Colour and light

This well-hidden corner in the old town of Cuitedella in Menorca must have been photographed countless times by different groups of my students during the photography holidays I run on the island. I just can't see how a photographer could possibly walk past this place without raising a camera. It positively demands your attention because of those wonderful colours.

 

However, it is never easy to photograph. The first problem is lack of space; you just cannot get back far enough. This tiny little square is very small indeed, and even with a wide angle lens equivalent to 24mm, it is difficult to include as much in the composition as you would like. Use a lens any wider and the distortions completely ruin the atmosphere of the scene. The answer to this, of course, is to decide which particular elements of the scene you find most interesting, and concentrate on those. In other words, careful cropping in the viewfinder.

 

Then there is the difficulty of parked motor scooters and bicycles. On occasions these can add to the interest, but this very much depends on the type and visual appeal of the bikes that are parked there some are more interesting to look at than others.

 

The last problem is the light this photograph was taken around midday with the sun very high so that it shines down into the narrow square, which is surrounded by houses in a narrow back street. The downside of this type of light is the strong shadows and high contrast. But it does have the advantage of bringing texture to the wall, and addng shadow patterns across the cobles.

 

I like this subject best of all on a sunny day when the sun does not shine directly down on it in the morning or afternoon. Then it is very bright, but soft, emphasising the reds in the wall, and the green of the leaves and the wooden bench. You need to adjust you White Balance (WB) in these conditions using Cloudy, Shade or Custom settings.

 

Blue, red and green is a powerful colour combination at the best of times, and when those colours are combined with simple outline shapes the tree, archway and the bench. An interesting image should result.

How to use a telephoto lens

Here is another simple example of using a small telephoto lens - in the case a 135mm equivalent - to capture candid pictures of people. I've had some photographers take me to task for daring to use a telephoto for 'street' photography. These purists believe it is only possible to take real 'street' pictures if a lens of 35-50mm is used. They are talking twaddle.

Perhaps they are secretly obsessed by the notion that they are following the example of Henri Cartier-Bresson who, they believe, was able to make himself invisible, get in close to all his subjects without being seen, and capture them all on a Leica with just a 35mm lens.

The story goes that the 'great' Cartier-Bresson tried this method while covering Winston Churchill's funeral for The Sunday Times. Apparently he did not produce a single photograph worth printing.

A small telephoto can actually add a lot to the 'feel' of a candid photograph by throwing the background slightly out of focus and isolating the most important elements of the picture. This frees the viewer's eye to concentrate on what really matters in the picture.

Of course it also gives the photographer the added advantage of remaining just that little bit less obvious.