civilized # 2030 ~ round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 08:16AM ;)
Green pepper ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAs expected, making pictures with the new 45mm lens (90mm - 35mm equiv.) will require a slightly different manner of seeing, pre-visualization wise. That is to say, seeing in my mind's eye how the referent will appear on the 2D surface of the print.
That said, I don't actually "pre-visualize", as it might be commonly understood, anything - I just respond to what I see and picture it, knowing how it will appear on the surface of a print. My "knowing" is based upon the fact that in most picturing cases, I have been making pictures (for a few years) with a single focal length lens - a 20mm lens (40mm, 35mm equiv.), although I occasionally use a very similar 17mm focal length lens which really doesn't require any pre-visualization adjustment. However, the 45mm lens is an entirely different story. Its narrower angle of view together with the moderate tele compression look of its pictures does require a rethinking of how pictures made with it will appear.
So, over the past couple days, I have been responding, as usual, to some picture making opportunities (which I would normally picture with the 20mm lens) by picturing the referent/scene with both the 20mm and the 45mm lenses. Upon my return home, I will process and compare the results. If you all are interested in viewing those results, I'll be happy to share them here.
This little exercise is really just for fun and to get a feel for the lens because I have no intention of changing my normal picturing MO, re: seeing and then picturing with the 20mm lens. My thoughts on the purchase of the 45mm lens were centered around, albeit very vaguely, the notion of getting into a different picturing zone with the use of that lens, most likely people-focused.
To be absolutely certain, I have no intention whatsoever in mixing pictures, made with different focal length lens, in the same body of work - never the twain shall meet.
Reader Comments (3)
Hi Mark,
it would be very interesting to see something about your results with this olympus 45 1,8. I just went the other way around more wide with the panasonic 14 2,5. It's really a learning process for me because I've not been enthusiastic about wide lenses. The 45 is on my wishlist for next christmas.
A happy new year to you!
Christine
Happy New Year, Mark. Thanks for your "illustrative and illuminative" posts throughout last year.
Yes, I'd also be interested to see your comparison between the two lens. Not from the technical perspective so much, but more the aesthetic / interpretative viewpoint.
I've always wondered about the word "pre-visualize" What is the difference between "pre-visualize" and just plain visualize. It seems to me the visualize is what most people mean when they say "pre-visualize." The OED defines visualize as 'to form a mental image of' which I think is what we're talking about. Incidentally, the OED also has 'prevision' which is the act of foreseeing—seems related, but different.