I play a sport which many in the US might consider “girly†called badminton with mostly Southeast Asians. Many of them are medical professionals like doctors.
Inevitably the post game conversation will always lead to the poor doctor being peppered with questions like, “I have a pain in this part, gesturing to show body part, do you think it’s serious?â€
When my badminton buddies learn I’m a photographer, you can guess what they want to know, can’t you?
Kicking back–I photographed this Indian child when I visited Malaysia more than 10 years ago. Jo’s images reminded me of many of my Indian friends who ran around barefooted. Originally shot on Kodachrome 64, I dug this out recently when I read that Kodachrome has been discontinued.
Some of my phases of photography, I hope I’ve outgrown but it’s a battle, I’m only human.
But here’s more.
Contests
Contests serve a purpose. Besides the obvious, fame, prizes and cash, they get you off your rear end and give you a reason to be out and about looking at the world around you through that camera.
This is especially true if you aren’t very motivated and have little self-discipline.
These Aztec dancers were photographed with a 180mm lens at f2.8 on a film camera. The equivalent focal length on a digital SLR without a full frame sensor would be 180 divided by 1.6 = 112 mm . What you see is the full frame. If needed, the picture could have been cropped to exclude their feet. So a telephoto of about 100 mm, if you can step back far enough, is a good choice for group shots of 5 people.
How do you choose which lens to use?
If lighting is not an issue, the answer to that question depends on your subject.
Since I do mostly portraits, the 50 mm f1.4 is on my camera most.
I start there but will switch lenses to the 100 mm 2.8 macro and even the 80-200 f2.8 zoom. Since I light most of my portraits, I can get away with hand-holding that old lens which doesn’t have image stabilization. Continue reading Choosing which lens to use→
Photo tips from a creative Southern California photographer
