I had a huge realization today. What could that be you may ask yourselves? Well, I must say or more like a confession that I enjoy shooting manual lenses. I would never have thought this to be the case, but so far this has been my experience.
I’ve tried several manual focus lenses including the Hexanons and the Olympus OM series and I must say I enjoy the latter more. So much, that I recently added the OM Zuiko 28mm f/3.5(purchased at KEH). Still, some of you may remember I also have the 28mm f/3.5 Hexanon as well. Talk about an obsession with this focal length ah, but after having what I consider to be decent results with with OM Zuiko 50mm f/1.8, I decided to give this lens a go so I ordered it yesterday.
Lumix G1 + Olympus 50mm f/1.8 MF
Let me take you through this shot. I was standing in the corner, zone focused at f/11 or f/16 with the 50mm, I think it was the latter, and this was my vantage point for all the shots I took today. To be honest, the area is adjacent to Jackson Memorial Hospital and its got to be one of Miami’s most “difficult” zones to be at, much less to do some street photography, so I decided to just hang out there, actually talking the guy from the hot dog stand and shoot as I saw fit. I particularly like this frame which I did crop. I normally don’t crop my shots but I thought it was warranted in order bring this gentlemen up to the forefront of the frame(some nuggets I recently read on the book titled “Within the Frame”).
Note: edited in Lightroom 3 and Silver Efex Pro 2 inspired by Eric Kim.
Ledesma Photography 
Wonderful observation, framing and light.
Preciosa captura! Felicitaciones!
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_s_donohoe] Thanks Paul, yes its a bit more challenging but in my limited experience thus far, its all about the focus ring and how smooth ones feels with it. I must say that the OM Zuiko feels very nice. I’m still on the fence about trying out the SMC Takumars which Pentaxians seem to rave about.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgredline] Thank you sir, feeling comfortable.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/achristanto] Thanks Andres and I think you’re right, I’m heading down that path and I’m sure I’ll eventually end up in the Leica camp but for now I’m enjoying MFT and exploring my photography on this new format for me. GF1 is coming soon, so that should be something else for me.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffmahood] Thank Geoff, yeah man, he looks like he’s been through a lot but still standing strong, he looked so confident.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/kdphotos] [http://www.flickr.com/photos/reycuba] Thanks Ken & Ray, feeling a bit more comfortable and preparing myself and gear kit for Cuba next year.
what an strong image, wow
It is a very strong street portrait showing lots of compassion and empathy with the subject.
I absolutely love this photograph. This guy has had it rough but he is holding himself upright and he looks as if he could cope with whatever the world has to throw at him. The light is perfect in his good eye, a lovely slice of life!
Great catch! Good to know that you like a manual lens.. next stop: rangefinder. You’ll never go back once you use it (I know I won’t).
Vista en
Seen in
“A través de tu mirada”
excellent !!!
you’ve doen well with this image. I agree it’s good to crop to bring a subject like this out more. I guess it’s more challenging using manual focus…I’m occasioanlly experimenting with it, but so far I’m a bit lazy
Some of Eric’s presets are really good. He’s a generous guy
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/jorgeledesmaflickr] Actually I got his interesting LR preset from this site before 🙂
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonyleungkc] Thanks Anthony, no doubt on Eric Kim’s site, its a a jewel for sure.
Hi Jorge, it’s a nice picture and love your experience sharing. Eric Kim’s site is also interesting, thanks for sharing 🙂