Several from Hanoi

[awslee]

Had a 10 days business trip to Vietnam, here are a few from Hanoi. M9-P + Hexanon 50/1.2

1 Waiting for food to arrive

2 A sign

3 A view

4 Meditation

5 War stories about how they defeated the enemies

6 Catching a breeze

7 I rub you, you rub me

8 Street food vendor

9 Women who sells pineapple

10 Cool dude

11 Family affair

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Andrew,

Sometimes it looks as though you're using shallow d-o-f just because you can. Some of those pics work a LOT better than others, as far as I am concerned.

Cheers,

R.

 

[awslee]

Roger, thanks for the comments and you are quite correct, I am still exploring how to use these lens, but it is always temping to have it wide open.

 

[Sparrow]

I would prefer to see some detail in the background of the street scenes too

 

[awslee]

Roger, thank you for your comment, still learning, can you provide me with some suggestions?

 

[__hh]

Beauty in the eye of the beholder - I think these look great the way they are. Great photos of Hoi An also!

 

[porktaco]

i think they're pretty great. the meditation one and the two dudes on the bench are my favorites. the german helmet motorcycle guy is a wonderful subject.

nice lens/camera combination. very pretty bokeh.

also, i miss asia.

 

[dave lackey]

Roger, thanks for the comments and you are quite correct, I am still exploring how to use these lens, but it is always temping to have it wide open.

Nice job...don't worry about shooting wide open, some love it, some hate it and a lot are in between. I love it.

Besides, any old POS, cell phone or small sensor these days will give you unlimited DOF...I like the character of these images.😉 IMO, it is great to see you trying out the edges of the envelope.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Roger, thank you for your comment, still learning, can you provide me with some suggestions?

Wherever possible, shoot both ways (wide open and stopped down); or, of course, shoot some pictures one way and some the other. Decide which you like better and why. For example, to me the out-of-focus faces in 8 and 9 are far too distracting, but the complete blur in 1 works very well indeed. The moth is too small and not isolated enough in 2 -- easier with a long fast lens, where the repetition of the pattern wouldn't be as distracting. I think 3 would work either way but I'd probably prefer it sharp all the way whereas 4 is almost certainly a lot better the way it is -- and so forth.

A jumbled out-of-focus background, where I'm not that interested in what's behind the main subject, works a lot better than one where actually, I'd quote like to know what the building across the river looks like, or where the two pineapple vendors strike me as being of equal interest.

Of course it's all personal taste, but it's also easy to be over-influenced by the current fad for shallow d-o-f, whether slavishly following it or equally slavishly reacting against it.

Cheers,

R.

 

[awslee]

Thank you all for the input

 

[menos]

I like the veteran photo a lot Andrew.
The traffic there seems quite a bit tighter than in Shanghai!

 

[awslee]

Dirk, you will have a blast if you are in Hanoi or HCMC

 

[shadowfox]

Andrew, just because there are people in the picture, that does not mean it's complete.
Try to convey a story, a situation, a message with your pictures.

No. 7 is a great example, there is a lot of things to see in it.

You have the advantage of digital, try to experiment more with your angles, 50mm from standing POV is quite static-looking by default.

Just some things to think about.

 

[menos]

Dirk, you will have a blast if you are in Hanoi or HCMC

Definitely on my scratch list now!
So far though, it's hard, to free enough time for traveling sufficiently.

We should clearly start to talk facts about a cool group trip - why not Hanoi as a destination?