Practicing street photography with 80mm lens
I've been loving street photography for a while now and it's mostly a wide shot that focuses on the area/place of what I'm photographing. I've been using a 23mm lens for them and I wanted to try something new: to take photographs that focuses on people.
I have an 80mm that's specifically for macro shots but can also be used as a "normal" lens. I wanted to use a "telephoto" lens that don't require me to get close to people to photograph them since I don't really like confrontation and obviously it's ideal to take photos sneakily.
It worked quite well for the busy people that are quite far from me... but since the lens is too big and long, people close to me notice me quite quickly that I'm carrying a camera and I feel like they become self-conscious of being photographed and I become too as well since they're looking at me. XD
The pros of carrying this lens is that I can take macro photos of tiny stuff like flowers and take photos of birds that are quite far away. This is cropped to my liking since I was still not that close to get the framing that I wanted but still nice that I didn't lose that much resolution with the cropping.
I was able to photograph this lil pigeon without scaring it away.
I take every opportunity to take photos of people who are far enough to not notice there's a creepy photographer with long-ass lens pointing at them.
This photo makes me look like a stalker hiding behind the bushes lol.
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I added the grain btw cos I love them.
The experience with this lens for me is something. I know there are lenses out there with longer focal lengths that don't look physically this long. I'm also used to using my 23mm lenses that look a lot smaller (but not to the point of pancake lens) so I can take photos without letting everyone know I have a camera. It was fun taking this long lens out although I just really need to be brave and have the don't care vibe so I can take shots properly.
Taking photos of people are really fun because they can depict a different story with just one different pose or position on the streets.
I will still take my 23mm lens with me over the 80mm macro lens especially for travel. :P
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That's some fun street photography. In my experience, the longer the lens the greater the likelihood of getting mistaken for press, which tends to make things easier/people more relaxed. Never took my macro out for street photography, going to have to try that now, thanks for the idea!
I never thought of it this way, I thought it will be even more scary for them because there's a possibility it will be published compared to tourist photographers. But I guess you are right, far better to be posted on the news/journalism stuff than be shamed on social media.
Try it! I especially love takin photos of flowers on the streets lol but I also find a lot of interesting things for macro like random ants or wood details etc.. And so convenient you can just switch to the ''full'' mode if you don't want macro. :D
Never would have thought it myself if I hadn't experienced it, think it mostly has to do with giving people something they can recognize/categorize.
I think I shall. Tried using mine in lieu of a long lens once before but that was only because I couldn't find my long lens in a hurry (there was a SWAT team about to storm my neighbor's house). Didn't turn out as well as I had hoped but I may just need to try it under less intense conditions.
Hi @hiddenblade I am happy to be a part of this community and hope to make many friends here. Now I start my new life after prison. I will be grateful for your support.
I love street photography. Years ago I used to do it everyday. I haven't done it in a long while. Maybe next summer. It's too cold now for me to get out there the way I like to.
Catching people mid-stride aways looks cool like these:
Would be interesting to see what the people would be wearing outside when it's cold and probably even some rains. I missed the chance of doing that in Bangkok when it was raining cos when it does the rain would be too heavy. lol
Someday, I'm gonna have my own camera and capture moments non stop🙂.
You can always use a phone camera but yeah, there's a lot more ease using a camera dedicated for photography. :D
great shots, people snapping is an awesome way to spend a few hours, and i personally think they always look better in mono, something I have only recently started to appreciate