How I Shot the Whiskey Bar

Today’s Post by Mark Toal

My Portlandia Photo Walk was a success even though it poured rain for the first part of it. If you live in Portland you can’t let the rain stop you and it’s not cool to carry an umbrella. Fifteen of us made the walk from the Benson Hotel in downtown to the world famous Voodoo Doughnut store.

As we left the Benson Hotel somebody asked me how I had my camera set for the walk? I replied that I have it set to program and auto ISO so that I’m always ready to shoot what comes up without having to think about the settings.

Almost immediately I stopped to point out a unique little coffee shop. When we all looked in the window the owner looked up and made the face that you see in the above photo. I pressed my Panasonic LX7 to the glass and snapped without thinking about the settings.

Near the end of the walk we turned a corner and saw the Whiskey Bar with steam pouring from a vent behind it. As I pointed it out, a man in black walked into the scene. I zoomed out the maximum focal length of the LX7 and shot again it full auto. The black and white conversion and cropping was done in Photoshop using Google Silver Efex Pro.