People

Aloha, I decided to switch gears today and talk a little bit about photographing people. I enjoy travelling and at first I turned my camera to the beautiful landscapes and architecture of the places I have visited. But, I ignored the fascinating people that you are sure to encounter. Now different cultures have varied views on the acceptance of taking photos. It is best to check ahead of time to get an idea. And if in doubt, ask the person if you can take their photo. Most people don't mind and it is a great way to meet people. Canon makes an excellent 24-70L lens that is a great piece of glass. It is fast (2.8) and I often use it as a walk around lens. But I have also been using my 100-400L lens lately. At 400mm, you get great out of focus backgrounds (bokeh) when wide open which draws attention to your subject. And at 400mm, you don't need to be right up to the person, which makes it a great lens to photograph cultural performances. I use a monopod with this lens (it is heavy) but being an L lens (best of the canon lenses have L designation) it is very sharp. Now as a guideline, I have found that 1/500th of a second will freeze the movements of performers quite well. I find that at a slower shutter speed, you may get a slight blur of a hand or other body part (depending on how fast people are moving). Again, just a guideline but works well for me. If I have to shoot slower, I try to anticipate when they will stop (if even for a second). AND, shoot bursts (especially if shooting digital - it is free). It increases your chances of getting a sharp photo and an expression you like.

Now getting that out of focus background is determined by a couple of things. 1st, the larger the aperture, the greater the out of focus the background will be (shallow depth of field means you need to focus more carefully though). So all things being equal, at f2.8 you will get a much shallow depth of field then at f16. Also, the longer the lens, the shallower the depth of field (again at 400mm, you get a more shallow depth of field then at 100mm). The most important thing to have in focus is normally the eyes, so I generally try to put the focus point of my camera on the eyes. Depending on your camera, you will probably be able to pick one of the focus points. Practice so you can change the focus point on the fly. This will help improve your people photography.

Hope this helped.