24 Minutes of Pure Street Photography during City Lockdown (Sony A7 III).

What it do y'all, Danny here. Welcome back to the channel. So, we got something new today. We got snow. Unfortunately, I woke up a bit late today and it's actually around 2 p.m. right now and it's so unfortunate that most of the snow has already melted. But regardless, we're gonna make it work. I'm gonna head outside, walk around the street, do some pure street photography for you and yeah, I hope you guys enjoy it. I'm gonna take out the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 and the Sony a7iii for this one. So, sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, grab some chips, grab some hot chocolate, grab some hot coffee. I don't know what the hell I'm saying. But anyways, let's get it fam. I'll see you guys in a second. Peace. And we are live. I switched over to my DJI Pocket 2 and as you guys can see, we have snow. Had I woken up a bit earlier today, I would have captured a lot more snow on the ground. But it's around 3 p.m. and the snow has already melted. But we still got some. So, I like this puddle. Let me see what I can do with it. ISO is 2. Shutter around, let's keep it at 100 before the car comes. I want to take one right here. Okay, let's try one more but with a higher aperture. Too much bokeh. So, let's go to f6.3 and raise the ISO. Let's try one at 28 and let's try one at 50. Maybe get a little lower with the puddles. Hopefully, I got it. I think I did. Yeah, I can make that work. Let's see. Let's lower the aperture again. All right, moving on. So, the sun's supposed to set at 441 today. I have just over an hour before it gets dark. This is what I get for being so lazy. Oh, there's a dead pigeon. Sorry. Last time, I promised that I would take the University Avenue. I'm gonna do just that. Nice ride, brother. Let's go. If I see any cool cars, I will definitely capture some. It's already December, guys. 2020 has flew by so quickly and such a meaningless year. COVID consumed us. Fingers crossed that next year will be better. Focal length 28. ISO a bit lower. I like this entrance. I like that. I like that. A little lower. I'm currently at 35 mil. I'm gonna move back and try 75. Okay, nice. One low shot. Again, I want to raise my aperture to 5. Just waiting for cars. Okay, here we go. Okay, I think that's good enough. For this video, we're going straight up University Avenue, probably up to College. Maybe I should go way up to Bloor Street. We'll see how it goes. Or maybe I can get a mix of both. We are approaching St. Andrew's Station. I like this area. Let's try this one again. I like the TTC logo. F28, 75, with a little foreground and the streetcar just adds more accent. That's probably a good shot. Before I leave this one, straight. That's a good one. Let me show you guys what my setup is like. My mic is up right here. I have a chest mount and my DJI Pocket 2. Smack dab in the middle with my Sony A7III and 28-75mm F2.8 zoom lens from Tamron. I am scavenging for some good photos today. Those two guys look like models. Are they models? I don't know. Texture, texture, texture. There's a subreddit called Evil Buildings on Reddit and I've seen a couple of buildings from Toronto. For example, the Robarts Library at U of T. I used to study there a lot. It popped up in that subreddit and I found it kind of funny because from the outside it kind of looks like a big giant brick turkey. I don't know how to explain it but it looks like a turkey. Speaking of which, I hope you guys spent your Thanksgiving with joy and happiness. No parking anytime. You guys, I guess no parking at all. Why am I so fascinated by that? Can I do one in the middle? No, I don't think I can. Okay, so I just passed by Richmond Street. Moving my way up north to Queen Street. Oh, speaking of which, I might just go there. See how the ice rink is for today. Maybe it's open. I don't know. I'll have to check. Gonna turn right here before I go. Maybe one with this statue. Maybe you'll see it. ISO down. I'll wait for the next signal. I need people to walk by. Makes it more dramatic. Oh, I like that. I like that. I like that. Me likey. So far, I don't see anyone that's gonna cross. Oh, there's one lady coming. I gotta align it perfectly and please no cars. Please, please. Starting now. Did I get it? I got it. Yes, let's go. I'm happy with that. This place looks crispy. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna use the bars as my foreground and see what I can do with that building. So, through the bars. Any subject? Maybe the dog? No. ISO up. Shutter down. Right in the middle. It's not what I was looking for, but let's try again. Let's try again. Might have to try clear image zoom. So, change my format to JPEG and then zoom in digitally to 2.0. I have to keep it really steady though. This lens doesn't have image stabilization. So, I gotta keep it steady. Okay, I see one approaching. I'm going backwards. All right, let's do this one. No. Oh my god. I'll have to Where is she? Right there, right? Okay, I got it. Woken up, woken up, woken up. Okay, so I can't believe what just happened. My Pocket 2 battery ran out while I was doing my shoot. I came all the way to City Hall. We might have to continue with night photography. So, I'll see you guys pretty soon. Oh god. So, I'm having it charged. I don't know how long it'll take, but hopefully with