Portrait, Soho

^{1/250th at F4.5, ISO 3200 (35mm). Fuji X100.}

Street photography during the winter is tough. There is such a lack of light, especially with the tall buildings blocking the sun, that unless you're shooting during the peak mid-day hours you have to shoot with a super-high ISO and a very low aperture to expose the scene correctly.

A shot like this might seem simple or easy to do, but because of the lack of light there is such a small plane that you have to work with to get something sharp. To keep it candid, like I often do, I shot this from my chest, meaning that I had to use manual focus. I kept the manual focus set to about 5 feet away and then when I thought she was 5 feet away I took the shot. 4 feet or 6 feet away would have been blurry. I miss a decent amount of shots this way of course, but there's no way around it when the light is low.

I'm starting to get good at shooting like this in low light, even at apertures as low as 2, but it's hard and takes lots of practice. If only it could be summer when you don't really have to worry about things like this as often.

2 Comments for "Portrait, Soho"

Cathy says:

December 28, 2011 19:23

This is really a great shot - can't believe you did it without active framing and focusing!

Lucy says:

December 29, 2011 08:48

Wow, well done you - great photo anyway, but given the constraints too!... There's one thing in this photo which makes me think of London - the yellow bag looks like a Selfridges one!

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