First of all, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all my Muslim friends who celebrate! Maaf Zahir dan Batin.
Hari Raya Puasa is quite a huge occasion in Malaysia, and we have the long weekend for the huge celebration. Therefore, that also meant more time for shutter therapy sessions. This time I decided to do something a little different, instead of using my usual favourite focal lengths (14mm, 25mm and 45mm) I have decided to shoot with an even longer focal length, 75mm. Armed with the amazing M.Zuiko 75mm F1.8 on an E-M1 I roamed the KL streets and little did I know I have enjoyed myself more than I expected!
One of the constantly propagated myth about using long lenses on the street is now disconnected your subjects will be in the photographs. I certainly find that not to be true at all. There is a difference between shooting with a long lens from a far distance from the subject, and shooting with a long lens by getting close to your subject. 75mm (in 35mm format, equals to 150mm) does not mean I can hide in one corner and started clicking away without my subject knowing me shooting them. I still do what I normally do: I walk in and approach the strangers. Interestingly the longer focal length allows tighter composition, meaning I have less background to work with and easily produced cleaner shots.
The super thin depth of field that the Olympus 75mm F1.8 lens offers is simply amazing. I do not think (not even the Nocticron 42.5mm F1.2 lens) any lens from Micro Four Thirds at this moment can rival the shallow depth of field produced by the 75mm F1.8 lens.
All images were taken with Olympus OM-D E-M1 and M.Zuiko 75mm F1.8 lens
Hard Worker