The effect of focal length on shooting

Although we touched on this in the first part of the course it is worthwhile visiting focal length again in this context.

Telephoto
Separates you from your subject in physical distance and in the sense of involvement making it easier to shoot without being detected.  Using a telephoto lens helps you isolate your subject from the background which is very useful in street photography and depth of field is relatively shallow.  This means that focussing is important.

Flattens or compresses the image.

Wide angle
I wide angle lens has two main purposes - drawing the viewer into the scene and putting the subject firmly in their surroundings.  However, because you shoot from just a few feet away from the subject it can make you more obvious.

The value of wide angle shooting is it allows you to capture the subject's environs which may or may not be important to the shot.  It can tell the viewer more about the person, their life or what they are doing.

Stretches the image.

Standard focal length
This refers to a view that approximates what we see with the naked eye.  For the purposes of street photography standard means non-insistent with no special graphics or distortion applied to the image.

This enables you to shoot with one eye on what is going on around you.  It provides less of a distraction.

The next few exercises for this section of the course are going to focus on shooting at these differing focal lengths.