Ricoh GX100

[wbrandsma]

That is an excellent site Simon. I had a good read.
In the meantime I finished my writing and posted it on my blog.

I use Adobe Lightroom to convert my photographs. Instead of using the Grayscale option in the Develop module I desaturate my photograph with the saturation sliders dragging to the left in the HSL panel. Then I adjust the color sliders with the Target adjustment tool in the Luminance panel. That way you can darken or brighten color area's in your photograph. That way you can preserve a lot gradation and tonalities. To enhance the contrast I use the Camera Calibration panel and the Tone Curve.

 

[MisiekBunnik]

Thanks Wouter, what better way to start saturdaymorning, reading your article and having a cup of coffee next to it (I drink it black whit a bit of white)

 

[helenhill]

WOUTER .....
FAB
JUST LOVE IT !!

Cheers- H

 

[Jack]

Nicely written Wouter. I was holding off sharing my methods to see what you wrote. I teach a very similar method on the workshops, but do a few things differently. First, like you, I do not use the grayscale conversion in LR, but de-saturate. A step I add is next bumping contrast up pretty significantly. Then I adjust exposure, recovery and fill to taste (usually needed after the contrast bump), then if I feel the need for a further tweak (I don't very often) I can hit the luminance sliders to adjust tonal response. Did not ever try the camera adjustments trick though -- very clever! :thumbs:

Cheers,

 

[wbrandsma]

Thank you Guy's! :thumbup: I really wanted to finish the writing for this weekend.

Nicely written Wouter. I was holding off sharing my methods to see what you wrote. I teach a very similar method on the workshops, but do a few things differently. First, like you, I do not use the grayscale conversion in LR, but de-saturate. A step I add is next bumping contrast up pretty significantly. Then I adjust exposure, recovery and fill to taste (usually needed after the contrast bump), then if I feel the need for a further tweak (I don't very often) I can hit the luminance sliders to adjust tonal response. Did not ever try the camera adjustments trick though -- very clever! :thumbs:

Cheers,

Thank you Jack! Lightroom is still full of suprises. The luminance panel can be used as a channel mixer in Photoshop. But with much greater control and better usability too (with the Target adjustment tool).

According to one of the comments on my blog the grayscale option in Lightroom had a bug. Adjusting the color sliders in the Grayscale panel resulted in a noisier image. The desaturate method was a kind of workaround. It should have been fixed in version 1.4, but I still think it is too limiting and you can still get noisy images (I use version 1.4.1). Desaturating and adjusting the luminance in combination with the Camera Calibration is still my favorite method to convert photographs to B&W in Lightroom.

I am currently working on Develop presets for Lightroom to recreate the looks of B&W films like Kodak TRI-X, T-MAX, or Ilford HP5.

 

[wbrandsma]

I started a new topic in the Image Processing Forum about this B&W conversion technique in Lightroom. Maybe it would be a good idea to share our methods and comments there for converting our photographs to B&W (not only Lightroom, but also other applications like Photoshop or Aperture).

 

[Lili]

Wouter,
Brilliant, in every way, image!
And a very interesting article as well.
Almost enough to make me jump whole heartedly into PP
Hmmmmm Lightroom is not that costly after all.
And if I do so the slow RAW write time on the my GRD First Gen would allow me to justify getting a GX100 plus those prices are dropping....
Sigh, the Devil is at my shoulder....

 

[helenhill]

LiLi
I think 'POPFLASH'
has the GX100 for $427.00 (notice how I'm spending your MONEY )
:ROTFL::ROTFL:

Best- H:

 

[Robert Campbell]

Thanks Wouter for this; I tried it, and even I was impressed with the results - and it is very straightforward.

 

[Robert Campbell]

Hmmmmm Lightroom is not that costly after all.

And very easy to use...go on, try it

 

[Stuart Richardson]

I am still very impressed with the GX-100's ability as a compact street photography camera. I find the 24mm lens especially helpful to get things in frame, as I often shoot from the hip and guess the framing. Here are a few from this week.

Bearded transvestite in Greenwich Village:

A very Puerto Rican building in my neighborhood:

An anti-smoking graffiti wall in my neighborhood:

I just found this funny...a portly guy smoking in front of a NYC quits anti-smoking poster and a "make healthy choices" sign.

Some local schoolkids going to recess

 

[wbrandsma]

Thanks Wouter for this; I tried it, and even I was impressed with the results - and it is very straightforward.

That is absolutely great Robert :thumbup:

And Stuart, great photographs. I really like the second, third and last one.

Storm Clouds

Ricoh GX100, f4.8, 1/75 sec, ISO 80, 0.0 EV

 

[Kiri]

Wow
Amazing lighting on that storm clouds one. Looks like CG

 

[scanman]

I am still very impressed with the GX-100's ability as a compact street photography camera. I find the 24mm lens especially helpful to get things in frame, as I often shoot from the hip and guess the framing. Here are a few from this week.

