Shutterfinger

There's No Law Against Color in Street Photography

Once I saw this background of bold and colorful graphic shapes, it was a matter of waiting for the right foreground to walk past. I couldn't have dressed this gentleman better if I had tried.

I recently sold my Nikon D7000 and used the proceeds to buy a Canon EOS 60D, which I personally find to be a superior camera for my purposes; the primary purpose being street photography. The EOS 60D focuses faster and with more consistent accuracy, it has all the buttons and controls I need, and they are all in the right places. I could go into more detail about the EOS 60, but at the end of the day it's just a camera, a tool, and the tool that's right for me might not be right for you, so please don't give this more attention that it's due.

What I really want to talk about is the common belief that street photography and color are incompatible. This is largely based on the fact that the early masters of street photography all shot with black and white film. They established the style, others mimicked the style, and thus it perpetuates itself.

This shot is all about the primary colors: red, blue, and green. The framing, contrast, and lines are what hold it together.

There are, of course, photographers who do practice street photography in color. Unfortunately, and I hate to say this, but not many seem to be good at it. The problem is that the street environment is generally messy and cluttered. It offers an overwhelming assortment of shapes, colors, people, buildings, and objects to choose from. That's why it's hard to shoot a street photo in color that--again, I'm expressing my honest opinion here--doesn't look like a hot mess.

That's not to say it can't be done. My technique, which you see mirrored in the accompanying photos, is to isolate. One way to isolate is in how you frame and crop your images. Another way to isolate is to use high contrast lighting as your friend. Expose for the highlights and use the resulting deep shadows to hide distractions and create graphic compositional elements.

This is an example of how contrasting colors (red and green), color contrast against a dark background, and the contrast between curves and straight lines work together to create a graphic theme.

It also helps to have a basic understanding of color theory, such as the difference between complimentary and contrasting colors, the effect that ambient lighting and adjact colors have on color perception, and so on. You have to have an idea of your options and what's possible before you can hope to achieve it. I'll grant you that this is easier said than done, but knowledge, effort and passion are what it takes to set your work apart from the rest.

Eight Reasons Why I Like the Canon EOS 6D

A street shooter's dream: the Canon EOS 6D full-frame SLR with 40mm f/2.8 STM lens.

I recently had occasion to rent a Canon EOS 6D and 40mm f/2.8 EF lens for an event I was hired to photograph. I could have used my Nikon D7000, but based on past experience I didn't trust it to focus reliably. It turns out that having 39 autofocus points doesn't help much if they can't agree on the correct plane of focus. I had never had any AF problems with any of the Canons I had owned, including those with "only" five points. Since I was curious about the EOS 6D anyway, I figured I'd give it a try.

The event went smoothly. Although I found the 6D's metering to be a bit less predictable than the D7000's, the focusing was more consistently accurate. The few "soft" shots I got were either due to misplaced focus on my part or subject motion.

Since I had the 6D for the weekend, I decided to also take it out for some street shooting. This is where I thought it might fall short. It is, after all, a full-frame camera with a supposedly low-tech 9-point AF system and only one high-precision cross-point in the center. Oh, and aren't full-frame DSLRs supposed to be larger and heavier than their APS and DX-sized brethren? Conventional wisdom predicts that the EOS 6D would be large, heavy, and slow.

Well, it turns out that for all practical purposes the EOS 6D is the same size and weight as the Nikon D7000. Look up the specs for yourself. What's even more surprizing is that in practice the 6D can actually be a lighter and more compact rig for street shooting. That's because Canon and Nikon offer more small, lightweight, wide-angle primes available for full-frame DSLRs than for their APS/DX models. Canon's inch-long, 4.5 oz, $150, 40mm f/2.8 STM is an extreme example of this, but it still supports my basic point: It's hard to find wide-angle primes that offer the same angle of view at the same size and weight for APS/DX cameras as for full-frame.

Because Typepad's image resizingly algorithm is so funky, I suggest double-clicking on this and the rest of these image samples to see them at optimum sharpness.

The wider you want to go, the harder it gets to find wide primes. For another example, consider that Canon and Nikon both offer several 28mm full-frame lenses, but no 28mm-equivalent for APS/DX. There are plenty of zooms available, but these come at significantly greater size, weight, and cost. This is a big deal for street and travel photographers; for studio and home photographers, not so much.

Having a small lens on a relatively large camera offered another surprising benefit: The whole combo looked less intimidating. It's hard for observers to think you're a stealthy pro or a terrorist on a recon mission when your camera has a lens that's not much larger than a lens cap. Oh, and what a lens. It's sharp from center to edge, even at maximum aperture. It has excellent image contrast without appearing harsh. Flare, linear distortion, and chromatic aberations are all low. Its focusing speed can be a tad leisurely if you're moving from minimum focusing distance to maximum or vice-versa, but who does that on a regular basis? In short, I would much rather use this lens on a $2000 camera than use a $700 zoom on a $700 camera.

