All "stranger" images shot today around 5:30 pm. Post processed and uploaded right after dinner.
Shoot a lot. Get then done quick. Learn a lot.
Photographing in the streets takes a different sort of ambivalent disregard for personal space. The top four images here were all done of strangers I met today on 3rd St. while using a 21mm lens on a Leica SL2. You have to be close to fill the frame with a 21mm. Like...really close. After working with the 21mm for most of this afternoon lenses like the 28mm and 35mm seem almost claustrophobic. But I think the wider lens yields a more dramatic image. And you really have to get "buy in" from your subjects...
I didn't stop to consider how my camera was seeing. Whether or not, like the proverbial "bear in the woods", it has the potential to shoot color if I have it set instead for monochrome. I presumed that whatever I set in camera the camera was going to come along for the ride. Some cameras are better in monochrome than others. I never, ever could find a nice, in-camera, combination of parameter settings or tweaks in my Sony or Nikon cameras. The Fuji film simulations could be absolutely great. But the Leica SL and SL2 are in a totally different league. I go for the BW HC (high contrast) settings and actually add more contrast. The files come out exactly as I would have done them with traditional film except that they are sharper and better.
The secret to mastering any function of any camera is to learn what it can do by relentless trial and error. Sitting in a chair looking at samples on the internet doesn't actually transmit the hard earned knowledge you need to have in order to really "know" what's going to happen with the files every time you push the shutter button. But five or ten thousand photographs, shot the way you usually work, and shooting nearly everyday, will give you a much more intimate perspective concerning what to expect from your camera when you use it as a black and white instrument. In fact, you never have to turn on the color....if you don't want to.
This camera has become my Leica SL2 Monochrome. In an emergency I can push a hidden, secret button and get color. But...it really has to be a psychic emergency.
How confident are you in shooting strangers on the street up close, with a 21mm lens?
Do you believe your camera when it tells you it can shoot in black and white?
Who or what is in control of your photographic process?
8 comments:
I've been enjoying some wide angles recently, the threat of covid still looms in my mind, people walking past the camera are mostly the limit of my close up's, people ask me to take their pic sometimes, I've been giving the samyang 12mm f2 another try, it's much better in sunny weather and quality seems much better with higher shutter speeds, I've struggled to get good pics with it in the past, it's a larger aps-c lens so using it on mft allows for much faster shutter speeds than normal, 1/1000 upwards at 5.6, has made me wonder how good those sigma lenses would be on mft, the 56 1.4 etc
also the fuji 16mm 2.8 for street photos, I really like pics with a lot of people in, great for that but yes you need to get the distance right, took one the other day at a local square with a tall building in the background then a lot of decently sized people stood around ;) I was stood higher up on a slope which maybe helped,
I haven't really tried much black and white in digital beyond a bit of dabbling in post, I'm normally not satisfied with the blacks etc on a screen, my pics seem to end up a bit grey, in the film days I always used to use the highest contrast I could, the 5 filter or whatever it was, the teacher at my art school had one box of high silver paper he'd get out for certain prints, used to print cibachromes as well which I liked the richness of.
Personally, I am more convinced by captivating photographs I can see, regardless of whether they are in B&W or color, than I am by theories about how captivating someone's photos would be if only they had the perfect camera or lens at their disposal. If you can't produce good photos with everyday equipment, what would lead me to believe you can do it with more specialized, esoteric hardware? (And by "you" I don't mean YOU, Kirk. You've clearly got skilz, and you've been known to shoot with much more humble equipment than your Leica SL2.)
Hi Kirk,
many thanks for your detailed answer to my question (in the comments of 8.14.2022) about Thorium in some vintage lenses !
And no, I am not at all confident in shooting strangers on the street up close with a 21mm lens. Contrary to that I find myself using a „social distancing“ 70 – 200 eqv. telephoto very often these days, although I get progressively shy and diffident photographing strangers. This has become a bit restricted in the EU for some years now, „right to own picture“ etc. I am already happy getting good pictures of well-known persons and friends.
Great black and white street photography in this post, with respect
Helmut the Austrian.
"Personally, I am more convinced by captivating photographs I can see, regardless of whether they are in B&W or color, than I am by theories about how captivating someone's photos would be if only they had the perfect camera or lens at their disposal."
Perfectly stated!
Ken
The PIXII Rangefinder has a mind-twisting new feature. https://pixii.fr/monochrome.
What a wonderful response to the soul-wretching self-torture re. the perfect b&w-only camera.
While technical qualities certainly have their place in the whole chain from exposure to presentation, the balance of attention to each part of the process is much more important than optimizing just one segment. Admittedly it took me decades to come to accept that insight for myself.
My M Monochrom (the first one) hasn't lied to me yet about shooting b&w. But one thing I like about the SL is that you can change the JPEG setting to "Monochrome," even if you're just shooting raw, and you'll get a b&w image in the viewfinder; much easier to clock a good b&w image. With the Monochrom, you're still looking at color through the viewfinder.
Shooting successfully with a 21 (more often a 24) depends on me being accepted by the situation, as you have to get just a couple of feet away from people to fill the frame. Sometimes I have to hang around a bit, other times (in a big crowd) I can go all William Klein and just bang away in someone's face, and they don't mind or even notice.
Hi Kirk,
I own the poor man‘s SL2, the S1R. Could you please comment on the b&w jpeg settings in the Panasonic cameras. That woul probably save me a few thousand €.
Stephan
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