A previous discussion on compacts for portraits triggered off the a photographer to say that street shots photograph was for wimps, quoting Norman Parkinson's 'Wimps make bad photographers'. This thought-provoking comment made me write something to share my views on street photography, which is in the process.
Until then, I wish to illustrate an important question first. Let me start by showing you some portrait works of SW Kuo from Taiwan. He wrote to me that there were much left to be desired in the following shots but was brave enough to let me publish them. Typical oriental politeness. My salute to Kuo. He uses a DP1. Despite its CCD of a larger size, I consider the DP1 compact enough to be relevant to the contents of this site. (A portrait taken with Minolta 7000i in my greener days)If we compare Kuo's works with Ye Li's (here and here), also a DP1 user, there is an obvious conclusion which should not be required making: What matters is not the camera or the genre or some bigwig's beliefs but SKILL! Street shots need skill too, just that different genres requires slightly different skills. Maybe some of us really need some excellent street shots to change our (mis-)conception about street shots. We should carry on this discussion on street shots when my writing is done. Some tips on street shots will also be offered.
Now, Kuo's portraits and his comments on the DP1. (Note: if you visit Kuo's blog, you will notice that his photographic skill is growing. Congrats, Kuo)
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By SW Kuo: Sigma DP1 is my shooting tool on top of my Canons. I was in touch with Sigma when I first used its lenses which I think give a big bang for the bucks. However, this Sigma DP1 is expensive in comparison with other compacts, with a sluggish speed in focusing, data writing and reading, and a slower than desirable lens. So, what on earth was I thinking when I started craving for it?
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(This shot was done at a portrait shootout organised by a local photography club. I like the exposure of this image. The model was in a pinkish long dress. The exposure does justice to the pinkish colour so that it does not become whitish. The model has a cute face in a sexy posture)
As a matter fact, I was curious about the Sigma SD14, especially for its Foveon X3 CCD. After the enlightenment of the Sigma DP1, I can safely say that Sigma boasts the unbeatable CCD with its Foveon X3 in the market at present. Of course, prejudice is personal. No understanding will be complete without using the camera itself.
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(This shot was also done when I joined a portrait shootout of another club. The shot was made possible with the 28mm of the DP1. The photo is rightly exposed to show a rich colour texture)
I have been using DP1 for almost six months. I am amazed by the quality colours, details, texture it gives to the images with a APS-size CCD. However, ergonomics-wise, there are improvements to be made. Another point to note is that the RAW files give the best results only with the proprietary Sigma Photo Pro. DP1 is one of the best shooting tools though. I hope that Sigma will be able to improve the ergonomics of heir to DP1 to make it more enjoyable for photographers.
If you're interested, Kuo's flickr page is here.
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