What My Navel Saw in Tokyo

[bakubo]

Occasionally, I use a technique where I put a very wide angle lens on my camera, hang the camera from my neck at navel level, sort of casually have my right hand on the camera with a finger hanging over the shutter button, and walk around snapping photos of things my navel sees. I don't do it often because it is a less involved sort of way to take photos, but it does give an angle of view like a 6-year old sees and I was one of those not too long ago so I enjoy the chance to relive the past. It is just another technique to use sometimes like shallow dof, perspective distortion, panning, etc. I took some photos like this a few days ago in Tokyo. I will put a few in this post, but I have more here:

http://www.bakubo.com/galleries/Japan/T ... index.html

OMG! When I look in your ear I can see clear through to the other side, dude!



She's a Guitar Girl



Stretched out on the Yamanote-sen train in Tokyo. Where do you think you are, kid? This ain't New York or London.



Generally, an 18-22mm equivalent fov seems to work well. I don't use AF. I usually set the focus to something like 3-4 feet and the aperture to about f6.3, f7.1, or f8. I use A mode and let the camera choose the shutter speed. Can't use auto ISO because you would often end up with a low ISO and low shutter speed so I set the ISO depending on light. Usually ISO 400-1600 to get shutter speeds that are fast enough. With really bright light though you can often use ISO 200.

[aster]

Your navel is very talented, Henry.

Glad that it decided to make its public debut as papparazzi of the common people.



Thanks for sharing Henry's Navel.


Yildiz

[Jasper_D]

Nice ones Henry, especially the first.

I use to do it also that way occasionally, even almost always in those countries where people start trying to cash as soon as they spot a camera, or yell at you it´s forbidden to take pictures!
My new toy has greatly enhanced my street experience I must say, both for the fun with it and the reaction of others to it (a Fuji X-Pro1).

[Greg Beetham]

I like that first one Henry, the one in front has an expression you'd expect after biting a lemon, and the one in the background was the purveyor of the lemon ha ha. I wonder what the deal is with the blond hair, dyed for sure, I still think it looks ‘odd’ on an oriental, but it’s sort-of growing on me….sort-of….in a weird way, it’ll be better once I finish with the mental adjustments. I really like that one as well btw.
Greg

[bakubo]

Yeah, for the last 10 years or so dyed hair has been very popular here. Many people have brown, blonde, or red hair. Sometimes pink, blue, purple, etc. too.

Having a nice laugh with a friend



Waiting for some lucky guy



Two middle school boys holding hands in "scary" Shinjuku

[sury]

Henry,
I like them. Good technique. I am usually self-conscious of taking street candids. I will try this sometime....Thank you.

Sury

[Dr. Harout]

Henry, how tall are you?
I guess we can use this "Bakubo-technique" with a remote cable in the pocket, having the camera a bit higher than the navel level, say at stomach or heart level.

[bakubo]

Henry,
I like them. Good technique. I am usually self-conscious of taking street candids. I will try this sometime....Thank you.

Thanks, Sury. It is just one technique and gives you a low-angle viewpoint.

I think she is having a bad day in Shinjuku. Someone is maybe going catch hell when she meets him next time.

[bakubo]

Henry, how tall are you?
I guess we can use this "Bakubo-technique" with a remote cable in the pocket, having the camera a bit higher than the navel level, say at stomach or heart level.

I am 175cm.

Doc, I think the remote cable would not work well because you would have almost no control over what the camera lens was seeing. It is important that you have your right hand casually holding the camera with your shutter finger laying over the shutter button (I have my 2nd finger segment over shutter button) so that you have some control. You can angle the camera slightly up or down, turn it slightly to the left or right, and also steady the camera. In my experience, if you just let your camera hang down without your hand on it and have the remote release in your pocket the camera will often not be pointing right and will move around too much as you walk.

Having the camera higher up would give you a higher viewpoint which might be good, but not so different than holding it at eye-level. I wanted the low-level child's viewpoint in this case.

If you want you can experiment a bit. Over the years I just occasionally use this and it can result in somewhat different types of street photos.

Telling the cops, "They went thatta way!"



Hurry, come here!



He has a cigarette in his mouth at a jaunty FDR angle (little kid in the back too)