Spring Forward & Patches Of Light

I’ve shot a boatload of street since the beginning of the year. Like anything we do a lot of, we start to develop our craft. It’s the 10,000-hour rule I suppose. Something that I’ve become really aware of lately is knowing where the light will be good at certain times of the day. I know on certain street corners that the light will drop between a couple of buildings and that it will bounce off glass and steel before reaching the pavement (sidewalk). The colours are fantastic and it really enhances the Classic Chrome film simulation in my Fuji cameras. I also know where to go next when the light disappears from my favorite corner.

We moved our clocks forward at the weekend for British summertime, so all the good light will be an hour later than usual. Pretty soon the sun will go down even later and the streets will be empty when all the good light is available. March might just be my new favorite month for street photography, but let's not wipe out April when it just began.

These pictures were shot with the Fuji X70 (28mm) and the X-Pro2 with the 16mm f2.8 (24mm).

Of course, I cannot neglect the monochrome side of things just because the light was great for colour. As always, all my black and white street pictures are post-processed using Nik, Silver Efex Pro (now owned by DXO and well worth the money).

Fujifilm 16mm f2.8: Too Wide?

There is a sweet spot in wide angle street photography lenses. Just like the push and pull of the exposure triangle, there are trade-offs with different focal lengths, especially when zone focusing. The compromise of getting in really close, but having lots of depth of field to add a bit of forgiveness when judging the distance between your camera and the subject. If this isn’t making much sense, you might want to go and read my post on How To Zone Focus first and then come back here.

I love a 28mm lens (full frame equivalent) when I’m zone focusing, which is why my Fuji Fuji X70 is one of my favourite cameras for this type of street shooting. I love the classic 35mm focal length when I’m using a viewfinder on a camera like the X100F, but when shooting from the hip, that extra depth of field the 28mm gives me can be the difference between coming home with lots of good shots or coming home with just a few.

I get that 28mm can be a bit wide for some photographers on the street (especially beginners) because it forces you to get in close. But it just works in so many different levels. At f8 and focused to 6’, everything between 5’ and 8’ will be in focus (possibly even more). At f11 and focus set to 5’ I can get everything in focus between 4’ and 8’ and those are good distances to work at with a 28mm lens

I hit the street the other day with the 16/2.8, a tiny wide-angle gem of a lens. But as soon as I started taking pictures, I was reminded of just how much difference a few millimeters can make at the wide end, which would mean next to nothing on a telephoto lens. The Fujinon Super EBC XF 16mm f2.8 R WR (to give it it’s the full title) is a full-frame equivalent to a 24mm, but those 4mm between 24mm and a 28mm feels huge when you’re trying to judge how big in the frame someone will be. The difference of a second or two when someone is walking toward you is massive, and if you wait too long or if the camera has any kind of lag between shutter press and actual shutter release, the moment has gone. But press too soon and the subject appears way smaller in the frame than you can imagine. It takes a bit of practice and there is very little wiggle room, so I’ll be heading back out soon to try to get it right.

Another problem is the urge to point the camera up. I was using the X-Pro2 and it doesn’t have a tilt screen, so it’s complete guesswork. When I’m out with my X70 (28mm equivalent), I can pull the flip screen out just a fraction, which is just enough to make a rough composition. I don’t like tilt screens on my rangefinder style cameras, but if the X-E3 had one I’d probably buy it for street (even though it doesn’t have a D-Pad on the back).

But check those leading lines when shooting building from a slightly lower angle. Epic!

Clockwork Orange

We have a tiny Subway in Glasgow. For a city that is pretty much built on stilts, it’s a shame we don’t make use off all that space underneath us. But this small 15 stop underground train, that only takes 24 minutes to get back to where you started, is all we’ve got. Opened in 1896 and nicknamed ‘The Clockwork Orange’ because of it’s colour scheme and circular layout, it was renovated in 1996 and consist of two underground tubes that take trains in opposite directions, clockwise and counterclockwise (hence the name).

I had never been all the way round the subway, and to tell the truth, this was only my second time on it. So I decided to jump on and take a few pictures on the way. The amount of passengers rises and falls depending which part of the city you are passing under, with the heaviest volume at the main shopping area. The subway is a inexpensive and easy way to get around, and definitely worth trying if you are in Glasgow.

