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Author Topic: Madagascar  (Read 2855 times)

Zorki5

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Madagascar
« on: December 18, 2015, 05:47:19 am »

My favorite video so far. Few things that I found especially interesting about it:

1. Location

Great demo of the power of photography/videography: Madagascar is one place that I'm very unlikely to ever visit. I can see myself going to Antarctica twice before I go to Madagascar, so I appreciate such virtual journeys. What an interesting place it is... Very special in so many ways.

Very nice narrative by Michael certainly helps appreciate it, a lot.

2. Pre-visualization only gets you so far

Unless you photograph bringes, more often than not you cannot tell in advance what frame will turn out to be the best.

Good example of it is that young man mending sails, at 42:52, that was, basically, a snapshot that ended up on the cover of LensWork mag. As Michael put it, "you never know".

3. In "f8 and be there", the last part is infinitely more important

At 31:05, there's a very interesting story behind the shot of the three women, which turned out to be the best-selling one for Michael from that trip. Taken at ISO1600 (where ISO100 would do), with 50mm (whereas 400mm would be more appropriate) and heavily cropped, it still produced one of the most interesting shots, even though technically it looked more like one taken with a cokebottle lens.

4. Still, equipment does matter

Shots of those kids dancing by the bonfire is an interesting example of that. Yes, slow shutter speeds created some interesting artistic effects, but I bet Michael wished he could go [way] above ISO1600... Yet there are people who keep saying "I never shoot above 6,400, who needs A7s, all that high-ISO stuff is gimmicky". This always reminds me those who used to reply "Just take few steps back!" to the complaints on the lack of wide-angle lenses during early days of digital (when we had to live with crop factors), completely missing the point that WA is all about perspective, and not just fitting something into the frame. Oh well, I confess, this is my pet peeve, and I digress...

BTW, the footage of Michael with 1Ds with 70-200/2.8 doing street photography made me smile :) I bet he wouldn't mind having something more compact, like an A7... Yes, on location like that you need to have something rugged, and yes, a compact camera wouldn't make a westerner any less noticeable in a Madagascaran village, but still...

Again, thoroughly enjoyed the video, thank you!
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Zorki5

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Re: Madagascar
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2015, 05:58:23 am »

Oh, and how could I forget! At 9:55 there is a story behind the shot of a microbus, quite a hilarious shot when you look into it.

I believe there was an article at LuLa on silhouette photographs, and the one in question was featured there.

This video is just packed with interesting stuff...
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