# The unobserved - Street pics



## JemRaid (Jul 8, 2019)

Hello all

Some years ago the photo press and the social media were concerned that street photography might be banned in the EU. They asked photographers to go out and do it!

I went off to some of the small towns nearby with my little LX3. After fiddling about unsuccessfully for an hour or so I realised that I had the be fast if I was going to get anything at all, I did not want pics of peoples backs.

These are the settings I used; 28mm (which meant getting close) manual zone focussing anything from 3ft to about 30ft at f4.0, and altered the EV depending if I was walking into or out of the light.

I held the camera under my chin with my finger on the shutter, felt a right idiot doing it but I was able to use it, swivel it, swivel with it and press the shutter straightaway. I couldn't careless about getting stuff square its the people I was after.




 

After a few weeks of doing it I started to look through the pics for a theme or even a project. Nothing came to mind immediately until I turned it on its head and thought about what I was not taking. And that was pics of old people, dreadful really I'm an old fogie myself. I had my theme and decided to call it; The Unobserved.

There is I think a deal of pathos about this one.

J


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## joecrumley2 (Jul 8, 2019)

I'm a firm believer in follow the leader on assignments like that. So what exactly is Street Photography? Quicky snapshot isn't the job. It's knowing and understanding the culture and telling a story about it. One of my favorite photographers was Helen Levitt. She passed away, in her sleep, a month or so ago. It's a story telling process and NOT snapshots on the street.

It's about telling us who we are. Lots of personality in good street photography. There's a fine line between the invasion of privacy and honest good story telling. Most street photography specialize in Gotcha snaps. Many if not most photographers like Helen are asking permission all the time.


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## JemRaid (Jul 8, 2019)

Hello Joe,

You are quite right, the whole sequence of these images become a photo essay and a handbound photo book and was published on F. Stop magazine. Please do keep watching for further posts. May I suggest with great respect that you have a go yourself a/. without anyone realising it and b/. from 4 or 5ft away.

Cheers and good luck - J


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## joecrumley2 (Jul 8, 2019)

As a former news photographer I worked at it. We never wanted to publish or show people with a surprise. It's not necessary to be sneaky.


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## JemRaid (Jul 8, 2019)

Dear Joe,

One does see lots of street pics that ridicule people, I abhor those and would never do it. I did get spotted a few times and when I explained that I was photographing people whom most ignore they said; "Good for you, we know we are invisible, but we just carry on". Perhaps now you will begin to see the value of it.

Cheers - J


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## JemRaid (Jul 8, 2019)

I believe this one shows compassion, something that's missing from lots of old peoples lives.



 

Cheers - J


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## Derrel (Jul 8, 2019)

I think your theme is a good one  and it would be really good to see 20 or 30 years in the future your results from today.


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## smoke665 (Jul 8, 2019)

I prefer the unobserved view, as I tend to get wrapped up in the back story of the subjects. Two people sitting on a bench talking......are they lovers, family, friends, foes,  conspirators, strangers????  Sometimes even without hearing the conversation it's possible to ascertain part of the story and sometimes I'm sure the story concocted in my mind isn't even close.  The advantage of the K1ii is the swivel screen on the back. I can sit it comfortably on my lap or on a table, compose, focus, and snap the shutter without much notice. What I'm not in favor of is disturbing the lives of the people I photograph, or the shove a camera in your face approach.


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## JemRaid (Jul 8, 2019)

Hello Derrel,

Many thanks for that I do hope that it has done some good in the past and will continue to do so.

Hello Smoke665,

Thanks for your comment your's is a very good way of approaching the genre. I on the other hand had already got a theme and it did turn into a project.

I concur about sticking a camera in front of peoples noses HCB fashion. One must do it without the subjects being aware of it. On the occasions when I was spotted I always offered to show them the pics, explain and also offered to delete the image. I kept the towns anonymous no one would know exactly which ones they were.

I also follow the guidelines of the Church of England which ask photographers not to photograph anyone they deem to be under 18. For they might be under witness protection or in fear of an abusive parent. Sadly one does see lots of children photographed in the street by photographers unaware of the possible consequences.

The whole thing is a minefield after this one project I went on to teaching myself how to make montages.

Cheers - J


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## JemRaid (Jul 9, 2019)

I found that by looking the other way to the camera and pressing the shutter, I could get really close, some old people are adamant and very strong, that's what attracted me to this couple. No cropping or straightening this is the full frame.



 
J


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## JemRaid (Jul 10, 2019)

I was spotted as you can see, showed them the pic, explained and they said keep at it.



 
J


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## JonFZ300 (Jul 10, 2019)

love it, great work


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## JemRaid (Jul 10, 2019)

Thank you Jon that's really nice of you, I do appreciate it. Cheers - J


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## smoke665 (Jul 10, 2019)

A couple questions on your project. In your OP you described your shooting method which would make composure, focus and exposure setting difficult, yet your posted images suffer little from deficiencies in any of these areas. Would you mind giving a little more detail on your settings? 