Fujifilm X100F & X-Pro2 with the 50mm f2

Taking The Train for Street

One of my new years resolutions (if you could call it that) is to jump on the train more often and head for the city for a bit of street photography. It’s the beginning of March and I’ve been doing just that.

20 minutes to the west takes me to Glasgow and 50 minutes to the east and I’m in Edinburgh (our capital). I had limited time today, so I headed for Glasgow.

The bulk of what I’m shooting today is on the X70 with a little bit on the X-Pro2. I’m zone focusing the X70, but I’m being a bit reckless and not composing using the LCD much, but just pointing the camera where I think it should be pointed. That tends to be straight ahead with the 28mm focal length; no need to point it up unless you’re really close.

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Colour Makes An Appearance

The grey of the dark Scottish winter feels as though it lasts longer each year. This year has felt particularly bleak and my camera optimistically peaks it’s viewfinder out from under the the lid of my bag, then rushes back in to hibernation. But then suddenly there was a bit of decent light, a few degrees increase in temperature, and colour made a brief appearance. There must have been some sort of memo sent out, because a few people had shed their blacks and greys and were now wearing colour. Oranges and yellows drop-kicked my eyeballs and the buildings were bathed in late afternoon sun. A teaser trailer for the summer to come.

Prague Monochrome

Much as I loved the beautiful light of Prague, some pictures just looked better in black and white. From Gay Pride to giant baby statues, to wanna-be Marilyn Monroe's. It's all going on in Prague.

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Prague Colour

Great light is not something we take for granted in Scotland. Two or three months of the year we might get good light, but great light, I'm afraid, is fairly rare. Prague light, on the other hand, was fantastic. It made colours pop and the contrast added drama to the pictures without the use of punchy black and white conversions.

Berlin Street Photography

Here's a random selection of street pictures from Berlin in both colour and black and white. These were shot last year during a bit of a heatwave, but although it was a little too sticky walking for hours on the streets of Berlin, it was a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get back to Germany some day for more street photography.

BLACK AND WHITE

COLOUR

Photo 24 London

This is a selection of street photography shots I did while in London to lead some photowalks for Fujifilm UK at the recent(ish) Photo24 London event. The name probably gives it away, but basically, it's an annual event that has photographers of all levels hitting the London streets for a full 24 hours. Various events are laid on through the day to keep participants going and to keep things interesting, including photowalks during the day by me and others at night by Matt Hart.

It was a great event organised by Photography News and sponsored by Fujifilm UK. There was also the chance to borrow Fujifilm equipment and test drive it on the streets for free. Look out for next years Photo 24 London event if this is the sort of thing that floats your boat.

All of these pictures were shot in the Classic Chrome film simulation on either the Fujifilm X100F or X70. Basically anything that looks as though it was shot from a low angle is from the X70 using the Zone Focusing Method.

Walking The Talk

I was invited down to London on Thursday to talk about documentary and street photography at the Phototalks event in St Albans. Phototalks was started up by Phil Paine and Steve Shipman and has been running for a few years now. Thursdays event was split in two, with David Weightman doing a great talk in the first half and then me in the second half. Poor David almost had to fill my slot too as I was very close to missing my flight that morning.

Both talks went well and it was great to finally meet a lot of the people I had followed on-line over the years, including Neil James, Simon Atkins and Steve Shipman. Their system of pub, event and then back to the pub again was interesting and seems to work well for them :o)

I flew down early on the Thursday morning and then back late afternoon on Friday so I could get in a bit of street photography in London and even managed to do a bit in St Albans too. This selection of pictures are mostly from the X70, but there's also the odd one or two from the X-Pro2 and the X100F (I'm still using the pre-production one). The first five were shot in colour and converted to black and white using Nik's Silver Efex Pro. The last 5 were shot in colour using the Classic Chrome film simulation. I have another London street photography post from back in October 2016 HERE.

I know a couple of the guys tried to buy X70's the morning after the talk, but found they are now discontinued. Let's hope a new version with a 24mp sensor and Acros film simulation is on the horizon!