re-action from the person you've
> photographed.
>
>> I will also try to develop the "quick shot" technique, with preset
>> distance and aperture, just lifting the camera shortly to my eye to
>> take the shot.<<<
>
> The more movement you make, the more attention you'll draw to yourself  
> no
> matter how fast you move the camera to your eye. Movement is eye  
> catching
> motion, therefore your subject will see the movement, then re-act to  
> see
> what the motion was they turn and look right at you. Maybe angrily!   
> The
> longer you can keep the camera to your eye and watch the world through  
> the
> viewfinder without re-moving the camera people will not pay too much
> attention to you. Or you may find a number of them trying to be polite  
> and
> ducking as they pass in front of you.
>
>> But this time I used full opening in order to blur the
>> background, which took a lot of focusing (pretty hard with fast moving
>> people).<<<<
>
> It's obvious in some of your pictures you didn't focus fast enough and
> what's out of focus should've been in focus and vise versa. Not to  
> feel bad
> it's a learning experince and you'll improve the more you try.
>
>> Another good technique I found was to pan around with the camera a
>> little, rather than just keeping it fixed on the "victim", as if
>> looking for a target, which can make one less conspicious.<<<<
>
> Yes and no because here you're creating more motion and possibly  
> drawing
> attention to yourself. Yep doing the search and find is OK sometimes,  
> but
> more often than not you create eye catching movement and people will  
> look
> directly at you and in some cases that spoils the picture.
>
> The most important thing in this lesson is, practice, practice,  
> practice. As
> in shoot, shoot and then shoot lots more. One does not become a Cartier
> Bresson in a few days of shooting people on the street. Besides never  
> mind
> people walking along, 99.9% of the time that's a waste of time and film
> simply because they are going from point "A to point B" and not doing
> anything. Look for people who are involved doing something, the market  
> or
> any outdoor activity where their interest is taken in something rather  
> than
> just walking about.
>
> Their interest is doing and looking or something else rather than  
> looking
> where they are walking along the street. And finally just because one  
> uses a
> Leica it doesn't make every picture they shoot on the street a great
> photograph because it was shot on the street.
> Keep trying and shooting! :-)
> ted
> Ted Grant Photography Limited
> www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant
>
>
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> To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
>
>
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