One month on

One month on, to the day, and I am still producing my daily blog!

Isn't it amazing how one month can just fly by ... and if it hadn't been for creating my blog I'm not sure whether I would have taken my cameras for such regular outings :)

A month ago I set out with the aim of exploring London and to see what it's like to venture into a new field. I wanted to improve my visual awareness and, at the end of my shooting session, share the photo of the day on my blog.

So far it's been quite diverse. I started off roaming the streets of London and found catching photographs of people trickier than I had anticipated. I have always been genuinely fascinated by people. I love observing their natural behaviour at work as well as at play. Being the fly on the wall. My main objective being to catch people as they are - to reveal the essence of (at least) a part of who they are. It is fascinating how an immortalised split second can tell a story.

The same principal applies to every thing one photographs.

Yes, I get a real kick out of observing anything through my various lenses. In fact each lens gives me a different approach and I am very mindful about which lens I use for which occasion. The nature of the subject and what I want to convey will guide me towards the perfect focal length. For equestrian photography which I had been doing for 20 years the obvious choice had always been a telephoto lens. The beautiful Canon 300mm f.2.8L had become my standard lens. It used to never leave my side and produced wonderful portraits as well as stunning action shots. When I got commissioned to do Visions of Polo I moved to the Canon 400mm f.2.8L and had a lot of fun with it. I couldn't be as mobile with it mind you. Forget hand holding it. It weighs a ton!

For most of my other work, having a zoom lens as opposed to a fixed focal lens can be a great advantage. Specially as sometimes there is no telling how close one can get to the subject. As always, framing is everything. Without fail I set out to make sure everything in my frame is there by choice. The nature of my current project will mean that I now favour a telephoto zoom lens - I love the range my 70-200mm lens gives me. It allows for more flexibility. And means that one can get away with not having to physically move towards or away from ones subject. The lens can do this for you. But a piece of advice. Make sure you realise that each focal lens within the mentioned range can create a different effect. The major distinction being the varying capability in depth of field.

I'm not a big fan of wide angle lenses. The widest lens I feel comfortable with is a 35mm. However, I prefer the standard 50mm lens. And have beautiful one!

But enough theory for one day! I have work to do :)

Feeling much better greatly thanks to inhaling and an acupuncture session with Selena I thought of traveling into central London. EC1, Barbican / Farrington area for a couple of hours.

I had my 50mm on the camera and the 135mm with me. Just in case ..:)

I particularly enjoyed walking around Farrington. I took me back more than 20 years. A lot of photographic labs were in that area when I first started off in photography.

I had forgotten how beautiful the buildings around there are.

I was immediately drawn to the unique building style only England and London in particular has to offer.

Then the fabulous and famous Smithfield meat market. Complete destroyed during the Second World War it got rebuild back to its full glory. It still occupies a prime position with London EC1.

I couldn't help hanging around in the wonderful hall. It was 3 pm and the only activity left was that of cleaning the place, getting it ready for the next working morning where I'm sure the place will be heaving.

Getting technical

Today I stuck to my original plan. I went out specifically to shoot some still life with the beautiful 135mm f.2L lens and the 1.4 converter. The combination worked a treat yesterday.

So, let's continue and see what it's made of! I was keen to test it with a fully opened aperture. What that means is that almost everything behind the point of focus and a bit in font of the point of focus will be thrown out of focus. Depending on what the photographer wants to achieve, this effect can add drama to the picture. Throwing the backgrounds out is particularly effective in portraiture. The last thing you want to see when taking a portrait is something "growing" out of your subjects head or shoulder :)

Just another quick point. The longer the focal lens, the less depth of field can be achieved. If you wondered what a telephoto lens is, any focal length above 50mm is called a telephoto lens and anything shorter than 50mm is a wide angle lens. As we are on the important topic of depth of field, a wide angle lens will have better depth of field than a telephoto lens.

Why is knowing the subtleties of depth of field important? Well, quite simply because you will want to know before seeing the photo in print (or on the computer screen) what you would like to have sharp (in focus) and what part of the image you want to have more or less blurred (out of focus). All these nuances play a big part when it comes to your creativity.

But enough technical explanation. Let's get creative!

Back to my lens. Remember, it originally has its widest opening at f2 and using it with the 1.4 converter, I loose one f stop (aperture) which brings the lens down to f2.8 wide open.

To make the most out of bringing my subject to life I set my camera to aperture priority mode - this means the photographer chooses the aperture and the camera finds the right shutter speed combination to get a correctly exposed image. I chose f2.8 - the available light was good so I set the ISA to 200.

Out I went.

I actually had to kill two birds in one go today because I was asked to think of an image that would work for a therapist who helps people to stop smoking. Putting my thinking hat on and my eyes wide open I strolled the streets of South West London .. yet again ... in search of something suitable. I found an image that I think works well. It contains a subtle yet very strong message.

But, I hadn't found my shot of the day yet.

Continuing along a lovely avenue flanked by gorgeous houses I saw a paper cup resting on the edge of a wall. I was attracted to its colours and the fact that the background worked well too. A bit further a way, still on the same white wall, sat a dead leaf. To illustrate my point, I moved the dead leaf onto the same focal plane as the cup. I composed the shot and went for it.

Looking at the image very carefully you will see exactly where the focus was aimed at. The centre of the leaf that folds inwards is already less sharp than the stalk of the leaf which is where I set my point of focus. The centre of the cup is on the same plane and therefore sharp too. This lens is truly pin sharp which I love in a lens!