A walk in Little India

tomshen · 8th November 2002

Bored? Here are some pix making u even boreder!

Everybody was going home...

but not prayers...

Uneven conversation

Point yr cam at me? I point my finger at u!

End of day business

tomshen · 8th November 2002

Money changer

Blue sells

All singing all dancing

All sleeping

StreetShooter · 8th November 2002

Pretty good, I'd say. I like this one the most:

Technically speaking, I think your pictures could do with a little greater contrast and some sharpening.

I've realized a couple of things about street photography after browsing some sites.

1. It's about people. Buildings, cars and so on should not be the main feature. It's the people.

2. It's about emotion. That's when the timing comes in. You don't just click when you've composed the scene. You compose, then watch and wait for the right moment to click. When is the right moment? When an emotion is displayed, or an action that will result in an emotional reaction in the viewer.

With a wide angle, you need to get close, real close, to get the effect. Although this suggestion might be anathema to some, it may help to think of the photography aspect as secondary. The primary aim is to get in there, mingle, become part of the action. Then, if an opportunity presents itself, take a picture. You'll enjoy the experience much more, than if you are there desperately trying to find a good photo-opportunity. In this sense, I disagree with what Ckiang said in the other thread.

With the 20mm I use P mode rather than my preferred Av mode. This allows a greater DOF when the lighting allows, which buys insurance that the subject will be in focus. I use autofocus and shoot from the hip. Rarely, I raise the camera to my eye, although this sometimes gets me the eye contact I desire from my subject.

tomshen · 8th November 2002

Well said, streetshooter! u clear out some of my doubts

Agree with u absolutely it's people who should be the focus of streetshots. Going closer (, lower sometimes) and being patient for the peak moment, they do help. For a long time, I felt useless of WA, as the style is very different from what I've learnt in nature photography: less is more. I do everything with telephotos lenses to remove distracting background, but with a WA, everything jumps inside. Think I am still not closer enough, and more importantly, be part of the game. Unfortunately, last night was really quite boring. Not many things caught my attention. Sigh... missed the Monday holiday.

I will go back again in the future with just one WA lens, and try more. But often a time, I am very tempted to give up the WA and pull out 70-200

tomshen · 8th November 2002

btw, I use shutter priority mode when it gets dark, just set at 1/60s and in most case the 20mm/f1.8 has big enough aperture to expose well.

8th November 2002	#1
tomshen Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3,719	A walk in Little India Bored? Here are some pix making u even boreder! Everybody was going home... but not prayers... Uneven conversation Point yr cam at me? I point my finger at u! End of day business __________________ Visit http://www.tomshenstudio.com Last edited by tomshen; 8th November 2002 at 08:59 PM.

8th November 2002	#2
tomshen Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3,719	Money changer Blue sells All singing all dancing All sleeping __________________ Visit http://www.tomshenstudio.com

8th November 2002	#4
tomshen Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3,719	Well said, streetshooter! u clear out some of my doubts Agree with u absolutely it's people who should be the focus of streetshots. Going closer (, lower sometimes) and being patient for the peak moment, they do help. For a long time, I felt useless of WA, as the style is very different from what I've learnt in nature photography: less is more. I do everything with telephotos lenses to remove distracting background, but with a WA, everything jumps inside. Think I am still not closer enough, and more importantly, be part of the game. Unfortunately, last night was really quite boring. Not many things caught my attention. Sigh... missed the Monday holiday. I will go back again in the future with just one WA lens, and try more. But often a time, I am very tempted to give up the WA and pull out 70-200 __________________ Visit http://www.tomshenstudio.com

8th November 2002	#5
tomshen Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3,719	btw, I use shutter priority mode when it gets dark, just set at 1/60s and in most case the 20mm/f1.8 has big enough aperture to expose well. __________________ Visit http://www.tomshenstudio.com

8th November 2002	#3
StreetShooter Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Katong Posts: 4,702	Pretty good, I'd say. I like this one the most: Technically speaking, I think your pictures could do with a little greater contrast and some sharpening. I've realized a couple of things about street photography after browsing some sites. 1. It's about people. Buildings, cars and so on should not be the main feature. It's the people. 2. It's about emotion. That's when the timing comes in. You don't just click when you've composed the scene. You compose, then watch and wait for the right moment to click. When is the right moment? When an emotion is displayed, or an action that will result in an emotional reaction in the viewer. With a wide angle, you need to get close, real close, to get the effect. Although this suggestion might be anathema to some, it may help to think of the photography aspect as secondary. The primary aim is to get in there, mingle, become part of the action. Then, if an opportunity presents itself, take a picture. You'll enjoy the experience much more, than if you are there desperately trying to find a good photo-opportunity. In this sense, I disagree with what Ckiang said in the other thread. With the 20mm I use P mode rather than my preferred Av mode. This allows a greater DOF when the lighting allows, which buys insurance that the subject will be in focus. I use autofocus and shoot from the hip. Rarely, I raise the camera to my eye, although this sometimes gets me the eye contact I desire from my subject.