Not Quite Night series #51 – Clive Street

Nikon D70s on Tamron 17-35mm – f/3.5 1/25 sec. +0.67EV ISO 1600

This was my first attempt on Not Quite Night with a Nikon D70s on Tamron 17-35mm. Compared to the early NQN photos which were made with Apple iPhone 6 Plus, image quality is definitely a whole lot better, even when shot on hand-held.

This photo could not be made possible during the nautical twilight period due to the heavy traffic flow of vehicles, pedestrians and eating house customers, as well as vehicles parked along the road side. Hence, I made an effort to wake up early and walked all the way from my home to Clive Street in Little India. Yes I literally walked about 3.5km. Upon arrival, I recce around the vicinity to find the best vantage spot and here it is, where I stationed myself and waited for the first light to make this shot on a Sunday dawn.

Well, I did make some shots with my iPhone 6 Plus and here are 2 results in different aspect ratio.

Apple iPhone 6 Plus on Camera+ app. Tilt-shifted in SKRWT and

post-processed in Snapseed

Apple iPhone 6 Plus on Camera+ app in Panorama mode.
Tilt-shifted in SKRWT and post-processed in Snapseed

In a blog I posted last November, in which I wrote about my new compact point-n-shoot camera, RICOH GR II, and since then I have made some good NQN photos which of course I will be posting them one by one here on a weekly basis.

If you like my work and wants to know new updates, subscribe to my blog by selecting the options on the right panel under First time here? You can either subscribe via email or RSS. Thank you for reading. Have a great weekend.

Night Street Photo – Back in the Alley

Night Street Photo – Alley Junction

Night Street Photo – Back Alley Lounge

Night Street Photo – Quiet Old Street

Night Street Photo – Macpherson Lodge

RICOH GR2 – f/2.8 1/100 sec. -0.3 EV ISO 6400
DNG post-processed in Photoshop Camera RAW

Night Street Photo – Terra-cotta Figure

Night Street Photo – In The Park: a Tribute to Brassai

Two nights ago I was on my way home, walking past this park with many street lamps and I thought it would be interesting to make some experimental shots with my Ricoh GR2 along with a transparent plastic bag as a soft focus filter. I took many shots and results vary. Eventually I got this one and since I shot in DNG format I have more controls in post-production.

After much tweaking, I find the image has this vintage feel that reminiscent of the late photographer, Brassai's night photographs in the 1930s. So I decided to pay a tribute to him. I wasn't trying to copy his work but most importantly I was experimenting for fun. I will keep trying and shoot more with the plastic bag.

Night Street Photo – Night After Sidewalk No. 2

RICOH GR2 – f/2.8 1/15sec. -0.3 EV ISO 110
Color DNG post-processed in Photoshop Camera RAW and
converted to black & white in Silver Efex Pro 2

Night Street Photo – Night After Sidewalk No. 1

RICOH GR II – f/8.0 1/25 sec. -0.3EV ISO 6400
Color DNG post-processed in Photoshop Camera RAW and
converted to black and white in Silver Efex Pro 2

My New RICOH GR II

Yesterday I got my hands on a new toy – RICOH GR II. Yes the most favourite compact point-n-shoot digital camera beloved by many street photographers. The main reason for getting this camera is that I want a small and unobtrusive camera for daily street shootings and to take up the task of shooting for Not Quite Night project.

This camera is so light in weigh and yet feels so solid good on my palm. Its ergonomic design on the hand grip is comfortable and the furnishing is pretty nice too. Before I purchase this camera, I've downloaded the user manual from the internet a couple of weeks earlier and read it through a few times. So when I got it on my hands, I know how to handle.

I felt so excited and after recharging the battery for about 3.5 hours, I made my way out in the streets in the late evening for some low light shootings. Like a beginner with his first camera, I shot almost anything that caught my attention. Well, 99% of the street photos are failures and I'm still learning to master the shooting techniques as I'm used to shoot cameras with viewfinder. I'm still learning to know which features work best for certain lighting condition and to know them at my finger tips as this camera is designed for one hand operation purpose. Every single button is easily within reach of your index finger and thumb.

I can customised the camera settings to my likings and preset them in 6 individual memory slots. In addition, I can assign any one of the presets to the main Memory Dial - MY1, MY2 and MY3 respectively. This is helpful when certain lighting condition calls for that camera setting and I can quickly dial to that setting and start shooting.

After a few hours of shootings, I managed to get that 1% chance of some decent street photos. As I always shoot images in RAW format, the GR2 comes in DNG (aka Digital Negative) format, which Adobe Photoshop supports. After some post-processing in Photoshop Camera RAW, I am really impressed by the results which I would be showing one of them in a new blog later tonight at 10:10PM. I will post the rest one by one, with a little caption, on a weekly basis as usual, starting next weekend.

So do subscribe to my blog and check out new updates on the night photos made with GR2. Thank you for reading this blog.

Night Street Photo – Mystery of the Headless Man

Night Street Photo – Take A Seat

Night Street Photo – Back in the Alley

Not Quite Night series #50 – Into Warm Summer Night 2