In the Flickr “Welcome to Oz” group, Vincent Versace invited us to try an exercise he uses in workshops. And as it turns out, personally.
The game is to go out for an hour and shoot the forms of the alphabet. No printed letters or visual puns allowed.
I put the 105mm f/2.8 Micro on the D300 and shot for about 45 minutes. The result is here:
Suburban Alphabet May 2208.
It was difficult using the prime because I sometimes couldn’t get the angle or distance to isolate the form and, as Versace says, “own the frame”. This image, T, was one example where it did work out well.
Vincent commented that he had never had anyone try it with a prime, much less a macro. I told him I didn’t know any better. Although that’s only partly true, because as I was facing the challenges, I realized that a midrange zoom would make the task much easier in giving me shot to shot flexibility in framing. It actually was something of a breakthrough moment for me as it turned around my thinking.
Generally my eye is attracted by some visual effect. Light, form or perhaps color. I approach, put the camera to my eye and move around until I see a picture in the viewfinder. It’s one reason why I generally don’t crop my images. I’m creating the composition by positioning the camera. I’ve tended not to like zooms because I don’t know what to do with the extra degree of freedom they provide.
But if one’s visualization is one step back, as in “That wagon handle looks like a ‘T’. How do I frame it? What’s the best focal length to isolate or or show the environment?” then the FOV becomes another part of the choice and pre-visualization.
Net result is that I’ve taken Vincent’s advice and bought a midrange zoom from KEH. A 24-120mm VR f/3.5-5.6 which is his favorite walking around lens. It arrived yesterday and have already started shooting with it.
I’m am so glad to read this. You truly made my day. I look forward to seeing what you come up with playing with a zoom