Also, do you only do B&W and if so why?


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## JemRaid (Jul 10, 2019)

Hello smoke665,

Thanks for the interesting questions, the composure comes from getting used to having the camera under my chin and sensing that it is level, it doesn't work that well when I turned my shoulders e.g. turning to the right meant that my right hand went down a bit giving the verticals a tilt and is amplified by using the 28mm setting.

I preset the focus, it's called 'zone focussing' when set on manual a DOF scale appears and I adjusted the aperture and focus to give me about 3 or 4 ft to 30 ft in focus, I was then able to forget about that.

The exposure was set at AF single and when walking into the light I used a +EV setting if it was very bright it might be +1.2/3rds EV and and vice versa with the light behind me, every time I changed direction I altered it. It doesn't work everytime but a lot is retrievable in Ps, I used JPEG's and XNView to open my images into Ps.

I come from the film/darkroom era and made my own 4x5 camera at one point, I've been a partial fan of HCB, I adore Andre Kertesz's work, love Anne Brigman and admire Minor White, black and white seemed to be the 'right' thing to do with this project.

Cheers and thanks,

J


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## smoke665 (Jul 10, 2019)

Interesting, thanks for sharing, the technique. I've used the zone method in years past, but now for some reason it doesn't feel comfortable (maybe I've gotten lazy with technology ).  I also came from a film era, and admit to a fondness for B&W, but I find on occasion that color brings out the little intrinsic elements in the scene. I'm reminded of some lyrics from the song "In Color", by Jamey Johnson, "A pictures worth a thousand words, But you cant see what those shades of gray keep covered. You should've seen it in color."


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## JemRaid (Jul 11, 2019)

I feel the same about 'developments'






J


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## JemRaid (Jul 12, 2019)

Another couple I talked to, they were very wary, not of me but of the pickpockets they said frequented the market. This was confirmed by a Policeman I talked to a bit later, he was interested in what I was doing.



 
J


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## smoke665 (Jul 12, 2019)

One thing I've noticed throughout on your B&Ws is the dynamic range, from rich blacks to whites, they have a sharpness or pop to them. No muddled tones in any of them. Considering the methods you've described in capturing the images that's quite an accomplishment.


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## JemRaid (Jul 12, 2019)

Hello smoke665,

Well cameras tell lies. My C&G night school tutor George Bott said, 'Expose for the highlights and let the shadows take care of themselves'. I use Curves to bring out the shadows much the same as having ones hands under the enlarger light. In the normal course of my photography (not street pics) I use the the EV tool to make sure that the highlights are not blown.

In some situations I use a tripod and make two exposures one for the shadows and one for the highlights. I know that some cameras will merge differently exposed frames but I like to do it with complete control over the final result and use the Reveal All mask facility.

George's advice still applies 

Cheers - J

[edit] When I made and used this:





I found that the film was entirely different to the miniature and roll film stuff and had a huge dynamic range. Some parts of a neg needing only a few seconds and others a couple of minutes.


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## smoke665 (Jul 12, 2019)

JemRaid said:


> 'Expose for the highlights and let the shadows take care of themselves'. I use Curves to bring out the shadows much the same as having ones hands under the enlarger light. In the normal course of my photography (not street pics) I use the the EV tool to make sure that the highlights are not blown.



Insert "skill level in reading light to make appropriate adjustments". LOL

Nice build by the way.


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## Derrel (Jul 12, 2019)

I find  digital black-and-white really really handy. Using various Lightroom filter effects, or the channel mixer in Photoshop, it is easily possible to convert a color image to a gorgeous black and white in a matter of minutes, all the while being able to record the exact action or the preset in Lightroom. Many people prefer to use the channel mixer in Photoshop . Whatever method you use, it is possible to convert a color image to a gorgeous black-and-white in a matter of minutes, all the while being able to record the exact action  or pre-set  needed to achieve a particular look.

In past years I was particularly enamored with using my Canon cameras in Raw plus JPEG mode set to capture in monochrome, with Sepia Toming and the filter effect set to yellow filter,medium size JPEG, and the sharpening set to high. This produced a lovely out of Camera JPEG, and of course captured all the sensor data in RGB in full, untouched raw. The advantage to shooting this way is that in the field you can look at the LCD and evaluate the image as a black-and-white, and can make lighting and exposure adjustments that look good in black-and-white.and of course you still have all the color data in the raw file, so it's easy to make a color image.


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## JemRaid (Jul 13, 2019)

Hello Derrel,

Thanks for the explanation good of you, those tools you mention are actually Curves in an Action as are a lot of the Filters the sliders alter the Curves, all very useful though saves doing it long hand.

I liked the sight lines in this one, not quite looking at each other.



 

J


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## JemRaid (Jul 14, 2019)

1,000 yard stare



 
J


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## JemRaid (Jul 15, 2019)

Dedication, the market had just opened, he'd got a cold, he's in his 80's.



 
J


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## JemRaid (Jul 18, 2019)

The ever wary eye. 28mm lens proving its worth.



 

J


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