'The Plaza, Deep Underground'

The old woman adjustes her hat, two farther off women kitibitz, and

on a high wall, two advertising women reward with a kiss a man who

has had a 'close shave', all on a rest plaza connecting two ultralong

escalators leading from a prominent hilltop Metro station to the

Metro, far, far, far underground - so far that two ultralong escalators

are required to reach the trains. Your ratings, critiques and

observations are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly, very

critically, or wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your photographic knowledge to

help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John (Also works

very well in color).

Hello,

Good decivise instant. Nevertheless, I would have preferred a shot in which either the focus is more on the woman with hat and the background blurred out of focus or evrything in focus with a moire frontal framing which would have showed all the faces.

Best regards

Eric

I'm glad you like this as a 'decisive moment' -- I'm surprised this didn't catch on.  I like it very much, especially with the expression on the face of the woman, left.

This was not possible to be shot according to your wishes, because this is shot with a wide angle lens, and it is not possible to blur the background and still keep the foreground sharp when the subject is so far away - it's a property of physical laws of optics and not any failing on my own. Think about it, and try a little with some lenses and see what I mean.

The other suggestion was equally unworkable.

The three women are very far apart.  To get the expression on this woman and to get the other two women in the frame I had to catch them at this angle (and also to get the fabulous advertising in the frame).

To catch them full frontal could not be done with a 2:3 format lens without changing the photo entirely and then the women would be so small that their expressions would not be visible, but if they were, the photo would be entirely uninteresting.

It was framed this way for a reason -- a good reason, and bless my stars, I caught the foreground lady adjusting her hat AND making this unusual facial expression, or probably it never would have been posted.

That's the long and the short of my reaction to your suggestions; if you feel I'm wrong, you're welcome to reply and explain HOW they are achievable, but I'm afraid I've experence and was there.

I just wish then I had a D7000, for higher quality in this low light/this is a ISO 3200 capture and suffers a little.

I'm glad it appeals to you, nonetheless; most passed it over -- I think their loss.

john

John (Crosley)

You do suffer noise problems very often. The Nikon P7000 does well at 3200 and not that expensive to buy. I use the P7000 (D700 likewise) in Auto ISO mode with minimum shutter speed set at 1/30 second (P7000) and default AutoISO(100). If you are not familiar with the feature, whenever the light drops such that the shutter speed wants to fall below the minimum setting (1/30 my selection) the camera auto steps the ISO up going all the way to 3200 if needed to maintain shutter speed not < 1/30. A useful feature for you so you no longer need to be concerned about ISO settings when shooting above ground and in the Metro, etc. Forget about ISO altoghter. If camera goes to maximum chosen ISO and still cannot maintain the shutter speed > minimum setting  then the shutter speed will fall below the minimum setting. Then you need a monopod (smile). On the D700 AutoISO I set at AutoISO(100) and cutoff ISO 3200 and set minimum shutter speed appropriately for the lens I'm using (minimum shutter speed > focal length. For 28mm lens I set minimum 1/30. for 50mm lens I set minimum 1/60; 105mm set minimum to 1/125 etc; 180mm set 1/250 (I do not own zooms). Most digital digital cameras (not ancient ones) have this feature and maybe you do and are not aware. I did not know I had the feature available on the D700 until I purchased the P7000 and read a little of the manual (I almost never read manuals).   Last week I was shooting with D700 105mm lens, minimum shutter speed setting 1/125 and maximum ISO setting of 3200.  Light was low and when I uploaded the camera had been at selection 1/125 (my min setting) ISO3200. I would not have had the time to stop and manually set the ISO. I did even know I was at 3200 . Indoors I shot and when uploaded the shutter speed was 1/40 at ISO3200; that is to say the light was too low to shoot at 1/125 at max ISO setting. I was on monopod and still did not get sharp images and guess where? off to the recycle bin :-) (I don't know if camera was not steady or the subject was not steady) .  I'm not especially recommending the P7000 -don't like the picture quality that much compared to D700  but its something that can carry in the pocket when I do not want to shlep around a big camera and I have also a zoom lens which is handy. Ah, here I've gone and written a Crosely Book. Won't blame you if not enough time to read.

P.S. Being not an SLR I can get sharper images at 1/30 shutter speed with the P7000 than I can regulary get with a D700 (not braced).

Unfortunately, my equipment budget is very limited, and I must make do.

Your experience passed along is very valuable for me for 'next time.'

Sometimes it takes many words to clearly spell out an idea and illustrate it; no shame there.

Thank you so much.

john

John (Crosley)

I told you my budget was VERY limited; nothing for any camera/optical purchass at all, and hopefully enough for food when next Social Security check comes through -- maybe not.

Very limited is no exaggeration except upward, I suppose from extremely, direly limited.

john

John (Crosley)

Sorry, bad keyboard, I'm now on a USB plugin instead of the laptop keyboard which is failing.

john

John (Crosley)