The stranger at White Park

He didn’t notice me.

He probably didn’t hear me because I was using a rangefinder, my Canon Powershot G11.

At one point when he looked up and opened his eyes, I did ask if I could take his picture.

When taking pictures in public, you shouldn’t act like a stalker. It’s a good way to have the cops called on you especially if you’re taking pictures of children.

The G11 has a variable aperture much like a kit lens on a digital SLR.

On the wide angle end, the aperture is f2.8 but on the longer focal length end, the aperture is f4.5.

Its smallest aperture is f8, so it doesn’t give you as much control as DSLR lenses.

I wanted to see if I could I could intentionally lower the sensitivity of the CMOS sensor so that I could shoot with a longer shutter speed.

I enabled the built-in Neutral Density filter but it was just too bright out.

Lit backgrounds of lighter tones compete for attention with your subject even if they’re blurred.

When the sun is high, that means a lot more of the world around you is lit. That translates to a lot of distractions in your backgrounds being lit. When that distraction is of a lighter tone than your subject, it’s going to compete for attention if you can’t exclude it from the frame. Also, when the sun is high, you’re forced to shoot with a smaller aperture so you have to contend with more depth-of-field too.

The best I could do was to lower my shutter speed to 1/13 sec @ f8 ISO at the minimum ISO 80.

My idea of making the water from the fountain appear more “fabric-like” was certainly worthwhile.

But it actually worked against me because I was getting way too much depth-of-field.

If it weren’t for some Photoshop, these images would look even worse.

Scroll back to the top of the page and mouse over the top image of the man and the fountain. You’ll see the picture I took as it came out of the camera.

Hit me with you best shot, go ahead

When I set out to shoot this, I gave myself a small window of time.

I spent 23 minutes at the park and I used the G11 intentionally so I had to rely on my composition.

It’s not just how much time you spend, it’s also the time of the day that’s just as important if you’re doing available light pictures.

I’m sure you have opinions about what how I did, so let me hear them in comments. Thanks for reading.


4 thoughts on “The stranger at White Park”

  1. DeeAnn,
    I guess it only goes to show that “it’s not about how much light or the quantity, rather it’s where the light is falling on”. Outdoor sports provides lots of action stopping shutter speeds but it sure there’s way too much stuff in focus as well as too much distractions being lit up.

  2. Tony,
    You’re being too modest. What I’m stating here is innate in you with your years of experience. I’m merely pointing out the obvious.

  3. Shooting college baseball Saturday at 1pm, the light was extreme, despite low ISO.
    Lots of PhotoShop work darkening background to brighten/contrast players action.
    Otherwise white balance & shutter speed were spot on.
    I like your framing through the water fountain photo a lot.

  4. This is brilliant, Peter. I never thought about it this way:

    “When the sun is high, that means a lot more of the world around you is lit. That translates to a lot of distractions in your backgrounds being lit. When that distraction is of a lighter tone than your subject, it’s going to compete for attention if you can’t exclude it from the frame. Also, when the sun is high, you’re forced to shoot with a smaller aperture so you have to contend with more depth-of-field too.”

    I always felt the best thing to do in, what I refer to as garbage light, is use my absolute longest lens, and where possible look for a neutral to dark background.

    Your examples of the guy in the park are wonderful and show that you handle the light in the same manner. Rangefinder or DSLR, the methods are the same. Thanks for sharing.

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