I am a street photographer. I am looking for guidance in photographing at night and in low light situations. I use 35mm cameras and Tri-X film. I would appreciate any advice. Thank you.

Ric Gil

-- ric gil (ricgil@earthlink.net), February 25, 1998

Answers

Try shooting Kodak TMZ (P3200) film at EI 800 or 1600. I used to process using TMax developer but have recently switched to XTOL with very good results. With sharp, fast lenses of f2.8 or better, you can get good results at 1/125 or 1/60 shutter speeds. you can meter skin tones using a spot meter and compare with the in-camera meter until you get a feeling for what exposures are required for typical low-light conditions. My subjects are jazz musicians using available light, indoors and out.

-- John R. Fowler (cpci@fox.nstn.ca), February 25, 1998.

Actually, you can push TMZ (TMax P3200) up to 2500 or 3200 while maintaining decent shadow detail. This does increase grain and contrast, however.

Mike

-- Mike Dixon (burmashave@compuserve.com), February 26, 1998.

Your commitment to tri-x is nice, but having done a lot of night street photography with both pushed tri-x and Tmax 3200 I think you are limiting yourself with tri-x. Sorry, but there is no comparison to Tmax 3200 rated at 1600 and developed in Tmax developer. Shoot them and print them side by side, big difference. I think the biggest hurdle for me was learning how to "see" what light there was, or more importantly wasn't. I shoot in downtown San Francisco at night. If you are close to a streetlamp or in a storefront you are fine. In particular, sodium vapor lights (those ugly orange or green ones) put out a tremendous amount of light that the film is very sensitive to. Don't ask me why, but I get prints looking like it was a lot brighter than I remember it. Probbaly some of that wavelength mumbo jumbo. So look for scenes iluminated by sodium vapor which in black and white have no color shift (obviously). Recognize scenes where there is NO light, and don't bother with them. No film, no matter how sensitive, will put light where there is none. A person standing in the shadows can not be photgraphed at night, virtually regardless of the exposure time. Just move on to something else. Shoot three to five frames minimum for each shot. Expect a very high failure rate. Nature of the beast. Camera shake or subject blur is uaually the culprit, not to mention closed eyes or bad expressions.Your time is more valuable than being thrifty with film. Pratice techniques for shooting from the hip, waist. Autofocus helps. I have had good luck with auto exposure (Konica Hexar and Yashica T-4). 35 mm focal length seems the most natural to me for this work, although a 90mm in decent light would be a plus. I make a point of not being caught taking the picture, It changes the dynamics of human interaction. A lot of the trick is the same one a magician uses. Hand and eye distraction. Never look at your camera. Never stop talking or doing something with your non camera hand....if you can be part of the conversation it makes it easy. Be prepared to pocket the camera or get it back under your coat. Make your movements slow. Humans are "hunters" and their eyes are attracted to rapid movement. If you move your hands slow they rarely pick up on it. A quick jerk to hide the camera never works. Most people divert their attention to the person talking, so when they shift from you to someone else get in three or five frames. If I get caught (rare) just smile and wink, and if you can ask them to please not say anything and ignore you. Most people love being in on "the secret" and will play along. Although that person will probably not act natural for a while, the others will continue to do so. Very little of this is hardware and film. A good 35 mm f2 or faster, tamx 3200 at 1600 or faster. Forget about the hardware and practice. It's a great form of the art of photography....especially if you like the drama of life.

-- Peter Thoshinsky (camerabug1@msn.com), March 11, 1998.