As for the camera itself, here's a quick list of what won me over:

1. Modest size and weight. I already mentioned this in the paragraphs above. This is for the benefit of those of you who skipped them. 
2. Uncluttered control layout. It was easy for me to locate key controls, either visually or by feel. There were also fewer buttons to accidentally push.
3. Neatly organized menus. Every list of menu options took up no more than a single screen. Some options expanded into a second screen, but the expansions were all logical and there was no need to scroll to find otherwise hidden options.
4. No pop-up flash. This eliminates the flash overhang that otherwise increases the overall depth of the camera. It also eliminates the tiny button on the prism for popping up the flash. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally pushed this button by holding the camera in the vertical position with the short side of the camera resting in my left palm.
5. Locks on the mode and rear dials. If you've ever owned a camera where important controls move if so much as a feather brushes up against them, then you know the value of  dials with locks.
6. Quiet, low vibration shutter. Shutter noise isn't as big a deal in street photography as some people make it out to be. Regardless, I'll take a quiet shutter over a loud one any day.
7. Elegant tonality and microcontrast. I find this more valuable in black and white printing than color, but since I like to convert most of my work to black and white...
8. Excellent low light performance. With rare exceptions (Bruce Gilden), street photographers almost never use electronic flash. A camera that can focus quickly and accurately in low light and produce high-quality images even at ISO 1600 and 3200 is a camera I can't help but like.

So will there be a Canon EOS 6D in my future? It depends on whether I can afford one. I make a good living, but it's not like I've got $2000 just sitting in the bank waiting to be spent on a new camera. Still, where there's a will, there's a way. The Nikon D7000 is up for sale. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these sample shots as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

This is the sort of portrait that merits a lingering look. There is more going on here than first meets the eye.

Here's one last reason: I can crop a square out of a full-frame image and still have resolution and tone to spare.

The Five Stages of the Camera Buying Process

 

As part of my regular job I design and write web-based training courses for corporate clients. One of my recent courses described the "five stages of the consumer buying process." I found them interesting, but not particularly relevant to the camera buying process. Here, for your edification (and amusement) are the five stages, slightly modified to reflect how one really buys photo equipment.

Stage 1 – Awareness of Need

This is the stage at which you become aware that whatever you own is unsatisfactory in some significant way—for example, it’s too large and heavy, or produces unacceptable photos in low light, or simply reflects poorly on your skills as a photographer. You therefore want a new camera or lens. Scratch that, you need a new camera or lens; maybe both. The question is what new camera or lens?

Stage 2 – Information Gathering

You start searching for and gathering as much information—and more importantly, justification—as you can. Information sources typically include:

• Other photo-enthusiasts you know –These are people you can depend on to give you completely objective reasons why you should buy exactly what they own and why you would be a fool to buy anything else.
• Manufacturer websites and print brochures –These sources obviously present their equipment in the best possible light, but that doesn't make them worthless. For example, there is often some truth to the specifications.
• Blogs – Blogs are your best possible source of impartial information. You should believe everything a blogger tells you.
• Online forums – This is a lot like going to the zoo to watch the monkeys scream and throw feces at each other. It’s noisy, smelly, and bizarrely amusing—that is, until they start throwing their feces at you.

These are by no means the only sources of information. Some consumers have been known to rely on their own knowledge and experience as the basis for comparison and judgment. Granted, this happens only in extreme cases, but it does happen.

Stage 3 – Evaluate The Alternatives

At this point you have narrowed down your choices to at least three, which typically consist of:

• The thing you really want but consider insanely priced. (In other words, you can’t afford it).
• The thing you consider an acceptable, if slightly flawed, product at a price that’s a stretch but reasonable.
• The piece of crap that, after consulting with your bank account and/or spouse, you will most likely end up buying.

Stage 4 – Purchase

This is the point at which you finally make up your mind and buy something, if only to get it over with. Depending on your mindset and personality, this stage either brings a release of tension and sense of calm or the onset of deep dread based on your anticipation of Stage 5.

 Stage 5 – Post-Purchase Evaluation

This is the stage at which you evaluate how well your purchase meets the original needs and expectations that set this whole process in motion. If all you wanted was a new camera or lens, you may be quite happy, at least until your purchase no longer qualifies as “new.” If, however, you lingered too long in Stages 2 and 3, this feeling of contentment might last no more than the 15 minutes it takes to discover that your purchase has just been replaced by an even newer model that costs 33% less.

You also have to be careful to avoid returning to Stage 3, otherwise you will discover that no sooner does the return period expire than the photo websites will release a torrent of information about newly discovered defects and shortcomings, and how the manufacturer continues to insist that there is no so-called "evidence" to support such claims. 

Keep in mind that a very small minority simply start using their new equipment to produce photographs. If they are happy with the photographs and the experience, they are happy with their equipment and lose interest in any further purchases or research, either for as long as they or happy or as long as their equipment keeps working. Some of these folk may not have bought anything new in years. Although they are small in number, they explain why it all the more important for the rest of us to do our part to "take up the slack," so to speak. If you don't buy and buy often, what the hell will I have to write about?