Reasons for selecting a specific focal length lens

[mdarnton]

IF this is art, THEN they're allegorical. Or perhaps simply symbolic. Or Freudian. If it's not art, then they're big cement balls. On the other hand, this could be a purely abstract piece that unintentionally resembles something familiar to us; a kind of inkblot test. Kittens; I see kittens. Also a cloud that looks like blasphemy. It's deep!

 

[Hsg]

Not certain about that.

I've read several biographies where he is described as a generally amiable person, albeit moody at times. Even when he was deaf, there are accounts of him as a pleasant old man who took his supper alone in modest taverns.

He had no patience for fools. When he was younger, he took great delight in destroying those who challenged his playing abilities, taking their themes, improvising on them and even playing them backward! After obliterating several pianists in this fashion, no one dared challenge him again, as he was the preeminent keyboardist of his era.

And of course, the nine symphonies, his piano concerti and numerous other works attest to his creativity and musical genius.

Beethoven was widely beloved throughout Europe, and all of Vienna turned out to pay respects at his funeral in 1827.

Beethoven is the only musician with the distinction that he was not an entertainer, he made the music and then the audience had to learn to appreciate his creation.

Even though Stanley Kubrick tried to subvert the 9th symphony in A Clockwork Orange, he failed.

 

[Hsg]

OK, so I might just be having fun whilst expressing myself, or it might be art, or street photography or even a comment on this thread.

What do the experts think?

Regards, David

When I look at this image and see that car coming towards me, my first instinct is to step aside... That means leaving the picture without finding anything of interest in it.

 

[Hsg]

OK then... You and Riccardo Muti.

I had to look up that name on Wikipedia.



To OP: Here is a book that might interest you: The Lens: A Practical Guide for the Creative Photographer

 

[35photo]

OK, so I might just be having fun whilst expressing myself, or it might be art, or street photography or even a comment on this thread.

What do the experts think?

Regards, David

No really seeing anything of interest.. Look harder

 

[hepcat]

I had to look up that name on Wikipedia.



To OP: Here is a book that might interest you: The Lens: A Practical Guide for the Creative Photographer

Hsg, I think you may have misunderstood my intent in starting this thread. I'm not interested in advice in lens selection, nor am I particularly interested in your perception of how I should "clear my mind" in order to renew my "spark."

I AM interested, however, in understanding how other photographers who use this equipment use their shooting process in determining how THEY make THEIR focal length choices.

And honestly, if being creative and/or expressive is as painful for you as you've indicated, perhaps it's time for you to find another avocation (or vocation as it may be.) In the forty-plus years I've been involved in photography as a vocation, I can honestly say that it's been enjoyable, a challenging creative outlet, and the only pain I've experienced has been when I carried more gear than was comfortable. I'm sorry that engaging in photography has been such an apparently excruciating ordeal for you.

 

[Hsg]

Hsg, I think you may have misunderstood my intent in starting this thread. I

I replied to your following question to my first post in this thread:

What I'm looking for here is how your "creative spark" selects the proper focal length lens to capture your vision... why would you select a 90mm instead of a 50mm for example? What are you looking for?

And that post generated responses that I had to reply to.

I did not misunderstand the original topic.

Anyway, back to the topic.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

About that photo, as you can see the road narrows and the pavement is wide and so many cars parked there that they put all those giant balls there to stop them. I took the picture as proof that they often spend tax payers money on a load of balls... So I reckon it's allegorical.

BTW, this narrow twisting street was the A6 until a while ago but that will mean nothing unless you live in the UK.

For photographers living in the North a few decades ago the man in the red sweater should mean something.

Regards, David

 

[Hsg]

I don't know HSG, he has chosen to invisible at this time, so maybe his creative life is currently difficult? I don't agree with him, but I can imagine.

I don't wish to derail this thread any further but I have to say that its creativity that makes my photography life difficult and that topic requires its own thread.

 

[ferider]

I don't wish to derail this thread any further but I have to say that its creativity that makes my photography life difficult and that topic requires its own thread.

