Street Food

[Manfred M]

Wandering through the alleyways of Delhi, I ran across a number of food vendors tucked into little pockets. What stuck me about this scene was the deep frying food, with a few folks in the back keeping an eye on the frying food.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture, did you try any?

[Dave A]

Nice image right down to the colors in the flames. That's one huge pan.

Dave

[Donald]

Magnificent composition. The whole story is there in the image.

[rpcrowe]

Very nice composition! Great use of a wide angle focal length...

[bnnrcn]

Very nice one Manfred

[IzzieK]

How far were you from this scene, Manfred??? It is such a beautiful composition of the environment of another culture...maybe some Indian people will be able to shed light as to what that is cooking in that huge frying pan...

[Manfred M]

How far were you from this scene, Manfred??? It is such a beautiful composition of the environment of another culture...maybe some Indian people will be able to shed light as to what that is cooking in that huge frying pan...

I was very, very close. I was shooting at a 14mm focal length (28mm FF equivalent) and the shot is uncropped (a bit of distortion adjustment, though) so I was inches (cm) away from the frying pan.

[thegman]

Excellent shot Manfred, love the atmosphere and the heat

[IzzieK]

I was very, very close. I was shooting at a 14mm focal length (28mm FF equivalent) and the shot is uncropped (a bit of distortion adjustment, though) so I was inches (cm) away from the frying pan.

Excuse my question as I am still trying to get a grip of my 12-24mm and I am still dazed as to how to properly use it and how far I should be, especially in a crowded space or nearer than I do not know where...I took several test shots last weekend and ended dumping them ... hence I asked...because you shot here is perfect.

[Donald]

Excuse my question as I am still trying to get a grip of my 12-24mm and I am still dazed as to how to properly use it and how far I should be, especially in a crowded space or nearer than I do not know where...I took several test shots last weekend and ended dumping them ... hence I asked...because you shot here is perfect.

There's a useful rule of thumb when using an ultra wide angle wide angle, Izzie.

Get close. And when you think you're close enough, get closer. Like Manfred, I've shot subjects that are few inches from the lens and then had the background also in focus. Remember that with an ultra wide angle (UWA), you will have an enormous depth of field.

An understanding of hyperfocal distance is, I think, very useful for shooting with a UWA. There's information this website, but I also prepared myself a little chart. So, for example, I know that at 11mm on my full frame body, at f11, the hyperfocal distance is just over 14 inches. So, everything from half that distance (7 inches) to infinity is going to be acceptably in focus. So I set the focus on a point 14 inches in front of the lens, with the subject 7 inches in front.

Hope this makes some sense.

EDIT - I'd just add:- You've got to sort of train yourself to 'see' the ultra wide angle shots. Our normal, everyday, field of vision and optical focal length is very different than that of a UWA lens. So don't try and make the UWA take pics that you 'see' with your naked eye. They won't work. You've got to change your thinking once you that UWA on the camera.

[Manfred M]

Izzie - I agree with everything that Donald has written about shooting an UWA lens and frankly the focal length I used here (14mm on an mFT lens = 28mm FF equivalent) is more of a moderate wide angle. I find anything below 24mm FF equivalent is where things get ultra-wide and tricky.

Just to repeat, you need to consider the foreground and background when composing with a wide angle more than you might with longer focal lengths, otherwise you will tend to get too much foreground and too much background and end up with a very uninteresting image. With few limited exceptions having something in the foreground, like in this shot is pretty well a "must have" in UWA work. Again, to repeat what Donald has said; even at a moderate aperture, you can have the whole scene in focus.

The other point is one has to really work the scene when shooting UWA. I find that changing the camera position by even a few centimeters (less than an inch) or changing the shooting angle by a few degrees can be what makes or breaks the shot. The same argument goes for the focal length you use. Shoot a scene with a normal to long focal length (even on the longer side of a wide angle lens), a few mm here or there make little to no difference. On an UWA, changing your focal length by even 1mm can make a huge difference in your shot.

I personally find shooting UWA well is what I consider the my biggest photographic challenge. Having discussed this with other photographers, they find the same and in fact a lot avoid shooting UWA because they don't like their success rate with that type of lens. I, on the other hand am a bit of a UWA junkie and love working with them, even though it can be quite frustrating.

[IzzieK]

Thanks Donald...now I had googled hyperfocal distance before and it went past my head and went to the CiC website and found it an interesting read. I will read it again and again until the information sink in my head. But I did practice quite a bit this afternoon and happy with the last one. Hope to practice tomorrow indoors as we have rain coming tonight and all day tomorrow...Thanks for the info. Will copy and paste in my drafts folder so I can go back to the simple instructions without going to the net.

There's a useful rule of thumb when using an ultra wide angle wide angle, Izzie.

Get close. And when you think you're close enough, get closer. Like Manfred, I've shot subjects that are few inches from the lens and then had the background also in focus. Remember that with an ultra wide angle (UWA), you will have an enormous depth of field.

An understanding of hyperfocal distance is, I think, very useful for shooting with a UWA. There's information this website, but I also prepared myself a little chart. So, for example, I know that at 11mm on my full frame body, at f11, the hyperfocal distance is just over 14 inches. So, everything from half that distance (7 inches) to infinity is going to be acceptably in focus. So I set the focus on a point 14 inches in front of the lens, with the subject 7 inches in front.

Hope this makes some sense.

EDIT - I'd just add:- You've got to sort of train yourself to 'see' the ultra wide angle shots. Our normal, everyday, field of vision and optical focal length is very different than that of a UWA lens. So don't try and make the UWA take pics that you 'see' with your naked eye. They won't work. You've got to change your thinking once you that UWA on the camera.

[IzzieK]

Izzie - I agree with everything that Donald has written about shooting an UWA lens and frankly the focal length I used here (14mm on an mFT lens = 28mm FF equivalent) is more of a moderate wide angle. I find anything below 24mm FF equivalent is where things get ultra-wide and tricky.

Just to repeat, you need to consider the foreground and background when composing with a wide angle more than you might with longer focal lengths, otherwise you will tend to get too much foreground and too much background and end up with a very uninteresting image. With few limited exceptions having something in the foreground, like in this shot is pretty well a "must have" in UWA work. Again, to repeat what Donald has said; even at a moderate aperture, you can have the whole scene in focus.

The other point is one has to really work the scene when shooting UWA. I find that changing the camera position by even a few centimeters (less than an inch) or changing the shooting angle by a few degrees can be what makes or breaks the shot. The same argument goes for the focal length you use. Shoot a scene with a normal to long focal length (even on the longer side of a wide angle lens), a few mm here or there make little to no difference. On an UWA, changing your focal length by even 1mm can make a huge difference in your shot.

I personally find shooting UWA well is what I consider the my biggest photographic challenge. Having discussed this with other photographers, they find the same and in fact a lot avoid shooting UWA because they don't like their success rate with that type of lens. I, on the other hand am a bit of a UWA junkie and love working with them, even though it can be quite frustrating.

It is a challenge all right by all means, that is why I am keeping at it and reading about it and until I get my butt off this chair and go to the deck or outside in the street to practice I am not going to learn what I have read nor apply it to my shooting practice. Thanks for the encouragement...I do appreciate your response.

[NorthernFocus]

I was very, very close....

Deep frying over open flame and you're shooting 14mm?

[Manfred M]

Deep frying over open flame and you're shooting 14mm?

14mm on a mFT isn't quite as close. No scorch marks on any of the gear!