Candids

[stamper]

I don't get the opportunity to do portraits but candid images sometimes can be shot. The fringe festival in Edinburgh - Scotland - in early August is a good place to shoot them because the persons advertising the events are out in force on the Royal Mile. They will pose for the myriad of photographers milling about. These are two that I shot about two weeks ago.

[attachment=16148:lady.jpg]

[attachment=16149:foxy.jpg]

There were more, but these two were very nice!

[jasonrandolph]

Without anything else to be seen than a face, there is no environment to create a mood or set a scene.  If you're doing studies of a face, this may work, but as you said, these were candids.  They would've worked much better with the inclusion of some surroundings.  No offense intended, but these are the equivalent of paparazzi photos IMHO.

[stamper]

Without anything else to be seen than a face, there is no environment to create a mood or set a scene.  If you're doing studies of a face, this may work, but as you said, these were candids.  They would've worked much better with the inclusion of some surroundings.  No offense intended, but these are the equivalent of paparazzi photos IMHO.

The backgrounds were very cluttered. I have cropped them. If I hadn't then I am sure that I would have been criticised for showing the cluttered background. Thanks for your feedback.

[shutterpup]

Now see, I like them. Are they great? Of course not! But I find people's faces fascinating, especially the eyes. So, I like these.

[RSL]

Stamper, I'm with Pup. I like faces, and I like these faces. But I also agree with Jason. I wish the crops weren't so tight. Too bad the surroundings were so cluttered. If I have a zoom lens on my D3 I too often zoom in and exclude some of the things that should be in the picture. I overcome that temptation by walking the streets with a 50mm prime on the camera, which forces me to a better combination of distance and perspective, but that sometimes can lead to clutter. What aperture did you use for these? If you could open up to, say, f/1.4 -- or even f/2.8 -- the clutter might turn into pretty interesting bokeh.

Nice to see someone shooting people instead of birds. I don't think I've ever seen a people picture that wasn't interesting in some way.

[stamper]

Unfortunately my lenses aren't that fast. A 50mm lens - which I have - wouldn't  have done the business because of the street crowds. I used a 70mm - 300mm Nikor VR lens. I had been using the 16mm - 85mm VR but that didn't give me the reach. The first image was shot at F/5.6 - the largest aperture at 266mm focal length - and 1SO 450. The second image at F/5.3 - 233mm focal length - and ISO 500. The ISO was on auto. There were literally thousands of tourists on the streets, such is the popularity of this event. Believe me the clutter in the background was very close so shallow depth of field would have been difficult, even with an F/1.8 aperture. Thanks for the reply.