A History of Violence
Shot in the kitchen. Natural lighting. Nikon D70, Nikkor 50mm f1.4 manual focus, manual exposure.
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I'm very much into natural lighting in photography. I don't know why. But I haven't got a pair of steady hands though you told me how to roll over the shutter release with my finger.
ReplyDeleteIf you were to shoot 18~55, and use a shutter speed of 1/60, I don't see you need absolutely steady hands. The shutter speed and relatively short focal length and even VR should give you sharp pictures.
ReplyDeleteForgive me for asking a rather stupid qusetion, LCL, but do you actually try to remember all the focus / exposure stats etc. when you're photographing so as to replicate similar effect for another time? And if so, does that actually work (i.e. were you able to replicate the desired effect by following the same exposure/focus method but in a different place with a different kind of natural lighting)?
ReplyDeleteTo an absolutely untrained eye (and please forgive me for saying this) it seems that the photo in the kitchen could have been taken with any ordinary camera without the manual exposure?
Okay, I've clicked on the kitchen photo to see the enlarged size and I take my last comment back, as the details of the light reflection in Alex hair were beautifully captured.
ReplyDeleteThe reason is mainly because I am using a very old lens I bought circa 1984. Back then there was no auto focusing or at least not popular at all. My Nikon 50 mm f1.4 is one of those. But I am still able to attach it on my D70 body. With this setup, I can't do auto focus nor can I use any of the (exposure) metering built in the camera. So I have to guess the exposure based on the rear LCD feedback. I didn't remember the f-stop and shutter speed of that particular exposure, and I don't think there are all exif meta data in the file either.
ReplyDeleteGenerally I use aperture priority, i.e with aperture set by me, I let the camera set the shutter speed. But with this setup, I have to set both parameters myself, plus focusing.
There are light streaming in from the windows on his left and right side. And there is a light bulb in front and above his head. And the open book serves as a reflector to light up or even out the light from the sides and above. And I still can call that natural lighting I guess.
ReplyDeleteMy equipment is pretty humble. So I am sure any equipment could have used to take the same picture.
ReplyDeleteI subscribe to the notion that the eye behind the camera is more important than the camera itself.
Anyhow, this is one of my favorite pictures. I have sent it out to enlarge it 11x14. I don't do that often at all. But I figure, I have seen worse pictures blow up bigger than that. So this is my little ego trip. To plaster my living room with pictures taken my me, me and me.
re do i try to replicate the same exposure/focus method.
ReplyDeleteNo. Because the light always change. If I have a studio, where I can control all aspect of lighting then yes, maybe I will write down what works in terms of focal length, f-stop and shutter speed. But I shoot whatever available. Most of the time I shoot automatic, meaning auto focus and aperture priority. So I just compose and shoot.
Hope I answer all your questions.
You mean the reflection in his eyes or his hair? The original is bigger than 3000 x 2000, not really big by todays 12MP or even 24MP standard. Mine is only 6MP....
Thanks very much for your detailed answers to my rather inane questions. Phew, and here I was thinking that to be any type of self-respecting photographer you have to know your camera stats and be able to trade them like, I don't know, baseball fans trade batting stats?? Thanks for kindly reaffirming that one should not be ashamed of using a simple point-and-shoot either.
ReplyDeleteI like the softly-gradated light reflection in Alex's hair, but only after your comment did I go back and take another look and yes, you could actually see the book's reflection in his pupils also! Cool :)
There is no shame using point-and-shoot. Some of the most recognizable fashion brands like Gucci or Marc Jacobs use shots by Terry Richardson and Juergen Teller, both are Contax G series point-and-shooters.
ReplyDeleteBut then most point-and-shooters are just point-and-shooters.
Perhaps after your comment, I would pay more attention to the hair. I never care about the hair. You look at my pictures, you know what I am talking about. Every day is a bad hair day for me. When photographing people, you just focus on the eyes, when the eyes are in focus, the picture is in focus, the rest isn't all that important as far as focusing is concerned.