Steve Parish Is Just Playing At Photography - Part Two

He's just playing - and he admits doing it deliberately - and I think he has a very healthy attitude to it all. Indeed I was trying to come up with some way that I could work " playtographer " into the title but it seemed a little awkward. Just take our word for it that Steve Parrish has a good time doing what he does. However, he does have some interesting thoughts... a. For wildlife AND closeup photos, he favours a longish zoom lens. 100-400mm in fact, or a Nikon 70-170 macro. The latter is long out of manufacture in favour of macro lenses that have fixed focal lengths. When the pixel-peeping critics point to MDF charts and assert that fixed prime lenses macro lenses are superior to his zoom he reminds them that he has taken 80-100,000 successful sharp images with the zoom... b. Mr Parish disregards diffraction effects at small apertures as he knows that they are far less detrimental than one might think. Indeed, the increased depth of field at small apertures is his prime consideration anyway. Note that some cameras have corrections programmed into them to reduce the effects of diffraction at small apertures with some lenses. I benefit from this myself in the studio. c. He will trade off high ISO for DOF and/or shutter speed when necessary. He will also enhance sharpness electronically in post-production and layer photo compositions to highlight the features that he needs. If this seems artful, he pleads guilty and tenders the successful art in mitigation. His buyers agree with his decisions. d. He will shoot as he wishes to shoot - aperture priority or manual for preference. Single focal point, and that controlled by a back-of-camera focus button. This ensures him of having a fast shutter release when he needs it. He freely admits to crawling on his stomach through the grass in pursuit of tiny subjects. e. No flash. This surprised me as I use so much of it - and I could think of times when it would freeze his subject so well. h does admit to three little extra light sources, but did not say of what type. I hope they are Lume Cubes - I saw one lady's close-up rig there that used a cast-off tripod leg as well as the Lume Cube to make a perfect grazing macro light. f. He's telling you a story with the picture. He's also telling himself a story - and organising the elements in the frame to do it. The focus point, surrounding sharpness, colour, and intensity are all there for a purpose. The shutter is released at the critical time. You might just think it a picture of a daisy but it is actually a story of a daisy, and if he tells it right, you can read it in the image. What do you get from this? Are there technical pointers there for you? Is there an encouragement to go try something you never thought would work - like the long zoom as a close-up lens? Well, what have you got to lose? Kings Park won't wheel-clamp you if you stay within the bounds of the park, and there are enough disparate patches of flowers and plants up now to give you your own floral studio. Dodge the brides and tour buses, break out the camera and the lens, and go make the most of it. Note - do take a tripod and either a speedlight on a TTL cord or an LED light panel or cube. Experiment. If you haven't got what you need, come see us in Stirling or Murray street and we'll kit you out. But get out there and get some joy.