Earlier this year we visited Bologna and I published a short post of street photography – people and shops. Recently we went there again and I was able to get in some evening and night photography. Again, these were taken on my Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera which is assuming a similar place in my affections to my old Contax G1 35mm film camera.
Bologna, Via Altabella. The lady was making pasta in the front window, and although she looks a bit disapproving in this shot, a moment later she rewarded me with a dazzling smile (which I wish I had taken). Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
In terms of image quality the X-Pro3 cannot match my medium-format Fujifilm GFX 50R camera with its much larger sensor, but it has its advantages. It is small and unobtrusive compared to the larger camera, and much lighter – where the GFX 50R has brass and steel, the X-Pro3 has magnesium and titanium. And the lenses for larger cameras need more glass, which adds weight. As a result the X-Pro3 with a 16mm lens weighs a bit over 700 grams, while the GFX 50R with its 32-64mm lens weighs in at over 1.7 kilograms.
Fujifilm GFX 50R and X-Pro3 comparison (click to enlarge).
Of course night photography has challenges – as the light in the sky fades, shadows become darker and you need to boost the ISO, which makes the resulting images noisier, which is to say more grainy. Modern software can help a lot with noise reduction – I use something called Topaz DeNoise AI.
Evening in a back street, Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
One of the best times is when the light in the sky is at about the same level as that illuminating the objects you are photographing. This period is quite short, although it lasts a bit longer in summer. Digital post-processing does allow you to extend that period by adjusting highlights and shadows, but if overdone it will look artificial.
A well-lit archway with blue natural light beyond, Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
I was using a wide-angle lens, which has some disadvantages – objects and people appear smaller. But it has some advantages for street photography. The wide angle allows you to point the camera past people rather than at them, while still getting them in the composition.
Diners at a street-side trattoria, Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
Wide-angle lenses can also give you a lot of foreground in the shot, which is not a good thing if the foreground is boring. On the other hand if you can make the foreground interesting, for example by looking for people casting long shadows, it can add to the mood, or even become one of the subjects of the composition.
Making the shadows part of the composition, Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).In this case, the shadows cast by the backs of the seats are what first caught my eye. Gelateria, Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
By the time we got to the main piazza, the sky was getting a lot darker, but was still bright enough to create silhouettes. Silhouettes in night photography can be overrated, but when they are instantly recognisable like the Statue of Neptune, they can be worth it.
Piazza Grande, Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Statue of Neptune, Bologna. The shape of his trident was borrowed by the Maserati brothers as a badge for their cars. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
Eventually it got to the point where the only source of light was street lights and shop windows.
Night in Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Night in Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
Not long ago, most of the shop interiors would have been lit by fluorescent tubes. The light produced by these would come out on film and digital sensors as a ghastly blue-green. And incandescent light bulbs came out as very yellow, so when both sources were present, it was almost impossible to balance them without some advanced post-processing techniques. These days people mostly light their shops with LEDs, which produce light that looks a lot more natural to a camera. A win for night photography as well as for the environment.
In the days when this shop was lit by fluorescent lights, the interior would have been a strange green colour in a photograph. Via Oberdan, Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
Lighting coming from odd directions can help the street photographer to pick out a subject and try and tell a story. As someone who mostly did landscape photography for many years I will admit that I am still coming to grips with this, but it is fun when it works out.
Bologna evening. People head from a deserted street towards a distant scene of activity. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Bologna. A couple walk off together while a man looks at his phone. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Bologna. A staff member from a gelateria rolls herself a cigarette while on a break. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
Bologna is one of the best places in Italy for street photography, of the candid sort but also of some beautifully presented shopfronts and window displays. We recently spent a couple of days in Bologna with friends, and here is a short photo essay. All these were taken on my new Fujifilm X-Pro3 which is a small, discreet rangefinder-style digital camera.
Fujifilm X-Pro3 (source: Fujifilm.com)
The historic centre of Bologna is a good place for street photography, for a few reasons. One is that there are enough tourists that the guy with the camera doesn’t stand out, but enough locals that your picture is not going to be full of tourists.
Bologna Via Oberdan. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Bologna, Via Oberdan. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Bologna, Via Oberdan. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
Another is that even when a shopkeeper does see you taking a photograph, he or she is probably used to it. A third is that the elegant shopfronts and food displays in the market quarter deserve to be photographed – when the proprietor has spent that much trouble making it look nice, it is a fitting compliment to take a picture of it.
In any case, in shops I often ask first. “Posso?” (may I?) I ask, pointing at the camera. No-one has ever said no, but it makes me feel more comfortable knowing that I have been given permission. In the picture above, the man in the cheese shop said “certo” (of course) and carried on cleaning his counter.
Immediately to the east of the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna is a small area of narrow streets and many shops, mainly butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers, wine merchants and the like. This is the historic market area, and the best time to go there is in the morning, when all the produce is fresh, and in any case some shops like the fishmongers close for the day at lunchtime.
Bologna is home to the world’s oldest university (founded in 1088) and it has the energy and edginess that one associates with student towns. But it is also a prosperous place – productive agriculture and high-tech industry clearly bring in a lot of wealth, and have done for a while. In the centre the shopfronts can therefore be very elegant – sometimes retaining their original antique signage when the actual shop has been taken over by something more modern.
Bologna shopfront near the Piazza Maggiore. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Bologna, shopfront near the Piazza Maggiore. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
But one of the special things about Bologna is that the Bolognese take food very, very seriously indeed, even by Italian standards. The food shops are therefore temples to gastronomy, places of wonder, delight and not inconsiderable expense.
One of the classiest shops in this area is “Atti & Figli”. You can walk away from there somewhat lighter in the pocket, but clutching a couple of hundred grams of tortellini in very elegant packaging and the feeling that somehow you have temporarily been admitted to an exclusive club.
Bologna, Atti & Figli. Note the exquisite packaging, and the “English jams for refined palates”. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Even the camera shops look elegant in Bologna. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Bologna, Via Clavature. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Bologna, Via Clavature. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Bologna, Via Pescherie Vecchie. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).One of the signs says “the tortellini for fooling husbands that you made it yourselves”. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Bologna, Vicolo Ranocchi. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).
A note on the photography – black and white conversion
I was very pleased with the photograph above of the man in the cheese shop – the simplicity of the scene and the rich colours required little in the way of post-processing. But nonetheless I was interested to see if I could make it more dramatic by converting it to back and white. Most cameras (and smartphones) have a monochrome option, and sometimes this does little more than convert each pixel in the red, green and blue channels to the same intensity in greyscale.
But have you ever seen a black and white photograph and wondered why it seems more dramatic than its colour equivalent would have been?
The answer may be that the colours have not been given equal priority in conversion to greyscale. This was something that the old film photographers understood well; when I was a child learning to take black and white pictures, my father showed me how to attach a yellow filter in sunny weather. This had the effect of blocking much of the blue light, and darkening skies while leaving clouds white, making it much more dramatic.
You can do the same with a digital photograph. In the image below, I boosted the red and yellow while reducing the blue, using Affinity Photo 2 software. This made the orange colours of the cheeses seem to glow, while reducing white and blue – see how the man’s white coat has become dark. Is it an “accurate” photograph? Not in some ways, but that’s not always the point.
Man in a cheese shop: monochrome conversion with reds and yellows enhanced and blues suppressed. Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera, Fujifilm XF 16mm lens (click to enlarge).Screen grab from Affinity Photo 2 software, showing relative proportions of colours converted to greyscale (click to enlarge).
Note: we made a second visit to Bologna a couple of months later. On that occasion I took quite a few evening shots, which you can see here.