Don't mean to patronize, HSG, and this is indeed completely off topic:

Maybe existentialism is an age thing for some of us. I do remember creativity (and not in photography, mind you) being much more painful, but these days it's less important for me, life is certainly beautiful and life-worthy being more fatalistic, and one can still give to others just by being there.

Like going on a bike ride in a few minutes. The coast will be beautiful. Cann't wait. Afterwards, I'll call my parents who live half a world away.

Merry Christmas.

Roland.

 

[hepcat]

I don't wish to derail this thread any further but I have to say that its creativity that makes my photography life difficult and that topic requires its own thread.

Nor was I trying to be glib or dismissive, and I think that perhaps starting a thread about what brings creativity would be fascinating. Just recognize that process is very different for every photographer and advice that works for you may seem absolutely insane to someone else. And neither is "wrong" merely different.

 

[ferider]

Back from the ride, around a hundred clicks. 35mm lens (X100s).

Life is good. 🙂

 

[lukitas]

Having read a few artists biographies, the notion of 'the suffering artist' leaves me unconvinced. It's a version of the 'compliment by lamentation' : 'She's a nice person - Oh yes, she suffered so much'. A much-loved trope in hagiography. Inverted, it becomes the 'Accusation of enjoyment'.
Of course many artists suffered much, but so did most people. It is beside the question, to evaluate art according to the suffering involved in the making of it. The Piéta is not tragic because Michelangelo suffered much, but because it was very well made, by a man who happened to know suffering, as most of us do.

An even bigger bugbear is the notion of 'creativity'. Too much importance is given to this.
It is a capacity that is as widespread as the ability to smile : everyone is creative in some way or another. Humans are curious, and like to tinker and try out stuff. Making bad puns is creative. There is nothing special about being creative : it's only trying something a little different.

What is common to great artists is that they were all obsessive about it. A compulsion to go on doing this thing. Wether they were having fun or not has little importance, even though quite often, one finds artists witnessing a profound sense of enjoyment in the making of their art : I will but cite David Hockney, who states that he feels thirty years younger while painting.

In the end, the artist is but marginally relevant to the enjoyment of the art. It doesn't matter, that Spike Milligan was bi-polar, and devastated by his war experience : what matters is the brilliance of his jokes.

Cheers

 

[hepcat]

Getting back to lens selection and the reasons for selecting specific focal lengths, it's a fairly complex, yet straightforward process that has evolved for me over the years.

As I think about why I select a specific lens for a specific task, generally I think about the distances at which I'll be shooting, and then how I'll likely be framing. Last is how much DOF I want for separating the subject from the background. If I'm just out wandering around, I'll generally take a wide-normal- short tele combo with me and make my lens decision based on those criteria. Whether they're "light" smaller-aperture lenses (for size and weight considerations,) large aperture lenses, or a combination of large and small aperture lenses depends on the shooting conditions I think I may encounter.

Today, for example, I'm going to an art museum. I'll be shooting indoors without flash at short distance, so I'll be taking a 35mm f/1.2, 50mm f/2 and 75mm f/1.8. DOF separation won't be as important today as low-light hand-held shooting.

I seldom take a single lens out as it's just too limiting; and frankly there was a time (circa1970) when a single 50mm Yashica M42 screw mount f/2 lens was all I had and could afford. I didn't find the "simplicity" liberating, it was confining and frustrating. My next acquisitions were a 35mm f/3.5 and then a 135 mm f/3.5 Pentax mount with preset aperture rings and I was thrilled to have them. In those days a lens with a larger aperture or even an automatic diaphragm was built of unobtanium.

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . What is common to great artists is that they were all obsessive about it. A compulsion to go on doing this thing. . . .

This is fundamental.

It's not what you choose to do. It's what you have to do, if you are to be faithful to yourself. Indeed, it's what you have to do if you aren't to go any more insane than you already are.

I sometimes try to explain to mildly interested hobbyists who believe they are serious about photography that for decades I've been at least 10x more committed to it than they are -- and that the vast majority of the really successful photographers I've met are at least 10x more committed than I am. The actual figures might well be 100x in each case instead of 10x.

