Hey, Here are some photos I took on a recent trip to NYC. This is part of a bigger push on my part to take photos and hone my skills. To this end, I've been taking a class in street photograpy locally, and hoping to get into a darkroom as the next stage. http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=205879

its coming along sir. street photography is a bitch. ive never been terribly drawn to it, because it requires an instinct im not necessarily equipped with. I can offer a couple of quick tips that might help, just by seeing these. consider your framing. i know when you're shooting on the fly as 'street photography' demands its not easy, but once you get framing thought second nature....paying extra attention to what you want and dont want in a shot, youcan frame in a millisecond. Also, expose for shadows, print for highlights. For example....though I suspect it was intentional, the crewman working on the hydrant. Your meter was all thrown off because of the background. Im guessing here, but maybe your meter is an averaging meter, or perhaps centerweighted? In this case, if you wanted to see more of the worker, meter directly on him with a spot meter (if your camera has this function) Expose for your shadows first the rest will fall in line. If you were looking to silouhette him completely, thinking of framing because he got a little lost in the shadows of the other trees. Perhaps two steps to your right would have helped get his entire silouhette. i see you used Fuji 400. What Fuji? Provia? Sensia? If I may suggest, when shooting outdoors like this, try a finer grain film. In broad daylight, 400 may be too fast. Try Fuji NPC 160. This is an ideal daylight film with really strong reds and greens. Very vibrant. On another photo note, i just got some of my transparencies back from the Rob Halford shoot this weekend and holy shit am i impressed with myself. This may be my next major step....set photography.

How come I always thought JusMiceElf was a girl? No need to answer, that was rhetorical. Nice pix.

That's allright, Dougie. I thought JusMiceElf was a song!!!!

no, eri. that's "touch myself".

so, what's the trick to getting good color in low light or overcast conditions? adjust the aperture or the shutter? fast or slow film?

Eri, you're thinking of: When I was young, I never needed anyone, And making love was just for fun, Those days are gone Living alone, I think of all the friends I've known, When I dial the telephone, Nobody's home. JusMiceElf, don't wanna be, JusMiceElf, anymore.

i thought JusMiceElf was a girl too, probably because of the mouse/elf cutesy-ness but then again, i thought j was a man seems weird to ask. why not just use your name or something similar? the made up names seem kind of funny if i think about it. not funny-bad, just interesting.

me too, until some time ago, whe we spoke via email about photography and he signed his name. dave thats a tricky question. as it varies from light source and film. there is no one trick, in my experience its really trial and error. I don't use color in low light situatiuons if i dont have to because color is less forgiving than black and white. Faster b&w films produce better results than faster color films. Shutter helps...the slower it is, im thinking the better saturation you will get, of course there is blur to deal with, anything 60th of a second or slower will involve blur if there is movement. Aperture will only deal with whats in your depth of field, im not sure there is an affect of aperture on color. It also has to do with what kind of light dave....tungsten or daylight that will affect your results. Ultimately though sir, i can only advise on what ive worked with. Is there something specific you are trying to do? If you are curious (justmy, you too) pick up some slide film.....say...AGFAchrome RSX 100 speed. Shoot some out door shots during the day....if your exposures are accurate, you'll flip when you see the resolution and clarity that slide films afford.

i took some pictures of an upside-down school bus in a cow pasture -- very rich greens and yellows -- on a cloudy but bright day and everything looked all washed out and grainy. i went back on a sunny day and got some very rich colors. this was all using the auto settings. the camera has auto, shutter or aperture priority modes, and manual as well as a white balance adjustment. so you're saying that aperture has no effect on exposure or light levels?

i never thought jusmiceelf was a woman. i had thought his name came from "thank you falettinme be mice elf agin." i don't own a camera.

Patrick, thanks for the feedback. The shots I posted were definately on the fly, except for the night shot, which I took more time to frame up. I'm planning to post more photos on photo.net in the next couple of weeks. My class is winding down, and this is the next project I'm assigning myself, along with just getting out and shooting more film. Metering I have to learn to do more accurately with this camera. I'm using the accessory meter for the Leica, the one that sits on top in the shoe and syncs up with the shutter speed setting. I really should carry a separate handheld meter, or take more care in where I'm metering. That'll be something else to look out for. As for the name, I started reading Sorabji when Patrick was still posting as Waffleboy, but didn't start posting until after he'd started using his own name. JusMiceElf is a nickname I'd picked several years ago, and seened good enough to used here to avoid confusion..,

aperture has an effect on exposure most definitely. but more so the amount of light, rather than the quality of light. Aperture also addresses your range of focus. As I said, shutter may or may not have an effect. Its really more about quanitity of light vs quality of light. On a cloudy day think of your light as a giant soft box. Clouds are giant diffusers of light. Color rendition really depends on your film more than anything. Of course you are going to get more contrast and intense colors on a bright sunny day than an over cast day. Look around online for film comparison charts. Learn to pick the right film for what you are shooting. This can make so much of a difference as various films have different characteristics. Some are better in low light situations, some render flesh tones better and so on.

well, it's a digital camera. i did manage to get a few good pics today by manually adjusting the stuff. i went to a scary place out on the edge of nowhere and took a couple pictures of it before i realized it was inhabited. after that realization, it got considerably more scary and i felt so vulnerable that i had to leave at once. i hope i don't dream about it.

what kind of scary place? scary house? scary bear cave? scary indian burial ground?

this place. it doesn't look very scary but it was windy and the roofs and walls of the structures were banging around randomly. that door in the lower right looks small but could easily allow a logging truck into the building and the building could hold at least 2 b-ball or tennis courts. the big structure to the left was about 60 feet high. i was gonna go inside and see if there was more stuff to photograph when, just before i entered the building, i noticed a car and a man and what looked to be a temporary camp immediatly inside the door and just to the left. like i said, there were random loud, banging noises coming from all directions around me. i don't know if he saw me but my first thought was that he most likely had a gun and i backed away and headed for the car. now, i'm slightly embarassed about the whole thing.

not sure why those pics are corrupt. they look fine on my hard drive and fucked up on the server. stupid computers.

ahh digital. see im lost there. as i have no idea of the characteristics of pixels vs. film. actually that place doesnt look half as scary as the old meat packing plant i shot at this past weekend. in the basement.....smelled of rat shit and mold. scary metal doors with bizarre portals, tiled rooms, the track where dozens of cow and pig carcases hung were still in tact. then one of the 10k lights they had in a small room to blast light out of the portal onto the main performance area got too hot it blew a water main a foot above it....BOOM! lights out, water every where. Electrical stuff everywhere. Crew of 30 people in complete darkness. Mega expensive cameras and rigs. We're all standing in water, (as they wet the place down for the video to give it a dank, dirty prison look) with the possibility of being shocked, in the basement of a meat packing plant. THATS scary.

you guys are 'decrepit building' wussies

i didn't initially think of it as "scary". if i thought of it as scary, it probably wouldn't have been. it became scary once i approached. what i never got a chance to photograph were the other buildings off camera to the right. there were 2 other large buildings, a shmooshed trailer/job shack, a large pit full of metal stuff and rusty, brackish water, a couple of gutted cars and an uneasy feeling. did i mention the wind and the clanging noises? the feeling of vertigo and the metallic flavor? the trees whispering, numbing and mesmerizing me, compelling me to perform unspeakable acts, to atone for the slaughter of their once proud ancestors -- even now, i can feel their unholy, ectoplasmic roots insatiably feeding on my soul until, alas, i fear it is too late for meaaurghhhhh. . .

what.