Devauld.ca

Two down, five to go.

Even on the second day, the lumbering camera felt heavy, and I asked myself why I was doing such a thing. I found this location incredibly close to work, and again the morning sun and the cool shadows created the great complimentary yellow and blue contrast. So, between sessions of kneeling on the ground, I was employing the old foot zoom to frame a couple shots.

Shooting with the prime keeps you at a fixed focal length. It's hard to explain to people why the massive digital camera I carry doesn't have a zoom, and I'll be the first to admit it definitely isn't convenient. The prime has it's advantages, moreover; speed and sharpness are the staunch allies of those with less glass in their lens. The crazy wide aperture of my 50mm, being at 1.4, lets in considerably more light than any zoom lens. Compared to my 28-105mm at F5.6, I'm getting 16 times more light. Speed helped this shot in the low light, reducing camera shake. This photo was taken at f2.2, to stretch the focus far enough to get both signs.

Where this photo draws more out of the almost-wide-open prime, this photo exhibits a nice natural vignette. The other photo I took in the morning, another outtake, exhibits an extreme natural vignette. It works for the signs because it focuses our attention towards the bottom sign. I find that my eye gets drawn to the very bright area at the bottom, and if given the chance I'd frame it a little different. Although, at the time I was obsesed with ensuring I didn't get that distant crossbar through the middle of the bottom sign that I forgot about the rising sun. In the end, I had a crossbar going through the top, so why bother? The vignette, in this case, doesn't just stand out and hit you in the face, as the retreating night already gives the sky a nice gradient. You can still see that the corners of the image are darker than the middle of the top edge.