Tuned in and tuned out

[dubaiphil]

A lady waiting outside Liverpool Street Station, London

35mm, f8, 1/100th, ISO2500

[deetheturk]

She looks a million miles away, well captured Phil!

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Tony M]

A nice photo. Did she know you were taking the photo? The camera seems quite low, so I wonder if you took it surreptitiously.

Tony

[vaez]

nice capture seems the weather is very cold

[FootLoose]

Is she plugged in, Phil? It looks to me like the earpieces are dangling from the end of her hair. It doesn't matter, though, it is a good shot. She does look cold.

[rpcrowe]

Phil,

When I learned that you were relocating to London, I wondered if your photography might suffer since the subjects might not be quite as exotic as those in Dubai.

I need not have wondered. You are producing outstanding imagery from London...

[dubaiphil]

Thanks for the comments, guys. One earpiece was in and I got as close as I could for a full length shot before firing a few shots from the hip in portrait orientation - one of the only benefits of having a big gripped DSLR for candid street photography. None of the shots were perfectly level but I had enough real estate to rotate the images without needing to crop to fill the frame.

So she didn't realise I was shooting and I was quite sneaky - not an approach I generally like but risks vs. reward and all that. With her expression, look, and the fact she had her sleeves down as it was a bit chilly she caught my eye as someone worth shooting. Especially as you can plan the shot easier when the subject's standing still and lost in her own little world. There's so much human traffic here just outside a main station that it took a few bursts to get 3 solid shots.

[dubaiphil]

I recently read a quote I liked, Tony.

With a good photographer you should never be able to tell how tall they are from their photographs.

Obviously that quite doesn't count from landscape and tripod based work!

Something I have tried to work on and don't mind shoot from the hip occasionally. I'm taller than most so if I shoot from eye level I'm often looking down on people (physically, of course!)

[rpcrowe]

I recently read a quote I liked, Tony.

With a good photographer you should never be able to tell how tall they are from their photographs.

I totally agree and that goes double when a wide lens is being used. Aside from tilted horizons, my fetish is with shots of people who, as a result of the w/a focal length shooting from a close proximity, result in having abnormally large heads and upper torsos and small spindly lower torsos and legs...

I am a little over 6'1" (over 185 cm) in height which is a bit taller than the average. I began shooting film with a twin lens reflex camera (fixed focal length and reflex viewing) and never had the distortion I described above. However, later on when I was using eye level viewfinders and wide angle lenses, I learned to lower my POV as I shot shorter people (just about everybody)...

I don't like anything wider than 35mm (on full frame) for people, EXCEPT in environmental portraits when I want to make use of the distortion.

This requires learning how to pose pairs or groups of subjects, expecially in wedding or event photography, so they can be shot with a longer focal length lens...

[ST1]

Well seen and captured Phil.

[Rebel]

Nice shot Phil, she definitely has something on her mind!

[dubaiphil]

I totally agree and that goes double when a wide lens is being used. Aside from tilted horizons, my fetish is with shots of people who, as a result of the w/a focal length shooting from a close proximity, result in having abnormally large heads and upper torsos and small spindly lower torsos and legs...

I am a little over 6'1" (over 185 cm) in height which is a bit taller than the average. I began shooting film with a twin lens reflex camera (fixed focal length and reflex viewing) and never had the distortion I described above. However, later on when I was using eye level viewfinders and wide angle lenses, I learned to lower my POV as I shot shorter people (just about everybody)...

I don't like anything wider than 35mm (on full frame) for people, EXCEPT in environmental portraits when I want to make use of the distortion.

This requires learning how to pose pairs or groups of subjects, expecially in wedding or event photography, so they can be shot with a longer focal length lens...

At 6'2" I'd be useless at shooting street through an eyepiece in the Far East! I'm often tempted by 28 or 25 for street, but think I'd miss out shooting so close - anyone off centre with distortion would blow an image IMO. Even on 35mm you have to be careful of the edges of the frame and occasionally use transform and warp in PS to put people right again! 35 is by far the most versatile FL for me.