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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 47: Creative Telephoto (hosted by Bruce Jones) >> Eligible > Telephoto =? Invasion *
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August 1, 2005 David Willis

Telephoto =? Invasion *

Andover, MA

So, as I try to come up with some interesting & creative shots I am plagued by the potential dangers of voyuerism and the distance that a telephoto affords me. With this in mind, I thought that the scene I passed today was a perfect statement of my feelings...Here I saw the White picket fence closing off what we deem as private, yet so many of our fellow country people are so enthralled with the lives of the stars, the high and mighty...the White picket fence here was the perfect "stay out of my territory" while the prominent house enclosed says, "look at my abundances, but not too closely"!!!

What do you think...what could be improved? What works/ Doesn't work?


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Canon DSLR Challenge03-Aug-2005 15:15
Phil and Olaf...

Thanks for the extensive comments and ideas! Very helpful. As a budget photog, I obviously can't sport the $$ for a shift correction lens. The desire would be to own all of canon's line one day, but a Macro and the 100-400mm L are my next two big savings for purchases :-)...that said...I'll play a little with PS to see what I can do with S/W....but am not really in love with the shot enough to spend a lot of time on it (I have another idea which will be lots of fun for this challenge -- and has a really great challenge to getting it right!!!)...

Regarding the white picket fence...I would have to agree that it is somewhat annoying. I did purposefully choose the DOF in order to give the impression I was perched up against the fence...really pushing my boundaries of what is snooping or not...I was actually in a car in a parking lot, and between the fence and the house is a main road...so there was some limit to my capabilities of movement...although zooming would have helped (PS. I am soused to my primes now.,...that the telephoto needs additional thinking!!!)!!!

Regarding sharpness...the lens is a $108 lens, and is really not that great....and this was shot through the windshield of a car near dusk...I had the camera, this lens + the 85mm f1.8. I shot with this one, near dusk, handheld with ISO 800 or 1600 I don't recall...I tried for 1/FocalLength for the shutter, but squeezed a little...so there is some lack of sharpness there for a reason which is my lack of a good tripod at the scene.

I'd shoot it again if I had the chance...but don't as this is a ways from where I live (was actually on my way to a DJ's house)....so really do appreciate the comments, since it is helping me think even more before shooting. I find with the Digital I have much more opportunity to learn and play...and feel that I am improving with each exploration I run through...If only I had the time to play a lot with P-S!!!

Thanks again for taking the time and effort....those were really, REALLY great suggestions/comments!!!

Cheers,
:-D
Canon DSLR Challenge03-Aug-2005 14:43
Another way of avoiding the key-stoning would be to shoot from the same spot, but at a wider zoom-setting, enough to get all that is in this picture within the frame while keeping the camera absolutely level, and then crop that shot asymmetrically to get the same framing. That could provide the added benefit of more depth-of-field, leaving the picket fence a little less out of focus (depth-of-field increases as you decrease the focal length).
--
Olaf.dk
Canon DSLR Challenge03-Aug-2005 14:36
You can keep rotating this and there will always be someone who'll think it still needs to be rotated. As the camera had to be tilted upwards for this shot, there would be some key-stoning, that is, the verticals converging as you move your eyes up. The effect is lessened by the fact that this is shot from a relatively long distance. There is also some pincushion distortion visible, which makes it even harder to get the all verticals vertical and all horizontals horizontal. There are two ways of getting around these "problems" - the hard way and the less hard way. The hard way would be to shoot with a distortion free lens from a height equal to the middle of the height of the house, sensor-plane parallel to the plane of the wall. The less hard way, would be to use software to correct for the pincushion distortion and key-stoning. Another way of getting around key-stoning is to use a shift-lens, but the longest I know of for EOS-cameras is the 90mm TS-E lens. Unfortunately there is no exif-info, so I don't know at what shutterspeed nor at what focal length this was shot, but it seems a bit soft. A tip for another time, would be to use a sturdy tripod - I think this would have turned out sharper if you had, but it is hard to tell from a web-sized image.
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Olaf.dk (do I need to mention that I'm an architect?)
Guest 03-Aug-2005 08:11
Still looks a touch off to me - try using the roofline as a guide, but beware, as I think the window in the roof is going to end up leaning slightly the other way if you do.
I can see what you'r etrying to do here, but the fence is a major distraction. I wonder if you'd moved further back, and sat low onthe ground, you could have had more fence but still plenty of the house (am I making sense?) which might have been better composition-wise. (kinda like this :http://www.pbase.com/whqttt/image/20683218 )

Phil
Canon DSLR Challenge02-Aug-2005 03:20
Grant,

Thanks for the comment...it was a hair tilted...thanks....May not have gotten it exact yet...but my eyes are'nt that great with that...

I think the photo shows a depiction of my fears...I could get too close and cross an ethically grey area...I hope in my photography I always keep the white picket fence there!!!

Cheers,
:-D
Guest 02-Aug-2005 03:05
I like it. Kind of graphic. I don't think you were snooping. It seems a little tilted though.

Grant