Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Would This Have Been Better As a Video?

Here's something to ponder. If Tiger Woods accidentally chips a golfball straight at you, would you rather be looking through the lens of an SLR camera or a videocamera? (No ducking -- you're a pro!)

(Click on image to enlarge)

Mark Pain, sports photog for UK's Mail on Sunday, was pointing his Nikon D3S at Tiger at the Ryder Cup when the ball loomed ever larger in his viewfinder. Pain had the wherewithal to fire off his own shot, at 1/1000th of a second, with a 24-70mm lens -- and better accuracy than Tiger's, it turns out. As his newspaper noted, he "didn't flinch, and captured this extraordinary picture just before the ball hit his camera, bounced on to his chest and came to rest at his feet."

Tell us, would it have been better had the same coming-at-you perspective been captured on video? Admittedly, the video would have been exceedingly short. Whereas the photo draws you in, invites you to relish the moment. For instance, watching a video, it's unlikely that you would have noticed that wonderfully surprised face of the mustachioed guy on the right with the stogie... much less Tiger's own chagrined expression.

On the other hand...

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