Continuing with the street photographs from the High Line, I like how I captured this couple in active stride with a perfect view of the surrounding environment. We can see the linear park, the nearby neighborhood buildings that frame the elevated area, and the distant, futuristic Hudson Yards towers. As I explained yesterday, the compact Leica D-Lux 8 gives me the confidence to shoot street photos more actively.

On the other hand, there are downsides to compact cameras. A small camera and small lens are only possible because of a small sensor, which is dictated by physics. However, that introduces other challenges that a camera with a larger sensor handles better.

Notice how clearly we can see the skyscrapers in the background. That was only possible because I underexposed the scene so as not to “blow out” the background. In post-processing, I lifted the shadow so that you can see the foreground details, including the couple themselves. This type of processing introduces noise, especially with smaller sensors. A full-frame camera would handle these situations a lot better. I made the best of the increased noise by converting the image to black and white. That’s not a bad solution for the classic street photography style, and a grainy black-and-white is more in keeping with that look.

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