Standard focal length

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While doing the standard focal length project I was relieved that I had been able to build some experience doing street photography with other focal lengths in the earlier projects. This was because I found this focal length (around 30mm on my camera) to be the most challenging and slightly daunting yet. This was because, while the other focal lengths had been more accommodating in terms of catching people unaware, this focal length for me was not.

   For example pointing the camera at the subject was more obvious than with the telephoto lens. On the other extreme there
was less room for compensation for framing a person compared to a wide angle lens, which again meant pointing the camera more towards the subject and therefore more chance of being 'caught'.

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11. Using a standard focal length I found was good for telling mini-stories effectively

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   However the key advantage of using such a focal length was for me that when I did get a telling shot everything aesthetically looked natural and life-like. From a technical point of view this made sense as the background settings were a lot more prominent than with the telephoto lens but not as dramatic as with the wide angle lens. Instead they were slightly out-of-focus but still discernible; another way in which this 'standard' focal length was similar to what the human eye could see.