Zone Focusing Techniques

[todd frederick]

Using a viewfinder:

 

I usually take photos of rocks, plants, and mountains, so street photography is new to me. When I take photos of rocks, plants and mountains, I use the viewfinder, but this hip-shooting (or chest shooting) is an interesting new twist for me.

 

Garry Winogrand was once asked why all of his photos had tilted backrounds and he replied, "What tilt?"

 

Cropping: the famous "decisive moment" photo HCB took of the man jumping in the water was severly cropped when printed. HCB took the photo very quickly through an opening in a fence and the wood slat appears on the left side of the neg. The slat is cropped out when printed. See Leongard's book "In Celebration of the Negative." Gives details on how many photos were taken. Also, Eisensteadt's photo of the "Skating Waiter" was done with a glass negative which broke, but the broken part is cropped out.

 

I guess a tilted horizon could be cropped and adjusted when printed.

 

OT: I have a black Leica II with a Nickel Elmar 3.5 with black cap and case that I want to sell for my Leica friend. Looks good and works great. It's not cheap however.

[dlegaspi]

dang it...that shirt is so loud it broke my monitor... :-)

[ray .]

Roger, It would be nice to see an example of one of these favorites you speak of...

[iván]

I agree, Todd: sometimes it's hard to keep the horizon horizontal while shooting without looking through the viewfinder . . .and I'm afraid that no cropping would fix some photos.

 

Regards

 

-Iván<div></div>

[andrew n.bra hrefhttp]

The following shot was taken at night, at f4, 2.5m from the

subject, with a 50mm Summilux and with the camera held at

chest height - no looking through the viewfinder, no cropping:<P>

 

<IMG SRC="http://4020.net/everyday/077.jpg" WIDTH="352"

HEIGHT="520"><P>

 

The people in the photo were waiting for the evening train to

Newcastle and it was half an hour late. The guy in the photo was

muttering obscenities to himself and was really angry.<P>

 

Good luck with raising the camera to your face under such

circumstances and saying "do you mind if I take your

picture?". Yeah, right. ;?)

[todd frederick]

Andrew,

 

I have a little thread going on the People Photography Forum called "attitude." That would be a great addition. There is also a NO WORDS photo thread there with fire as the theme...I think this would qualify since his eyes are burning right throuch my monitor.

 

And, for those kind souls who have expressed such strong feelings about my Hawaiian shirt, all I can say is "@%!" because, It's my favorite!

[ray .]

A little healthy interaction with the subject matter..... Eye to the Viewfinder...<div></div>

[MTC Photography]

The best tool for sharpening the skill guestimate distance is none other than a Leica rangefinder camrea. One can practice without shooting by guestimate the distance of

arbitrary object, set the distance on lens barrel then check it with

rangefinder, and see how much you are off.

[stephen_w.]

i started learning to est. dist. ffrom the free-throw line.