Reading Light

I had someone the other day come up to me and ask, how do I know my images are correctly exposed? Well, this is not difficult. One just has to put in the time and understand light, your light meter, your camera settings (Aperture and Shutter, ISO)….

Now for me….I always shoot 400 speed film as I work mainly in street photography. So given that, my ISO is always 400, right? That is one leg out of the way and now I just have aperture and shutter as variables.

First….trust yourself…. learn to shed those inhibitions or worries of taking the ‘perfect photo’ for yes, we all have our photos which come out a bit under-over exposed. So what? …. It isn’t the end of the world. So get away from the fear factor of imperfect photo’s.

Second…. learn the Sunny 16 rule. As mentioned, I shoot with 400 film so I know part of the tri-leg is ISO. Using the Sunny 16 rule I then try to keep my shutter at 500 since I am using 400 film, so I set my shutter at or near that ISO speed. From that, I look at the weather, the sun, the light…. If a hot day and the sun has sharp shadows, then I go for F16. If a sunny day on somewhat blurred shadows, I go with F11. If a partial cloudy day with shadows someone and going, I shoot F8. If cloudy, I shoot 5.6.

Now…it also depends on what you are attempting to expose. Are you in the open or in the shadows? you have to adjust for that.

Third….practice the Sunny 16 rule. Get a portable light meter and just walk around with it all day. Anytime you see a potential shot, take a reading. But before you take that reading, attempt to guess at what you feel might be the proper settings? Do you want F8 at 500 or perhaps F11 at 200? They are the same. Do you want F5.6 at 500 or F8 at 200? …. The wider or closer you are might vary depending on what you want in focus? More….or less?

Practice….Practice….practice….. just take the meter with you the way to the grocery store, or running an errand and sitting in a car. Eventually it will become second nature to you. Whenever I go outside,….my brain naturally thinks of ‘metering’ the scene. Am I metering under a tree, or in the open?

So it is not a mystery….photographers have been reading the light for over a century and a half…. it isn’t rocket science. But you do need to practice. Today with digital photography and “P” mode’ and automate or AP priority etc…. people really are not ‘thinking’ when they do photography, they merely take a snapshot; knowing the camera will do the rest. Digital has forced laziness upon folks. The light meter inside their camera tells them which way to turn the F-stop. To the left, to the right….stand up, sit down, fight fight fight. But hey, you get it…… I am essentially connecting the dots and waiting for the red dot to light up in the middle to know I have exposure correct, or…..I don’t even do that and just have everyone on “P” mode, the ultimate lazy man’s way. To boot…look at ISO as modern cameras go up to 50,000 or more in ISO compared to my 400 (film speed). Gees….

So…challenge yourself. Find a manual camera film, or even a digital camera that allows you to shoot manually….. Learn photography.

What is Street Photography

It is here that I question what I see the masses doing. I don’t understand them as I see what is classified as street photography. It is more akin to just ‘passing people’ who are photographed on the sly by some digital tool ….snap, snap, snap and more snaps…How many snaps?

I am not stupid enough to think that there is only one definition (mine) for what street photography is….no, it goes way beyond that. It is the manner in which many photos are taken and what they represent, or better yet…what is not represented. The subject matter, the person, the action…etc…is all immaterial. With the advent of digital photography comes the ability to go beyond a 36 frame roll. It is all about pretending to take photo’s , although they are actually taken. It is all about finding the chance to walk across a crosswalk and snap away. Or, to snap someone from behind…..or to snap, snap, snap, snap…knowing that ‘one’ photo will come out looking good amongst the hundreds taken that day.

If you read my blogs…you know I am big into the analog feel. I want that feel for ‘me”….. I feel that my gear (Leica M3, Leica M6, Rioch GR111 and Leica X2) best allow me to maintain an analog feel even though some of those are digital. For instance, the Ricoh and X2 are digital, but by the time I take one shot, the subject in front of me has moved on. A single shot….a long lag time between when I take a shot, and when I can take another shot. That forces me to think like ‘film’…like analog. My Ricoh is pretty easy to manipulate since I do much ‘live’…. The X2 forces me to really think about my settings. It isn’t as forgiving as the Ricoh. In fact the X2 is more like the M6. I think about the F-stop, ….exposure, white balance, ISO. I turn the corner and I have to think again about the same, due to shadows or light or other.

I don’t just roam to roam and shoot and shoot. I have forced myself to slow down and take an image ‘one shot at a time’ so I have to wait sometimes to set up my shot. Today, I waited a good 30 minutes in one place as the ‘right’ situation developed. Today over the course of 4 hours, I took 13 difference scene shots. Now, some of those scenes, such as the one I just spoke of,…had more than one shot, while others (7 of the 13) had just one shot. So I end up with 7 scenes where I had the opportunity to have it right the first and last time. That is what I meant but slowing down….waiting for the shots.

But of ‘what shots’…’what scene’…. Well….does your shot have impact? Does it beg the viewer to ask questions? If so….that is solid street photography. It isn’t about shots in numbers, nor is it about getting cystal clear images. It isn’t about just a shot with no story behind it. It isn’t about random shots taken at hip, (to avoid detection) nor is it about having models working for me to pose in a certain way (the opposite of random hip-made shots). It is about finding that story, that ….question, that impact.