Had a few ideas for this one (ironically, three) but this is the best I feel. I love street photography (though have never been happy with much of my own) and really enjoyed the Triptychs of Strangers series by Adde Adesokan so here is my homage to the style (head, body and feet shot to take three personality-matching body shots and make them one). Initially I was looking for the guy who’s been busking with bagpipes around Sydney CBD for the last few weeks, I thought the effort in the face would make a great portrait (plus I could tell him where to stick the bagpipes afterwards as there catawailing pierces even our office on the 26th floor) but alas he was nowhere to be found, that’s where I came across Joe Moore busking on Pitt Street outside Westfield and thought it’d make a great composition, especially with his feet tapping away.
Shot using aperture priority:
Nikon D5100
55mm-300mm DX Telephoto @ 300mm
ISO100
f/5.6
SS 1/160 – Head
SS 1/60 – Body
SS 1/100 – Feet
PP includes colour and exposure correction in Photoshop (lots of shadow recovery to get facial detail) along with cropping in for effect.
This was the second idea, I really liked the idea, moreso than the one I went with, but that’s mostly because I didn’t realise it very well in the three pictures.
When I was wandering around looking for the bagpiper I saw these two homeless guys sat by the Westfield David Jones, one with a sign and the other sprawled out in what looked like a pool of his own urine (thankfully, didn’t get that in shot). I then took a wider shot of David Jones and the Westfield Tower above, I had the idea of the towering elite looking over the oppressed below as some sort of allegory running through my head but once I pieced together the shots it just wasn’t springing out at me.
Admittedly I rushed the pictures as I was on my lunch break and had already wasted half of it cramming down two whoppers (gotta love “two’s-days”) and looking for an errant Scotsman. Maybe with some better composition this might’ve worked – I may scout for some better locations tomorrow (and bring a packed lunch to save time!).
Similar settings to the above for these, aperture priority so the shutter speed will be adjusted slightly for each.
Link to the original Facebook thread here.
[edit]
I found the bagpipier! I also think it’s highly unfair he gets earplugs and the rest of us don’t….