Agreed with you.
Most of my pic are at hip level (be it the GX100 or my DSLR)
Really capture the realism of the subject.

here some...

 

[nei1]

Just to welcome you to the forum and ask a question.I need to be educated over this style of photography as to be honest I see little value in the hip shot way of working,perhaps you could help me to appreciate this "style"as I dont see the photographers involvement in the process and if youre not involved whats the point?Im sure theres more to it than I understand so if you can help Id be grateful,curious,Neil.
Sorry thought you were a new member so Ill say hello instead!

 

[Stuart Richardson]

Well, the point is to take a photograph without disturbing the subject or causing them to change their expression, position and so on. Because of that, some people don't like it because it can be "sneaky". I agree that it can be used in a bad way, but I think if your intentions are honorable, it is a valid style. That is, if you are not just taking upskirt photos or photos to embarrass or demean others. If you're approaching things from a positive place, then I think it is a valid style. It is also useful as a way of photographic "sketching". I live in a city where one needs to walk everywhere. I generally carry a camera everywhere, and as I walk about, there are fleeting photographic moments, many which do not wait for you to stop and set up the shot. So many of my hip shots come from just going about my daily life and snapping at the moments as they slide by. If I am out for dedicated street shooting, then I slow down and take more carefully composed shots. Hip shooting for me is sort of like my daily practice.

The photographer's involvement is just like any other style -- it comes from deciding the moment of capture and deciding the settings used. While composition cannot be exact, it can be quite close. Once you get some practice, framing gets better, but all the other elements remain dependent on the skill of the photographer.

Here are a few hip shots I have made that I like.

This was not hip per se, but I just put the camera on the table, roughly gauged the framing, and fired the shutter.

This would be a happy accident....I intended to get a more full frame photo of this woman in the striped stockings, but the framing was off and the shutter speed too slow for the night. Nevertheless, I think the photo came out well.

 

[charlesphoto]

BTW: the bearded transvestite is quite a famous model.

Some nice pics Stuart, and a few that, well....

I find "hip" pics to be exactly that - it looks like the photographer is shooting with their hip, not their eye (which is connected to the head). You'll find in the canon of street photography very few of the successful ones (HCB, Winogrand, Mermelstein come to mind) shot/shoot from the hip. They look and compose and put their head/eye into the photo (and I'm using "head" in the larger sense). There is more often than not a disconnection with hip shooting that is all too obvious. I hesitate to call it laziness - it's more an incompleteness.

And then with the advent of the compact digital suddenly everybody's a street shooter because there's no risk involved (just point in the general direction and let the camera do the rest - and it's silent! And quickly hidden). But it's the sense of challenge and risk that has always made the best photos. A great example is Bruce Davidson's Subway. I'm not saying everyone needs to put themselves in danger like he did, but there's a human quality and connectedness in those photos I see often lacking today. Not to mention a sense of craft.

I think the Ricoh looks like a great tool - I just met a photojournalist who plans on taking one into Myanmar with him in order to be discreet.

 

[nei1]

Im going to play devils advocate(thanks for taking my comments so well and giving such a good explanation);If I was say a security guard in charge of the cameras watching over a supermarket could I select a few frames and think of them as a creative act on my part,simply because of my act of selection. Believe me I am not about to jump on whatever you say because I believe the guard has a good case.Im just not sure if choosing the moment is enough when using a camera,I at the moment feel the need to compose to the millimeter if possible,but I think the security guard has a good point.hope you will reply,Neil.

 

[Stuart Richardson]

Thank you both for the comments. For what it is worth, only the first photo in the last group I posted was with the GX100...the rest were with a Leica. Anyway, as I explained, this is an exercise for me. It is not my main work. Honestly, it's just something to do as I walk from place to place. But I find it keeps me thinking about photography while I am out and about, and for me, that is a nice advantage. If there are photographers who use it as a sole method of working, then I would imagine they would come to terms with it in a way that allows them to embrace its advantages and minimize its downsides.

As for the GX100, I don't think it is fundamentally different than other cameras. You choose the focal length, you choose the aperture, and you set the hyperfocal difference. The camera has automatic exposure, but so does the M7, as well as most cameras made in the last 25 years. There have long been quiet, small cameras that photographers have used on the street -- the Leicas, Hexar AF, fixed lens rangefinders like the Olympus XA, or even little SLR's like the OM or Spotmatic. Yes, digital has made it even smaller and quieter, but fundamentally I think they are still regarded as cameras by the people around you.

Neil -- I am not 100% sure that I understand you, but I do think that many types of photography are essentially about capturing a moment rather than completely constructing it. So in this sense, yes, as long as the security guard chooses an artistically significant moment, I don't think it matters if he does not control the cameras exactly.

 

[nei1]

Stuart,I think the construction and the moment are two separet things,its bringing the two together thats difficult,to my mind one without the other is interesting but not great.But then interesting is pretty good.