Hong Kong Market in Monochrome

Having pottered about in Sai Ying Pun for around 30 mins, and finally successfully capturing the picture of the minibus, I was emboldened! I looked over to my right and saw a slow and steady stream of cars and taxis rolling down the street. I positioned myself on the edge of the pavement and mentally composed the shot I wanted to achieve. There were two challenges to deal with. First, cars have more depth with their bonnets than minibuses. Second, I was very quickly losing light as the sun was setting. I chose f/5.6 to capture more of the vehicle in focus to deal with the first issue. Now for the second issue of light, I bumped the ISO up to 800. I knew the Canon 5D IV would be easily able to handle the slightly higher ISO. I was ready. I found my mark in the center of the road. Then it happened. The lone taxi pulled off the highway on the left and slowly moved towards me. I darted out onto the road, crouched down hoping my knees would hold balance. With a focal length of 200mm, I had enough of a safety buffer between the taxi and myself. In my lower position close to the road, my lens was now at eye-level to headlights. Lens parallel to the road, I patiently waited until the taxi was perfectly perpendicular, or as close to it as our positions would allow. Staring down the line, I saw the taxi driver make eye contact with me as I locked focus and pressed down on the shutter release button. I did it. With the added bonus of the second taxi on the left, plus the tram on the right. Now for the quick exit back to the safety of the pavement and to release the tension on the knees. Phew… I only noticed once back at my computer, that the taxi was one of the rare 5 seaters too. My best guess is that these will probably be phased out in due course but who knows.

For The Geeks:

Aperture f/5.6 | Shutter Speed 1/250 | ISO 800