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07/10/2005 10:46:53 AM · #1 |
I have a technique that I am still perfecting.
I call it 'shooting blind', mainly because I am not looking through the viewfinder.
I use my widest lens, I put the camera on a stick (monopod), extend to the longest possible length, make sure all my setting are correct, have my remote switch and extension installed and start shooting.
As you can see 'shooting blind' can be a cause for frustration, or an interesting surprise. The hardest part is finding the correct angle of the lens to get the shot you are after.
Does any one else have a similar technique?
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07/10/2005 10:58:23 AM · #2 |
| Well, I do it on occasion, but never thought of it as a "technique", particularly. I used to have a Sony F-707 and really fell in love with the fact you can bend the camera body - lets you get all the way down on the ground with the viewfinder pointing up. Now that I have my Rebel, I can't do that, so sometimes I just put the camera down close the the ground and do "point and pray"... |
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07/10/2005 10:59:48 AM · #3 |
Why would you want to shoot like that? If your composition is off, the picture won't be that good. Of course sometimes, I've taken hip-shots before, of crowded places (none of which turned out to be any good anyway)...but sounds like you're doing something different here.
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07/10/2005 11:00:36 AM · #4 |
I took some photography lessons from a local guru back in the day before digital. He suggested that I practice this technique to minimize dependence on the viewfinder. It's a good skill to have, though I never perfected it.
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07/10/2005 11:04:36 AM · #5 |
I do it quite a lot - I set my lens to the widest and point and shoot! Most times bad some times good. Its fun try it
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07/10/2005 12:52:22 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by deapee:
Why would you want to shoot like that? If your composition is off, the picture won't be that good..... but sounds like you're doing something different here. |
thats the whole idea.
something differant is what it is about for me in photography.
"point and pray" is exactly what you are doing, knowing what your equipment does, and can do, to take it to the extreme, and only using your knowledge and not your eyes is what the 'technique' is.
try it sometime. |
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07/10/2005 01:13:04 PM · #7 |
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07/10/2005 01:23:11 PM · #8 |
Isn't this basically the same as "Lomo"? There's a whole cult out there shooting this way...(with or without the Lomo camera) basically shoot from the hip or where ever and post the results.
ED: Link to lomography
Message edited by author 2005-07-10 13:25:34.
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07/10/2005 02:20:17 PM · #9 |
When I was teaching at UCSD, this was one of the things we did early on. I'd have the students put a piece of black masking tape over their viewfinders and we'd go out and shoot with the cameras around our necks and secured from swaying with elastic or bungee cord. It's a great way to make the transition to being "in" the scene with the camera as an extension of your identity, as opposed to being a neutral observer.
One halloween I rigged my nikon like this, but at groin level, with a 28mm lens set at hyperfocal, an on-cam strobe, and a long cable release. I wore an immense, overlarge trench coat and threaded the release into the right-hand pocket. Under the coat I wore flesh-colored tights. I wandered around the party "flashing" people with a flip of the coat and a lewd, upward thrust of the hips. The pictures were priceless, and I won the costume prize too :-)
Robt.
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07/10/2005 02:25:59 PM · #10 |
| omg. funny. and funny you wern'e arrested, bear. or should that be bare? |
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07/10/2005 02:26:22 PM · #11 |
Pretty much spot on the technique (less the monopod) I used for this shot. |
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07/10/2005 02:27:09 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by pcody:
omg. funny. and funny you wern'e arrested, bear. or should that be bare? |
It was a party of artists, actors, and the like in a private home, so nope :-)
R.
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07/10/2005 02:33:31 PM · #13 |
| I do it alot when I'm shooting extreme sports like BMX or skateboaeding it helps get close and low without getting in the way after you do it awhile it becomes like second nature once and awhile youll be off but with a wide angle lense and close subject it usally works alot of pros in these feilds shot this way when using digital. |
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07/10/2005 03:02:42 PM · #14 |
| bear_music, Your "flashing photographer" tale is inspirationaal, not to mention hilarious. Wish you had some of those reaction shots to post, but I understand that it was quite a while ago. |
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07/10/2005 03:15:07 PM · #15 |
| I try to do this regularly. I get some great candid shots that way. The only problem is the AF light has a tendancy to warn some people. |
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07/13/2005 05:29:15 PM · #16 |
I shoot a lot of shots like this in two situations ... either shooting "from the hip" to take candids while appearing to have my attention elsewhere, or with my arm fully- or partially extended as I take photos in my car, aiming by what I refer to as either a dead-reckoning or parallax technique--i.e., aiming by guesswork.
Here are a few which ended up in challenges:
  
  
Message edited by author 2005-07-13 17:30:37. |
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07/13/2005 05:58:53 PM · #17 |
IMO, you should duct-tape a laser-pointer to your camera to help you aim!
;-)
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07/13/2005 06:32:35 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
IMO, you should duct-tape a laser-pointer to your camera to help you aim!
;-) |
Uh, I think the red dot on the subject's forehead might somehow be considered a "heads-up" that some funny business was afoot ... |
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07/13/2005 06:32:43 PM · #19 |
Arm extended above head:
  
From waist:
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07/13/2005 06:34:21 PM · #20 |
Forgot one of my top-scoring photos.
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07/13/2005 06:36:11 PM · #21 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
IMO, you should duct-tape a laser-pointer to your camera to help you aim!
;-) |
Uh, I think the red dot on the subject's forehead might somehow be considered a "heads-up" that some funny business was afoot ... |
Not if shooting in India.
:-P
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07/13/2005 06:45:29 PM · #22 |
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07/13/2005 06:47:22 PM · #23 |
If I want to shoot blind, I just take my glasses off. I'm as blind as a bat without them. I might have to consider only doing macro because I would have to be that much closer to the subject to see it.
Shooting with a blind camera can produce effects like this
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