Swing Time

[UrsaMajor]

Late this afternoon I took my grandson - who just turned 3 - over to our local park/playground. He spent some time there on the slides and swings, while his grandfather played with one of his own toys - an A700 with KM 28-75 f:2.8 lens.

Attached are a couple of images I caught just before sundown while he was on the swing. Neither has any pretense of artistic merit, but they are good for family memories, and I was pleased to be able to capture a moving target with the lens wide open at f:2.8.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[[SiC]]

They are very nice Tom, I especially like the first one

BR,
/Zeb!

[Greg Beetham]

The 28-75 is a good lens for lots of people type shots I’ve always thought Tom, it has to be pretty good too take shots like that wide open.
Greg

[artington]

Different sort of swing time here - Parisienne style

[Birma]

Nice Swing pictures from Tom and Martin

The 28-75 does a good job wide open at making the possibly distracting background a pleasant bokeh blur, Tom.

[UrsaMajor]

Different sort of swing time here - Parisienne style

Yup, I am old enough that I am very familiar with that sort of Swing Time.

In fact, my choice of title was a deliberate play on words.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[UrsaMajor]

The 28-75 does a good job wide open at making the possibly distracting background a pleasant bokeh blur, Tom.

The background was definitely something that I wanted to avoid, which is why I chose to force a wide-open aperture, even though it gave me concern about accurate focus on a moving target.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[UrsaMajor]

Different sort of swing time here - Parisienne style

My memory may be in error, but I think that Peter Turnley has a shot of that second group in his book "Parisians".

It has been a while since I saw it, but whether or not Turnley captured them has nothing to do with how much I like your image - which is very much. Nice shot !

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[Wildieswife]

Really like the B/Ws! It looks very sunny there in California - sometimes I suppose the light can be a little harsh? Here the light is quite gentle most of the time

[UrsaMajor]

It looks very sunny there in California - sometimes I suppose the light can be a little harsh? Here the light is quite gentle most of the time

The light was not really harsh, but it was just before sunset, so the range between the sunlit side on the right and the shadow side on the left was relatively large. I don't have the file with me at the moment, but my memory is that those images were shot at ISO 640, f:2.8, 1/250th second.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[Wildieswife]

It looks very sunny there in California - sometimes I suppose the light can be a little harsh? Here the light is quite gentle most of the time

The light was not really harsh, but it was just before sunset, so the range between the sunlit side on the right and the shadow side on the left was relatively large. I don't have the file with me at the moment, but my memory is that those images were shot at ISO 640, f:2.8, 1/250th second.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

Ah ha - the ISO and wide open aperture do sort of give the effect of the subject being flooded with light as with a very sunny day that can blow pixels. ....and the info re the low sun explains the very dramatic side lighting. Thanks for the information - it always helps with understanding the intentions of the photographer

Pat

[UrsaMajor]

Ah ha - the ISO and wide open aperture do sort of give the effect of the subject being flooded with light as with a very sunny day that can blow pixels. ....and the info re the low sun explains the very dramatic side lighting. Thanks for the information - it always helps with understanding the intentions of the photographer

My exposure choices were driven to a certain extent by the circumstances.

I decided to shoot wide open because the background at the playground was very, very busy - there is a combination slide / "jungle gym" directly behind the swing that I felt absolutely had to be thrown out of focus. The shallow depth of field gave me a concern about getting decent focus on the subject, and the motion of the child on the swing made that even more of a concern.

I minimized the risk of bad focus by shooting at the end of the arc, when there is an instant of stillness while changing direction, and the velocity before and after that pause is at a minimum. Recognizing that I probably would not catch the exact instant of the pause, I worked at compensating for the motion by bumping the ISO until I got up to a shutter speed (1/250th second) that I felt would be adequate.

Of course, if I had wanted an "artistic" image, I could have accepted a slower shutter speed and a blurred image that does a better job of conveying the motion, but these were intended as family snapshots and I placed a higher priority on sharp images of the child.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[artington]

Different sort of swing time here - Parisienne style

My memory may be in error, but I think that Peter Turnley has a shot of that second group in his book "Parisians".

It has been a while since I saw it, but whether or not Turnley captured them has nothing to do with how much I like your image - which is very much. Nice shot !

With best wishes,
- Tom -

Thanks, Tom. I love the way they are each so engrossed in what they are doing. This was taken on a Sunday (on the bridge between Ile de la Cite and Ile St Louis). I wonder what they do for day jobs.

[UrsaMajor]

Different sort of swing time here - Parisienne style

My memory may be in error, but I think that Peter Turnley has a shot of that second group in his book "Parisians".

It has been a while since I saw it, but whether or not Turnley captured them has nothing to do with how much I like your image - which is very much. Nice shot !

Thanks, Tom. I love the way they are each so engrossed in what they are doing. This was taken on a Sunday (on the bridge between Ile de la Cite and Ile St Louis). I wonder what they do for day jobs.

That makes it more likely that my memory is correct. I believe that Turnley lived on the Ile St Louis during the decades he was based in Paris, so if that band normally performs in the same general area, there is a good chance he would have taken a shot of them.

With best wishes,
- Tom -