robmercer
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I'd been to 'Winter Wonderland' at Hyde park with my family and had brought my camera. We were just on the underground heading home. Looking back up the platform it was completely empty apart from the one guy you can see on the bench - I couldn't resist a quick photo!Time
This was taken late evening, I'm not sure if the gentleman in the photo was on his way home from work or not - I can just imagine my dad being that same solitary figure on the platform when he used to work in London when I was a kid.Lighting
The underground lighting isn't the best in the world - this was the best shot out of the few I took before more people came onto the platform.Equipment
Camera is a Canon 50d and lense, which was a new purchase at the time, was the 24-105mm f4 L IS. Nothing else was used.Inspiration
I love the street shots that I see in magazines and online, especially the 'grainy black and white' documentary style photos. I'm still learning alot about framing shots and lead lines etc. Looking back up the platform I liked the curve leading the eye to the solitary figure, the rule of thirds of the platform and in my mind I could imagine the shot in black and white. Even in my untrained eye I could see the shot working! The fact that the platform was empty apart from that one man struck me at the time as being unusual in itself - I just grabbed the camera before the scene changedEditing
There was a slight crop to the original photo and then converted to black and white using Lightroom. I didn't have to play around with much else, exposure was good and shadows seemed right straight away so I pretty much left it alone.In my camera bag
I am a keen photographer but being a chef and a father of two I normally take the camera along to things, as opposed to going to purely take photos. camera is a Canon EOS 50d. My sone plays rugby and football so my lense for sports and nature shots is a TamronSP 70-300mm F/4-5.6 which was great value for money and received good reviews. My work food photos, general lense for family days out and for fishing is a Canan 24-105mm f4 L which this photo was taken with. I also have a Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro lense which I use for all my close ups and a Canon 50mm 1.8 which I need to use more than I do! I've got a few filters I carry around and my speedlight flash. Finally I have a remote shutter release for if I catch a big carp when I'm by myself at the lake!Feedback
I don't feel I'm in a position to give advice as I've still got so much to learn myself - apart from take loads of photos! I've still got a really 'low photos taken to what I would class as a good photo ratio' but I am getting better slowly and surely! The one thing I am doing more than ever is taking my camera along with me wherever I am going - just in case an opportunity for a good photo comes about. I wish I had more time to purely take photos and I am sure if I did I would improve quicker - but I'm happy with my life balance at the moment and if I do take the odd good picture every now and again it keeps me trying!