All the time I see photo opportunities; the frustrations of not being able to capture an image as soon as the moment appears are annoying, to say the least. This is a sentiment shared by local Adelaide photographer Benjamin Liew who told me recently that his solution to this dilemma is simply to use his iPhone.
Wielding an iPhone, Android or a Nokia might solve the problem of being able to capture any image that happens along, but I just can’t seem to get comfortable with that ‘Instamatic’ look that seems so popular at the moment. Also I am very reluctant to give up that most powerful and seductive compositional tool, depth of field.
This image really shows what I mean by composition and depth of field. Here is a very simple scene, probably similar to something you might see every day: two birds sitting on an object. What I saw with my eyes was the lovely integration of the myna birds’ form with the sprinkler. What I can do with the camera is create the blurred negative space needed to bring this image to life.
Instagrams may be cute, but give me an f/2.8 or better any day!
Photo: Robert Rath, ‘366 Days of 2012, Day 84 – Birds On A Sprinkler’. 1/60 sec at 175mm f/2.8, ISO 1000
I think they’re waiting for someone to oblige: “Switch this dang sprinkler on so we can have some fun, why don’t ya?”