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M9 Tricks-Tips

ced

Member
Would anyone like to share their tricks/tips on getting good images well exposed, fast and sharp for street type photography.
What setup on the settings you select for that?
I guess many would love to benefit from your experience myself included.
Thanks!
 

bab

Active member
Sure think of shooting it as your watching a movie of building or shapes or lines or colors of inanimate objects with no people and every now and then something passes through the frame...just for a moment they are there and then its passed. Your M9 is an automatic camera with auto focus, the best meter and you should able to make perfect exposures that are properly focused.
Set your white balance with a card, set your shutter speed to 250 or higher, set your F/Stop depending on the focusing zone or the type of image you want to make (movement or frozen) Pre Focus on a zone or a spot. Put the camera in continuous mode and fire three shots panning slightly to the right (or following the movement) the first one just slightly forward, the second level and the third slightly back.

Iso 200 for daylight, 400 cloudy or shade, 800 for night (providing your lens is fast)

You cant goof up, its easy and every image will be just as perfect as you make it. By using this system and reflecting on your images you will soon learn how to tweak it to suit your taste. But the biggest benefit your get from the system is the pictures you will have on your disk and you wont have to keep rehashing how to make them better.

PS if you set the camera to take DNG and B&W your B&W will not need any additional processing OR at worst very minor LR or PS to be print quality.
 

ced

Member
Bump! 97 views and nobody with some courage to take the bit between their teeth?
Com'on its for your photography brethren.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I don't know what 'tricks' to offer. I fit a lens, usually the 40mm, set an appropriate exposure depending on the light, and go looking for scenes to photograph. There's not a lot of fancy footwork with settings to talk about. I've hardly taken the camera off the factory defaults.

F/8 and be there.
 

ced

Member
Godfrey thanks for the bravery! Do you not bother about discretion, like guessing the distance, pre-selecting the exposure etc.? Sometimes just lifting the camera to make the composition is like lifting up a gun.(It makes ME want to cower).
 

Shashin

Well-known member
I don't think there are any "tricks" to good photography. The technique that helped me the most was to shoot full frame and never crop. You put yourself out there and work hard.

Working with rangefinders is just learning to focus on the fly or use zone focusing. I have never found shooting from the hip to really give anything good, quirky maybe, but it is rather random. Most of this comes down to being very familiar with your equipment. I might determine the exposure before I start working the scene/situation--a light meter with film or figuring out the best exposure with digital.

The biggest hindrance is shyness. Many photographers have a hard time pointing their camera at people. How you get over that is as varied as the photographers who have found a way to do it.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Godfrey thanks for the bravery! Do you not bother about discretion, like guessing the distance, pre-selecting the exposure etc.? Sometimes just lifting the camera to make the composition is like lifting up a gun.(It makes ME want to cower).
I really don't think about it much. As Shashin said, it's mos.tly about getting over your own inhibitions. Sometimes I prefocus sometimes not. Best to always just be ready and work at it. It's hard work...
 

bab

Active member
Oh I Posted this yesterday and got a message that it would have to get approval from a MODERATOR??????????????????

this may not be word for word but I think its what your looking for.

Set your ISO to 200 for sunlight, 400 shade, 800 night
Measure and set white balance

Set camera to DNG compressed and B&W ( the B&W out of the camera without any processing except minor in LR is printable)

Take a test frame for exposure (Shutter at 250 or higher)

F stop wide open or set for a focusing zone using F5.6 for x amount of feet

Set camera to continuous mode and always expose three frames per shot slightly panning toward the movement-- as follows 1. slightly closer 2. even (on the spot) and 3. slightly back from the focus point.

The M9 is an auto focus camera with the greatest meter it never makes any mistakes only we do! If you learn this BASE system you will be able to tweak it to suit your taste and make images....that beats reading the forums and trying to learn what they don't know:poke:

Good Luck Post some of your first images.
 

250swb

Member
'f/8 and be there' is the oldest trick but still works nearly all the time.

Don't get obsessed with keeping ISO low, they come out far better than the LCD suggests they will after being put through ACR (so always use RAW!). Street photography is more about the image quality (action, composition, colour tone, etc), and not the quality of the pixels, so aim to keep the shutter speed at least fast enough to capture action (although longer exposures can be effective). And don't be afraid to experiment, street photography at its best needs the photographer to have an opinion, take a stance, show some individuality.

Steve
 

4season

Well-known member
Sometimes I compose off the LCD rather than holding the camera to my eye. The first shot is a guess, but I have the camera set to auto-review and can fine-tune the composition in subsequent exposures if time allows. I also have the M9's over/under clip indicators turned on, and this is super helpful too.
 

ced

Member
Thanks to all for all your brave contributions so far, I am sure others can put some more info up here for us to improve our grabs. bab nice shot!
 
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