Taking photos of other people taking photos of other people.

Hipster? I dunno. She had a Polaroid, set to snap pix of her

friends. I said something dumb like "Now, you don't see that every

day!" She laughed just as I snapped this shot. I don't think I even

slowed down or stopped walking and didn't realize 'til later this shot

was actually in focus.

that's a charming smile you gathered into your lens...

Hey, I like that description, Rajat! Instead of worrying about "light gathering" lenses, we need more "smile gathering" and "life gathering" optics.

What is that camera? 2-1/4" X 3-1/4" Some other size? Brand?

Hiya, Jay: This was taken with my D2H, a DX/APS sensor 3:2 format dSLR.  I had the 18-70 DX Nikkor at 18mm (roughly equivalent to 28mm in 35mm or full frame).  Frankly, I've never really gotten the hang of using wide angles effectively and tend to want to crop my candids taken with wides.  I started out with fixed lens 35mm and MF cameras having "normal" lenses and still see the world that way.  And I sorta prefer the square format 6x6 for candids.

 

I'll attach an uncropped version.  Feel free to kick in an idea for a crop.  I'm not exactly married to the version I posted here.  Mostly I wanted to emphasis the delightful expression of this gal.

I don't suppose that her smile had anything to do with your photographing her.  Certainly, your interest in her was purely aesthetic. 

PS Interesting that her camera is pointed toward the street.

PPS This is a well timed and well composed photograph, FWIW.

michael

It just occurred to me that Jay was probably asking about the camera shown in the photo, rather than the camera I used to take the photo.

 

It appears to be a Polaroid EE 100 Special, a predecessor to the Reporter models.  It has the same type of viewfinder without a rangefinder, zone focusing, lettering on the front of the lens and large white lettering for the model name on the front panel next to the shutter release.  I'm guessing it used the same 3 1/4" x 4 1/4" packs as other bellows type Polaroids from that era.

Michael, I'd say the best I can hope for is that the young lady was smiling only because she'd decided I am, like the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, mostly harmless.

 

Regarding the angle of her Polaroid, I think I happened to catch her between shots while setting up to photograph a group of friends (to my left, just out of frame). "Instant" was a sort of misnomer for Polaroids. Most of those cameras were rather slow and awkward to operate and didn't really lend themselves well to action oriented candid photos.

 

I'd like to accept your compliment regarding the timing and composition but, honestly, it was mostly luck. I'd like to claim I get photos like this every time I go out but... nah. I was literally walking as I snapped off two shots. Her eyes were closed in the second photo. A dSLR capable of 8 fps is sometimes a marvelous contraption for enhancing my meager skills.

You did catch a nice smile on her. There sure is a wide range of reactions that one gets when someone sees them taking their photo. I have seen this smile several times, in addition to some posing for the photo, or giving the finger, turning their face, etc. I'll take the smile anyday.

Heh, I've had a couple of street photos where I got the finger.  They weren't really angry, just showing off for the photo.  Usually, folks seem to respond to my own mood.  I try to shoot in public only when I'm feeling really well, in a good, positive, optimistic mood.  It seems to put folks at ease.  The few occasions when I've been photographing in public when I didn't feel my best, the photos were either boring or people seemed uncomfortable and irritable.

 

Might be a coincidence.  It's entirely possible that folks aren't merely mirroring my own attitude - in some ways that sounds self-aggrandizing, as if I had some sort of mystical power to make people enjoy being photographed.  But I do know I enjoy street photography more when I start out in a really good frame of mind.

I would center her in the frame.

She is the subject.  Rule of thirds is a rule that can be broken.  I would want to make her pop out of the pic, and away from the other bystanders.

I did a quick rough edit to show what I might do.

I would de-clarify everything in the background.  Turn the exposure in background down a bit.  Desaturate everything in the background a bit.  Turn the contrast down a bit.

I would saturate her skin a little bit.  And then blur the freckles on her arms that show up with saturation.

 

Of course that is an exaggerated rough edit with a low res pic.

