Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/12/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Barney sez: "and it is compounded by the fact that my bad hip prefers to work standing up. As i told Phong, next time I am going to sit in a chair, too. That should help with that." Yes it does! My knees are in the same shape Tina's were before she went to Wal-Mart and bought some new ones. I cannot kneel at all, which makes me a funny Episcopalian. I solve the problem by spotting whatever I can to get down to eye level with folks. Funny, if you are in a room with a bunch of people sitting with your camera, you'll start to see pictures. I hardly ever (never say never) set up pictures. I do compose so if I spot a potential picture, I might choose a spot to land that affords me a good view. I sit there for a while until I exhaust the possibilities, then move to another spot. In a gathering like that last night, I can meet a lot of nice people that way. "Mostly I take pictures of things." Yeah, I was that way too until Kyle chided me enough about it. Another guy who has been nervous about people pictures is GeeBee. See this gallery: http://www.geebeephoto.com/html/strangers.html And this essay by John Brownlow (the url may wrap, but is also linked in GeeBee's page.) http://www.pinkheadedbug.com/techniques/shynessone.html "I am also finding that f2/8 with my digital camera doesn't give me the same shallow depth of field it does with 35mm." Barney, that can be used as an asset. The more you shoot with your digital, the more you understand how to use it. The answer is find interesting backgrounds and shoot closer up, (or crop.) As far as editing, be brutal about what you keep, and even more careful about what you show. In a case like the ones you posted today, I know you had a gut feeling which one you liked best. You could have posted just that one. Shoot scads of pictures; remember that while film is cheap, it costs nothing to pump digits through that little box. Get to know the camera until you don't even think about using it. I drive a manual transmission car, and I never think about (oops, I said never) when to put the clutch in. Get on the same terms with your camera. By the way, the cropped shot really shows his personality, and I can't imagine learning to play the cello at our age; Good for you! Regards, Sonny http://www.sonc.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html