Stop the car

Colleen’s a good sport. Lisa (first wife) was not. Shhhh… Colleen doesn’t care for me to mention “her” name. You see where this is going? Ha ha! I stop – the car – for photo-ops. A lot! …well not so much anymore. No need! I developed a technique to shoot on the go! Oh no! Well, sometimes. Colleen has actually gotten pretty good at shooting bridges on the go. It’s do it or I do it. She prefers…. See, control is a subtle issue with any couple. Ha ha, again. Well, one can shoot wide, medium, or tele. Just zoom in and out. Don’t try this while driving kids. Leave it to the experts. I do it without looking. And I hope for the best. And I am lucky sometimes. I have a very understanding wife. I have a wife who helps. And so we get along so well… As the song goes – Love Is Better, the Second Time Around.

Striking

What catches your eye? Wildlife, bugs, birds – all difficult subjects. They are wild and act accordingly. It’s not easy to get close enough for a decent picture. Pose? Ha! I feel lucky to get an image. Sometimes we reach détente. I sidle up. The bug sits. I get a picture. Everyone goes away happy.

Better? Sure. But then you have to be happy you got anything. I would not be hanging out if something big and potentially threatening got up close to me. I was limited by the focus of my camera and the zoom. There is only so close you can get while still getting the camera to focus. Often the subject is too small. Enlargement loses detail. Imperfect or nothing? I’ll take the shot.

Zoom

Zoom a little more. A zoom lens is a good thing. There are purists. They frown upon anyone using naught but a prime lens. ? that would be a lens with only a single focal length. Ah! I have bias toward iPhone. Well, there are controversies…. I learned long ago that I zoom to compose my shots and give them more emphasis on the subject I am photographing. And in the course of editing I discovered that I cropped many of my photos. So, why not crop by zooming ahead of time? And so I do. I have a 23-200 and an 80-400 zoom lens. I tend to sit at 200 and 400mm for much of the time. ?? it just works out that way. There is no particular reason.

In this instance I chose a random image from the Indian powwow. The need to zoom is derived from the distracting background and my lack of mobility. I was not lazy. It’s just not polite to be walking in front of the audience and blocking someone’s view. I was not a credentialed photographer for the event.

Specifically, zooming closer and eliminating the tents and distracting people in the background would have helped. I was at 110mm out of 400mm. Depth of field did blur the background somewhat. Exposure was good. Focus was good. Technically this image was sound. But I could have done better.

Or, wait for your subject to get closer. Same 110mm zoom, but now the background is less distracting. Better? Both images are sound. There is a choice. I’d go with the second image.