Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Thought Behind the Shot-1

I want a Good Background!

"I want a good background!"

It was a cloudy, gloomy evening. To top it all it was drizzling and I was struggling to save my camera from the rain. It was futile trying to shoot the Golden Gate in the available light and I was not getting any good angles anyway. Then I saw the Sea Gulls and took a few shots but again a Sea gull shot is a Sea Gull shot, what's new?

Then this happened. This guy was walking up and down the wall and a streak of sunlight lit up the Golden Gate and I was thinking "like humans, would Gulls also want to be photographed with the majestic Golden Gate as a background"?

The key was to get the gull sharp in the foreground and in the bottom third of the frame and the Golden Gate slightly blurred so that it stands as a background yet does not disturb the eye. The length of the bridge made sure I had to use vertical framing

So:
  • Selected aperture priority (needed the perfect depth of field to blur the bridge)
  • Luckily already had my 70-200 lens on
  • Selected a focusing point at the bottom third of the frame and shot...
I had to take 7 or 8 shots. Sometime the bridge was too sharp or too blurred and sometimes the gull was moving around not looking at me

Thankfully I got it at last!

Lens: 70-200 at f8
Shutter speed: 1/100
Exposure Compensation: -1

6 comments:

  1. You know... when I see perfect captures... It seems like the photographer is so great... he got it in the first shot. :)This little narration tell me how even you have to wait, plan, try.. and finally get a good shot. :)


    And that's some nice lighting on the gull. HOw did you get that??

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  2. Luck got the light in the right place at the right time... but what was the source??

    Sun??

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  3. Love reading this one. Honestly I did wonder a couple of times why would you title it like this, the gull already has a beautiful bg. Now I know. Interesting!
    - Nayana

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  4. Dear Mr PV.
    Impressive depth of field.
    I may differ on the framing but that again can be debated upon.
    With all the effort listed, you missed out the post processing bit. Would also love to know how you processed the image. Would be good learning for all of us following your blog.
    Thanks.

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