Archive for February 2011
This is the oldest and the cheapest lens that I have. My wife bought me this glass as a gift fifteen year ago for about $300. At that time it was very expensive for us.
I almost never used it. Oddly, I thought that having such expensive zoom I should stay with Pentax brand. This is the classic example how wrong reasons lead to great decisions.
Now, when I do candid street photography, this lens has the second life. I even bought rubber hood for it. It is fun to take quick snapshots using pull-push for zoom and manual focus. With some practice you can operate it pretty fast. Image quality is good enough.
Pentax’s in-body image stabilization technology works great with this stuff too. Usually, I configured it for 200mm. When I am in the mood for long range hunting I have fun with Promaster 60-300.
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Editor’s choice for Image of the Year
Rules and Myths of Candid Photography: Wide angle or telephoto lenses
Some street photographers use flash to capture a moment with the contrast of its penetrating light.
I don’t use a flash. This is my personal choice and the only restriction I impose for my work in candid street photography.
There are practical reasons for this restriction. A flash’s light distorts reality and directly impacts the person in the picture. If you worry about confrontation from taking pictures of people, then using flash greatly increases the chance your subject will be upset.
Night scenes require the highest ISO setting that can be used for reasonable image quality. When people are moving it’s impossible to use low shutter speed unless motion blur is your goal.
I try to create a composition that does not depend on details. The mood of the situation, the strong contrast of light emitted by lamps, cars, and advertisements are more important for the photograph.
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Why is the candid photography unique?
Fez tannery is the only place in Morocco where I chose telephoto 70mm instead of the wide angle 21mm. We were escorted to the elevated balcony. Taking pictures from the top is not ideal for candids but using camera’s viewfinder and having freedom to wait for interesting moment was very refreshing after close range of the Fez alleys.
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Candid street photography in Morocco with Pentax K-5 and 21mm f/3.2
Pentax 70 mm f/2.4 DA Limited for Candid Street Photography
Candid Street Photo 