[Leica] More on the Barcelona's Streets

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Luis Ripoll showed:
Subject: [Leica] More on the Barcelona's Streets

>>>Some days ago I was reading about Izis, he said that he was become the
specialist of the places where nathing is happen. Sorry I can't be compared
with this great person and photographer, but maybe I'm tryng to follow a
similar way, "fl?ner et fl?ner" (in french), or walking and walking.., and
looking..., that's all folks, I hope you enjoy:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/luisrq/Barcelona/070312-25w.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/luisrq/Barcelona/070312-21w.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/luisrq/Barcelona/070312-22w.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/luisrq/Barcelona/070312-26w.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/luisrq/Barcelona/070313-13w.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/luisrq/Barcelona/070312-15w.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/luisrq/Barcelona/070313-11w.jpg.html
 
Hello Luis,
Once again a number of interesting Barcelona photo moments.
The "Captivity" is my favourite because it illustrates you are looking for
things. And because this is above eye level it illustrates you really do
look all over for interesting photographs.

Because the mannequin is sort of hidden it wouldn't be an easy target unless
you were seeking something new and interesting.

Trust me many photographers would've missed this just because of her higher
position. Many doing a walk about never look above their own height,
therefore missing all kinds of neat images on high.

You appear to be looking all over the place and changing shooting positions
from low to high. And that's a mark of a good photographer working the
streets. And that's what roaming around looking for photos is all about.
Being up, down and all around looking.

Once again I'll comment on not holding the camera straight. In vertical
position. You have a very obvious example in "Waiting." The dog out side the
shop. You tilted the camera down on the left hand side creating a hard
leaning and distorted building line.

You'd have been better off bending knees slightly and maybe stepping back
slightly if you didn't have a wide enough lens to cover the scene as you
wanted. 

The tilt is quite obvious and this can become a habit in your shooting and
holding the camera. And some day it might be so bad you'll lose a great
photo because there wasn't enough room for PS correction.

To get rid of it, it works like this. Every time you are about to shoot a
building type situation take the extra few moments and check the viewfinder
and make sure the building is straight in the viewfinder. Or at least the
vertical lines of whatever is the dominant feature at the sides. 
Then it's "click!" :-)

If you check every time working at it and thinking about it, eventually it
becomes automatic and you check without thinking. Click! Straight lines.

Trust me I've shot a number of crooked buildings and had to work at it as
I've explained and eventually you eliminate the problem without a thought.

ted