the Apple power brick, it'll be fast. Okay, so as soon as those two equipments are charged, I'm gonna head out again and I'm probably gonna have to transition to night photography. I wasn't planning on doing a night photography as you can tell, but I guess I have no choice anymore. But I'm gonna make it work. Might as well charge my Sony a7iii because I don't want this to happen again. But yeah. And we are back. God, that was such a waste of time. But what can you do? Next time, I gotta make sure that all my devices are charged up. So, don't be dumb like me. Make sure your equipments are well prepared, well charged, so that you don't have to go through what I just did. But currently, it is around 7pm. The sun has already set. It's pitch dark. I've seen from other videos that the pocket 2 really can't handle low light situations, but hopefully, it's not too grainy. Okay, let's continue with our street photography. My ISO has to be way, way higher. I saw around a couple test shots. So, change of plans. I'm no longer going to University Avenue. That's probably going to have to be in one of my other videos. For this one, I'm probably going to stick to Yonge Street. But in my last video, I mentioned that I wanted to show you guys the Guderham building. So, I'm gonna make a quick turn because Guderham is around 5 minutes away from here. So, it won't be too long. During the summer times, a lot of patios are opened, a lot of bars, a lot of patios. But again, because of COVID, this location, this area seems to be all shut down. Let's cross. Just a quick one. When you're in Toronto, you can never get enough of CN Tower. Everywhere you go, every corner you go around, every street you walk, as long as you're in downtown, CN Tower will be looking right back at you. Eyes in the skies. Nice one down. During the summer times, this is changed into a dog fountain. Oh, never mind. Actually, a dog fountain is right here. I thought they switched it out. This is just some Christmas decoration. And this, this is the dog fountain. Dogs everywhere and they all shoot water. Okay, so this is why we're here. The Guderham building. This is what the back looks like. Looks like it's covered with cloth, but it's actually not. It's just paint. Only the middle windows are open. The rest is just paint. Why does this look so spooky? This might belong in evil buildings. This definitely belongs in evil buildings. Take a couple snaps in the front building as a local favorite. Not even a local favorite, just a favorite in general. When you, when you come to Toronto, you have to check this place out. A couple of other places that you might want to consider. First is the Guderham building. Next is the Brookfield place. Really high ceilings. Very elegant. The interior is very elegant. Lots of crystals and decors. A couple other areas that you might want to consider. CN Tower, obviously. The Harbour. Distillery District. The Ontario place. I'll take you guys there soon enough. So, quite the scene, isn't it? Maybe we should just take one classic right here. Lower the shutter up to 8. I wish I brought my tripod so I can do some long exposure shots or or some hyperlapse, but it's all good. I guess I'll have to be here. You really can't tell it's a triangle building. Yeah, this one's better. I want to lower my shutter to around 50. Maybe even lower. As long as my hands are steady. To 1 30th because I want to capture the the snow accents. I have to be as steady as possible though. Did I get it right? Yeah, that's really good. I like that. And we're gonna go north. This area is a bit sketchy, especially in the Queen Street East side of town. So, you have to be careful. Especially since I have a lot of gear. Drawing a lot of attention. Thank god I changed my jacket to something dark. That bright yellow jacket was drawing a lot of attention. People were looking at me. My goodness. You guys see that? The cathedral. A wide angle. 28 mil. Might have to move a bit further back. Yeah, I gotta move further back. I think I got it. One quick one. Absolutely empty. Yeah, I should go back to Yonge Street. Running out of battery totally messed up the vibe of the video. And you know I'm all about that symmetry, right? Look at this glory. Nice all the way down. All about the symmetry. You know what I mean? It's all good. One of my viewers told me that he's watching from Vancouver. I'm actually from Vancouver. GBC area. I also used to live in Langley and North Van. And downtown. I actually lived in a lot of places in Vancouver. Hope Vancouver is better than how we are doing here in Toronto. Hope you all are staying safe. I say this every time but I can't emphasize it enough. Please wear a mask. Stay distant. Well, that's cute. I saw maybe 3200. Shutter 80. Boom. It's just a little cute scenario. Let's see. By the way, check me out on Instagram at k.dannyboy. Quick plug. Let's try it again. Keep it symmetrical. Shutter can stay around 100. ISO 8000. See, this is when it's so helpful to have grid on your display. Got it. Nice, nice, nice. Re-center. Okay, we're good. Symmetry. Oh, me likey. Look at this interior. This is when it helps when you have a lower aperture. This 2.8 is, I mean, it's good but a 1.8 or even a 1.4, that matter, would be so much better. So, there's always positives and negatives of using zoom lenses versus prime lenses. Zoom lenses, you have much more choices in terms of field of view. So, for this one, it's 28 to 75. You have all that range and you have that wideness at the 28. 