Thursday 27 August 2009

Walk The Dog

GRD III, f1.9, 1/1000, ISO 248, RAW

Took this while out for a quick walk today.
I like how both look at me with a similar expression. What is gear about digital cameras is that you don't need to raise the camera to your eye to compose a shot.
This has three advantages, first is that you are faster to take the picture, second is that you get a much nicer perspective and don't look down on people and third, it is more intimate since you can make eye contact with the people and they can look at you and not your camera. I bet all the old master street photographers would have gladly traded their rangefinders in for a smple digital compact camera with a decent LCD screen so they can shoot easy from the hip.

8 comments:

  1. Hi
    love this shot. I am generally too afraid to take candid shots like this as my camera seems to have a loud shutter noise and so taking pictures without someone knowing is difficult. chicken I guess. i tend to use my camera phone for shots like this but as you know the quality and framing can be off.

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  2. I agree about 80% with your views on VF vs LCD, but I far prefer to use my Nikon D40 viewfinder to frame a shot than a LCD and contrary to my reservations prior to getting the D40, using a DSLR isn't a barrier to street photography.

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  3. Thanks for your comment Kate!
    It is not easy in the beginning to take pictures of people on the street but if you start ´taking pictures of people at festivals, fars or markets in the begining it will get you more comfortable. Then just look at the people when you take the shot and smile and you'll be fine. Best for street photography is a compact camera and the GRDs are the best at the moment.

    Thanks for your comment Yesbuts!
    I know you see the OVF a bit different since you use the dSLR and for a dSLR a OVF is ok but not for a compact in my opinion.

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  4. Well Cristian. You know I don't share your opinion about the OVF on a compact. For instance, I have used the analogue GR1 for so long and I loved the OVF even though it was not perfect. And you should see the viewfinder of the older Ricoh 500G and you wonder why they never use that anymore. Holding a camera in front of my eye and against my face is still my prefered style of photography. Better framing in my opinion and I can keep the camera more steady.

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  5. Wouter, I knew you would disagree with me but I stand that for street photography using the LCD is the best way to get the shot. Using a big camera and for certain shots using an EVF can be as good but I have not yet seen any OVF which would do a good enough job.

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  6. The LCD is great for street photography, I am also getting into that.... after 30 years of looking into a viewfinder :-)

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  7. Nicolai, I have not used a OVF this long but find for street photography especially a LCD is so much faster and easier to use.

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