Ken W. wrote:
However, if you know the composition
isn't perfect and you take the shot anyhow, and you can correct it later
with cropping, you are probably not using the "right lens" or you haven't
scoped out the scene for a better "point of view.
+++++++++++
Maybe, but not always. We shouldn't let us get caught by the "tyranny of the format".
Just by habit we often just shoot and try to fit in, or even select, our shooting
objects into the format that happens to be there. In 35mm that is the 24x36mm frame.
Many scenes/objects/pictures are of course not there to be presented in this format.
In those cases there is nothing else to do but to shoot anyway, and crop out the
"debree" afterwards.
This happens to me all the time.
Very often I'll shoot a building, where I need a wide angle lens in order to get the
whole building within the frame. I might need the wide angle in order to fit it
vertically or horisontally into the frame.
If I lean the lens only slightly upwards, everybody knows what happens - the verticals
will get "compressed", the building will get narrowed towards the top. Of course if
you got that expensive tilt lens, and the angle is wide enough, you may be able to get
an undistorted picture of this bulding. Another way to do it, which I often do, is
simply to shoot holding the lens horisontally balanced (you don't point it upwards or
downwards) and you place the building (now undistorted) at the upper part of the
frame. At the printing process, or after you've got your print, you crop off the empty
foreground that comes with this technique.
Many times what you want to shoot only presents itself during a very short time. There
is no time to change lens, there may not physically be possible to change position, or
changing point of view would also change the scene into something different than what
you wanted to shoot. In such a case, just shoot away, and crop at a later stage. Don't
let physical or technical limitations stop you from trying for the shot you want.
The object may simply be of a dimension that won't fit or present itself well within
the regular frame proportion. A panorama type of scene (horisontal or vertical).
Should you then not capture it at all?
Having said this, of course I always try to get it "right" already while shooting. It
might save time and money at a later stage, but I try not to let me get "tyrannised"
by the limitations of the viewfinder/negative format etc.
(Well, I guess that what I say is obvious to most of you, but these aspects may be
worth getting reminded of from time to time.)
Lasse
-
This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe,
go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to
visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