28 is sufficient enough, let's say that. But you also have access to 75. Punches in a lot. But downside is, at least for mine, there's no image stabilization and the aperture is relatively, relatively higher compared to prime lenses. And for prime lenses, sometimes you want a wider shot, sometimes you want a tighter shot, but you're fixed at 50, at 62, at 85, at 120, or at 35. So, you're very limited in terms of field of view but you have access to all that light, all that low aperture. So, you have to pick and choose what's right for you. Sometimes you want to go for the zoom lens and sometimes you want to go for that prime lens and enjoy that sweet, sweet low aperture. Way, way blown out. Maybe through this gap here and then shutter should be 180th. Capture that middle part. Noise, noise, noise. Where is this? Richmond Street. So, this is where we ended up. No, no, no, no. We were at Queen Street near the city hall. That's when my battery ran out. I think one of the reasons why the battery drained so fast is because of the weather. It's too damn cold today. Right now, it's negative, negative one, negative two. Can I go through Eaton Center? Is that even open? I'm legit curious. I don't think so. I don't see any people walking out, walking in. Yeah, it's closed. On your right, you can see. Wait, hold on. Don't tell me that person's gonna walk in. Is she gonna walk in? Is she an employee? Wait, what? It's open. She has to be an employee. You can't even enter through that. That's the exit. See anyone inside? No, she has to be an employee. There's no way. Oh, okay. I'm just gonna walk away but I will take you guys in there for sure next time once it opens up. We are back at Old City Hall. Well, let's just go to Nathan Phillips Square first and see how they set it up. Do I see people using the rink is my question. No, I think it's so close. No, no, no, no, no, no. I see people skating. I see a handful. Yeah, to my great surprise. We could stick around here for, I don't know, 10 minutes. Look at all those pretty lights. Why did they barricade it off? Is there another entrance? Ain't it pretty guys? It's the season to be jolly. Shutter has to be way lower. Yeah, I might have to go to JPEG and use clear image zoom. Let me get a better angle. That lady looks a bit wobbly. Well, ain't that lovely. I'm gonna do a loop around. Winter is the best season. Changed my mind. It's so blue. I might use landscape mode. Since I'm going wide, I don't need my shutter to be that high. I'm gonna keep it at 160th. ISO around 6400. Bada beam, bada boom. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I'm worried that my pocket 2 will run out of battery again. Maybe I have a faulty unit. That cannot be the case. Here is the Toronto sign, guys. You're walking through it. All the blue. Hey, you know what? Oh my god, there's so much blue. Wait, let me cancel the clear image zoom first and get some of that tree action. Look at, look at how blue it is. Hey, wait, what a coincidence. TO. Toronto represent. What up? Okay, let's see. Lovely couple. That's good. That's a good one. That's a cool setting. So look. And one below with the face and the clock. Nice, nice, nice. I want to capture some people through the O. I'm all the way up to 75 mil. I've just seen one good photo. I'm deciding if it should be the O or the R. I think the O is better. Let's see how it turned out. Ain't it grand? See the city hall. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? Rule of two-thirds. Maybe a bit wider. There we go. So making my way to Dundas Street. I think I'm gonna end the POV at Dundas Street. So instead of going right, I'm gonna go Dundas West and then snap a couple of photos and then I'll call it a day. Clear image zoom times two. Shutter has to be around 200 and ISO at 8000. Way down there you guys can see Dundas Square. God damn it, cars coming. I'm gonna do it again. Way down the street you guys will be able to see Dundas Square. Just the corner of it but I'll take one up top. No cars coming right? Make this quick. So boom. One right there and boom. Nice. I got my shots. Let's go back to RAW. You know what? Might as well capture this streetcar. Okie doke. I think my favorite photo today was that one. The one where I crouched and used the clear image zoom. I think that was my favorite one. So here we are. University Avenue. Boy that is such Canada Life building and the CN Tower together. Looks so dope. Yeah that's so cool. I'm gonna keep it as steady as possible because I can't raise the ISO any higher. I don't want to sacrifice quality. Oh the wind is pushing me. Jesus. I think I got it. Yeah boy. Should I end it here? Nothing interesting right? Yeah even with the gloves my hands are starting to go numb. It's just that cold. Okay well I'm gonna call it a night and I'll see you guys back home. I'm just contemplating on my life choices. Lesson of the day. Make sure you charge your gear up before you freaking leave the house. God damn it. I learned it the hard way. Regardless hope you guys enjoyed it. I guess it's kind of a mixed bag. You get some daylight photography. You get some night photography. Best of both worlds right? I guess. But anyways thank you guys for watching and I'll catch you on the next one. Peace.