Thursday, July 23, 2009

Photowalk photos

I finally got a chance to look through my photos from last Saturday's photowalk. I really didn't take as many as I expected - probably less than 150. In part because I decided to use only a fixed lens (50mm 1.2) which really was an interesting exercise: no zooming in and out, I had to really use my eyes and my feet to get the pic that I wanted.

My favorites of the day were taken in a very unusual "trinket" store (the first two) and the very last shot I took walking back to my car, looking into the window of a cigar store where they had this miniature cigar-making set-up.




No Photoshop other than Camera Raw and in the case of the jewellery, cloning over 2 distracting bright spots.

I highly recommend "forcing" yourself to use a fixed lens the next time you're out exploring and shooting. Really made me think more about the shots I was taking.

7 comments:

andie said...

these are great. I love forcing my self to shoot with a 50mm for an entire day. makes us remember to zoom with out feet...and we have to think abount comp. I get lazy when i use a zoom

Unknown said...

Smart photos...

that last one is delish.

I'm not going to say "Nice DOF" because I find those comments to be lacking in creativity. In fact, I almost find them insulting, insinuating that perhaps you have finally stumbled into the concept of DOF and have used it well, in this case.

So, instead, I'll say, "Nice Canadian Buns".

Bo said...

Nice shots, Dave.

I considered using a prime lens, but eventually just went with the trusty 24-70mm. Nice time I plan to use a prime, though, for the exact reasons that you state.

barb said...

I didn't do that for last week's photowalk, but I've done it before. In fact, I used my 50mm at a crowded party on Saturday night. It's intersting and frustrating all at the same time. Lovely pics.

Justin Van Leeuwen said...

I led the Ottawa group and we had the same result - far fewer photos than we'd normally take. Many were the "same old" comfort level (that'd be me) as I spent most of my time socializing and meeting people. But a few really stepped up and came forward with some great pics!

The Ottawa Group page is here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1177404@N23/ (Go Canada!)

photoshopabuser said...

My son and I did the fixed lens project for some of the walk. I rented a 10.5mm lens for the walk. We were in Chicago and the opportunities were many!

Mike Morgan said...

I did essentially the same thing you did in selecting a lens, but in my case it was a wide angle (12-24mm). We were at a vineyard and winery and I found the wide angle lens forced me to look to be as creative as I could, especially when we were inside the winery. Oh, wine tasting afterwards was definitely not wide angle, it was all CLOSE UP.