Interesting revision of the photo, Richard, thanks.  I usually rather like a busy milieu but as I noted when posting this photo last year, I wasn't sure it worked well in this case.

 

This annual arts street festival is coming up again soon.  I may try a faster lens wide open for shallower DOF this time.  I'll need to modify my accustomed shooting style, which normally depends on stopping down for DOF, zone focusing and quick snaps.  Should make for an interesting challenge.

Dang, it is a year old.

I did not see that.  It just popped up on the 'request for critique' scroll, and it caught my eye.

No problem, Richard, I appreciate the feedback any time.  I'm not averse to the type of editing you suggested, I just hadn't considered it.  Probably just a lack of imagination on my part regarding candid photography.

Hi Lex

Sorry to be replying so tardily, but I just learned how to find my past posts on photo.net thanks to;

Fred G & Tom Mann. Now why didn't I find this out 2 years ago. Sometimes I amaze myself w/ my languidity. Now I'm going back through my old posts (?). I've never seen U're comments till today.

In any case, I'm sure that your comment about not seeing that every day caused her to smile. It said to her that U're a knowledgeable photographer & she appreciated the common ground U both shared. I don't remember any Polaroids that looked like it. I would have guessed it was something like 2-1/4"X 3-1/4" '40s or '50s Bush or some such press camera. I would have stopped, watched her technique, & talked w/ her a little, because she looks like an interesting person & camera. To me part of the fun of shooting out in public is interacting w/ people. BTW I assume U didn't get a model release. I'm not at all clear on when they are needed & not. @ one time I carried a stack w/ a dollar bill stapled to each one that were filled out in advance except for the subjects name. Obviously I don't any more, but I'm also not sure if I could post any on line of exhibit a print.

As for using a 28mm lens for general, street, grab shooting. I feel somewhat the same as U. I don't particularly like it. I usually prefer to get close to my subject w/ either a fast 50mm or 85mm, (Now if only I had a fast (f1.4) 85 mm) & use a flash on the camera turned down to ~2 stops to act strictly as a fill. I use a 28mm for only certain situations, in which cases I love it, JD

Thanks for the follow up, Jay.  Regarding releases, those generally aren't required in the U.S. for photos like this - candids, street photography, documentary, photojournalism, etc., in public places.  The main exception is if the photo is used for marketing purposes such as advertising.

 

I've rarely heard any objections to my snapping pix in public.  If anything, more often I've actually been asked by people to photograph them, even when there's no expectation they'd ever see the photos.  Usually street photography offers an opportunity to chatter with people and hear interesting stories.  Makes the photos more interesting when I can write a non-generic caption about the people or venue.

 

This reminds me, I didn't make it to the 2011 Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival.  I'm hoping to attend the upcoming April 2012 event.  It's always fun.

This image just popped up again at the bottom of a thread, and after having it pop up many times before, I've got to tell you that it brings a smile to my face every time I see it.  I like the spontaneity, the smile, your crop, the restrained colors, the sense of place, and last but not least, I would that cutie snap my picture any old time she wanted. 

 

;-)

 

Tom M

Thanks, Tom.  This is one of my favorite candid photos as well.  It's just one of those charming moments in time.

I like this photo a lot. It conveys the joy she must be feeling at photographing her friends. And I prefer your original crop. Putting her at the right of the frame with her camera in the middle (as you have) provides space for her to point her camera into. Also, if the eye drifts away from the subject and towards the left, the rightward gaze of the woman in the white top brings us back again to the subject and her wonderful old Polaroid camera.

Thanks, Gerry.  I do tend to prefer the busier milieu of the original uncropped photo.  But it would probably work better in a larger print.  I have a few other visually busy photos that seem cluttered in 5x7 or smaller prints, but work well in 8x10 or 11x14 prints.

I finally re-tweaked this photo 2/4/13, in Lightroom 4.  Never was happy with the noise level or flat contrast in the previous version.  Lightroom's NR is much better than Nikon's software, while LR4 retains the moderate color saturation characteristics of the D2H.