Thursday 24 May 2012

MAY 23rd STREET PHOTOGRAPHY - OLYMPUS 12MM F2.0





Yesterday was the first time that the Olympus 12mm f2.0 ZUIKO Digital ED Micro Four Thirds (24mm equivalent) lens had been used on the street.

After shooting with the 45mm for the past few weeks it requires a complete change in style to use. Instead of the few yards between myself and the subject for a full length candid portrait I realised that you have to get really close with the 12mm. With the angle of view being so wide you can almost stand next to the subject to take the shot.

Of course, the advantage here is that so much of the periphery is in view that it's not entirely necessary to point the camera direct at an individual and the depth of field, even with a fast aperture, ensures plenty of the scene is in focus.

I found myself taking plenty of pictures 'from the hip', even as I or the subject moved past one another since the light was bright and this afforded a fast shutter speed - technically at least....please read on.

This lens also opens up whole new opportunities for group and scene shots which are more restricted with a slightly longer lens.

It will take a fair bit more experimentation to become truly proficient with this lens but I really enjoyed the change and the new challenge and it's going to get used a lot more. I think I will probably cover the same ground on a session, interchanging the lenses as I go.

Now for a word of advice to myself and anyone else who becomes engrossed in composition and forgets about the camera settings.

My personal preference when out on a session is to set my camera to Aperture Priority, select a value and leave the camera to work out the shutter speed. It was a bright, sunny day yesterday so I dialled in f2.8 and ISO200 and went about my work.

Today's lesson is to always check your camera settings at regular intervals.

I proceeded to merrily snap away for over an hour afterwards only to discover that I had inadvertently moved the wheel on the camera and changed the aperture to f22. Result = lots of unintentionally blurred images.

We live and learn!

Still, there were one or two reasonable shots from the earlier ones I took and I persevered for a while afterwards. Just a shame that a few good ones were rather spoilt.

CUTE!

THE PUPPET MAN

HAT BADGE

THE LADYBIRD




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