When I bought my own camera, I wanted to buy a prime lens too. It was costly and my siblings wanted me to settle for the kit lens first. I thought I was missing out when again I have to use a kit lens since I've been taking photos for 5 years now. But to be honest I'm still learning. There's so much to master, so much to learn. Right now, all I know are the basics such as ISO, aperture and shutter speed. It sounds technical but let me tell you its use in taking photos.

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The ISO determines the quality of the image:

• Lower ISO: Cleaner image (sharper details)
• Higher ISO: Noisier image (you can see grains)

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The aperture is the hole within your lens, basically how wide or small the opening is:

• Wide aperture - used for portraits
• Small aperture - used for landscapes

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And lastly, the shutter speed which is simply the length of time the camera shutter is open:

• I use 20" for night skies
• For portraits, I use 1/50
• For moving subjects this range (1/100-1/1000) would suffice

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These three factors, compensate each other. So you can adjust any of these depending on your subject.

I know someone who really studied photography, and same as my siblings, she advised me to play around a kit lens first. I'm glad I didn't buy a prime lens. I actually want to focus on doing portraits during that time. And a prime lens would take my photos to a whole new level of pro-ness. That was on my mind!

But I realized, more than having a geared up camera, the skills matter most.

Photography is not just about the technicalities of the ISO, aperture or of the shutter speed --it's not the mere numbers that count as a good photo. The composition counts as a big factor.

Personally, I take pictures some times for myself. It's something I enjoy.

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Also, I want to take pictures of honest people. I want to take pictures of honest places. And for me, that's the streets. Along the streets are the people just sitting or waiting for their friends or family they're meeting. Along the streets are the places that showcase diversity.

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When I went to Singapore, I saw how people of different age, maybe of different race take their waiting time.

"Read the news today"

• ISO: 100
• aperture: f/7.1
• shutter speed: 1/200

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"What is that game"

• ISO: 100
• aperture: f/6.3
• shutter speed: 1/160

I used Lightroom for the post-process.

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It was a sunny day, the weather's nice. I was privileged to be along that street, for even they were at such short distance from each other, the frames of the photos showed different stories.

You can also check my account:
https://www.instagram.com/hazelglaine/