Tuesday 12 March 2013

In amongst the birds

35mm prime time.

Shot from the hip, I think, back when I knew a lot less about my camera settings. Program auto mode explains the really shallow depth of field. 1/1000 @ f/2.2? Yikes! I definitely wouldn't use those settings now! The shallow DOF makes it look like I was on the ground when I took it.
I'm pretty sure I was also trying to get the person in frame (she was feeding the pigeons, after all), but this works just as well.

Must use 35mm prime more often...

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Ominous

My initial thought when I first saw this scene was "Oh wow, what an amazing cloud! It looks impressive contrasted against the dark, angular building tops" which was immediately followed by "Oh crap, it's gonna rain and I don't have an umbrella. Better take my photos and get home, quick!"


What caught my eye was the different shades that the cloud had, from light at the top (illuminated by the sun behind me) to dark at the bottom (rain!). I took a few shots with my FZ45 and got home before the rain came down. I transferred them to my computer and kind of forgot about them until now, when I decided to "organise" my photos folder few days ago. It's good to have fresh eyes on a picture you initially didn't pay much attention to, in the same vein that some photos you thought were keepers turn out to be throwaway.

I kept the tops of the buildings in to frame the subject as well as to give the shot a sense of location. The main diagonals throughout are nice too. I also like that the outline of the buildings mirrors the sky above, but that is a happy coincidence rather than an intentional outcome.


The same cloud taken a little further down the road with the domed building, about a minute later. The cloud has flattened dramatically and the building is now the prominent feature. I used to like this picture more than the previous one simply because it looks like a floating building/sky castle, but now I think the previous picture is just as strong in terms of composition and lines, if not stronger.