They think I'm bullsh1tting about the 10-100x, and are completely unable to understand the 100x - 10,000x.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Penceler]

After shooting with both a 50mm/35mm FL for a couple of years. I've come to terms with using a 40mm. Most of the time I feel 35mm is too wide for outdoor and 50mm to narrow for indoor. With the 40mm, I consider it a tight 35mm with a bit more compression, giving the 'rendering' to lean towards a 50mm more than 35mm. It's a compromise, just like anything else. That's why I bought a 90mm as well, just incase I want true portraiture compression. Maybe someday I'll use a 24mm or 21mm, but I have not felt comfortable enough. I shoot on the streets and mainly try to shoot small scenes and don't focus too much on the human element to be the most important aspect of the image, but the image as a whole.

+1 on the 40 - both on SLR (Voigt) and Fuji. With the ZI I'm more traditional at 28 & 50.

 

[Hsg]

This is fundamental.

It's not what you choose to do. It's what you have to do, if you are to be faithful to yourself. Indeed, it's what you have to do if you aren't to go any more insane than you already are.

I sometimes try to explain to mildly interested hobbyists who believe they are serious about photography that for decades I've been at least 10x more committed to it than they are -- and that the vast majority of the really successful photographers I've met are at least 10x more committed than I am. The actual figures might well be 100x in each case instead of 10x.

They think I'm bullsh1tting about the 10-100x, and are completely unable to understand the 100x - 10,000x.

Cheers,

R.

Being committed to photography implies that photography needs the photographer rather than the photographer needing photography.

If I were to cease any photography-related activity by this hour, nothing is either lost or gained by 'photography', because there are millions of other photographers.

When HCB put down his camera, he read the writing on the wall that he had nothing more to show photographically. And one must admire his courage that he did that, while most other photographers keep going and going even though they have nothing new or interesting to show... Fred Herzog is famous for photos he took in the 50s while no one knows if he takes any interesting photos today but his usually on the streets still taking photos. What about Fred Herzog minus Kodachrome look and 50s nostalgia? Nobody knows.

One of the points that I made earlier, which derailed this thread a bit was that one should wait for the spark and then move instead of trying to make the spark happen by buying various lenses and by getting entangled in the technical aspects of photography.


I need photography because I can't draw/paint, write, or play a musical instrument, so the only medium that gives an outlet to my 'creative impulse' is photography. I'm lucky if I find a voice through photography, photography does not need me.

 

[Hsg]

Creativity is probably far outside of an internet discussion.

Why are some artists wildly successful, when others think they have no creativity? Why are some so sure of themselves? Others so lost?

When I was a young professor, I naively believed that some people just don't have a chance of making anything creative, but now know differently.

I do know, over the years, I have redefined creativity.

One can approach the question of creativity by a different route. What is NOT creativity?

I'd say productivity is not creativity.


And related to this topic, the lens that makes one the most productive is not usually the lens that enables one to to capture something new or interesting.

 

[Hsg]

Don't mean to patronize, HSG, and this is indeed completely off topic:

Maybe existentialism is an age thing for some of us. I do remember creativity (and not in photography, mind you) being much more painful, but these days it's less important for me, life is certainly beautiful and life-worthy being more fatalistic, and one can still give to others just by being there.

Like going on a bike ride in a few minutes. The coast will be beautiful. Cann't wait. Afterwards, I'll call my parents who live half a world away.

Merry Christmas.

Roland.

You're not being patronizing. I can understand how annoying the topic of creativity can be, because people dislike difficulty, complexity and effort with no reward. And yet, most artistic endeavors are effort with no reward.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Nor was I trying to be glib or dismissive, and I think that perhaps starting a thread about what brings creativity would be fascinating. Just recognize that process is very different for every photographer and advice that works for you may seem absolutely insane to someone else. And neither is "wrong" merely different.

I'd say as long as the topic is moving towards an interesting direction, a few off topic points are ok, but of course it depends on the OP, in this case you. If you feel your objective with this thread is jeopardized then please make it clear.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Being committed to photography implies that photography needs the photographer rather than the photographer needing photography. . . .

Eh? Why?

Cheers,

R.