Boston, MA 091110 The mid-day sun casts shadows against the back of one of the buildings in the Quincy Market/ Faneuil Hall area on September 11, 2010. Boston, MA 091010 Stoddard's Fine Food & Ale in the Downtown Crossings area in Boston is one of several eateries opening in the area. This was for a story on businesses boosting the economy of the area. BEHIND THE SCENES: Sometimes you shoot an image whose appeal goes beyond what is there. In the case of the Quincy Market shots, I first saw the long shadows and that is what attracted me to to the scene. But it was the person walking in the shadow and the pigeon caught in mid air that made the photos. TECH STUFF: The pigeon and pedestrian shots were made w a 24-70 2.8 at an ISO of 250, exposure 1/320th sec, aperture 22. PHOTO THEORY: The human eye might be the best camera in the world. What we see with our eyes is an amazing range of latitudes when it comes to light gradations. The mid-days images if seen with the naked eye would not be as dramatic since in reality your eye can see details in the shadows as well as in the sun-light areas. This is where you as the photographer rely on your experience and your knowledge of your equipment and its limitations. I took an ambient reading and the original exposure might have been something along the lines of 160th/sec at aperture 22 and the ISO of 250. That is the camera matrix metering (five point) system wanting to be in the mid range to get some detail in the shadows and getting rid of some details in the highlights. However I know from experience if I let my camera do the thinking for me the result would be a not-so appealing image. Thus, I underexposed the image by a full stop, or full stop and a third in order to create a much more dramatic image. The other aspect of the image with the pedestrian is that I lucked out since they were walking in the shaded and I knew they would just show up as a silhouette. The last point in this image is that I chose the frame in which the human subject was perfectly framed by a door frame found in the background. GOD is in the details. The other image I threw in here so you could see how an unexpected element, i.e. flying pigeon, can make a better photo. God is in the details and we should always be open to serendipity. SECOND PHOTO: Boston, MA 091010 Night scene at Downtown Crossings outside of Stoddard's, one of the new restaurants which have recently opened in the area.(Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)/ BIZ TECH STUFF: ISO 3200, aperture 2.8, speed 1/80th second, hand held while kneeling. (Due to many years of experience I've gotten very good at hand holding the telephotos steady even below their suggested limits for hand holding. Also going down on one knee and holding my breath while shooting helps make the image sharp.) PHOTO THEORY: In this case what makes this photo for me is the body language of one of the men in the background as he reacts to a woman entering an adjacent business.
1 comment:
Re the tech details on the night shot - am I right in that you were hand-holding the 80-200 at 1/80th? Clearly the shot is sharp, was it simply that kneeling was enough to keep you steady?
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