This post is brought to you by the Huawei P9
The Huawei P9 is a solid flagship smartphone. It’s got a nice build, nice specs, and two Leica-certified 12-megapixel cameras mounted at the back.
What makes this dual camera setup special is that one shoots in colour while the other does monochrome. In theory, not only will you be able to take stunning, high contrast black and white photos, the dedicated monochrome sensor can also enhance colour images because it captures more light information.
At least, that’s what people often say. But is that really the case? Well, to find out, we handed the P9 over to a professional photographer and let him work his magic.
About the photographer
Prakash Daniel has been photographing since his university days, some 15 years ago, and has been a professional full-time photographer for the past three years now. Prakash’s forte is in street and portrait photography but he also does the occasional music gig. He has shot the likes of Tom Jones, Jason Mraz and Sum 41, just to name a few, so he’s certainly no stranger behind the lens. Prakash also indulges in the dying art of film photography, turning to his trusty Contax T2 and Leica M6 for the times when digital cameras simply won’t do.
He usually shoots with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, but for this shoot we convinced him to ditch his pro DSLR and wide array of prime and telephoto lenses for something more portable — the Huawei P9. Here are the results.
[nextpage title=”Prakash’s thoughts on the P9 and street photography”]
To me, street photography is a way to document your surroundings in the name of art, or fun, depending which side of the fence you’re on. Street photography is not only a showcase of the streets, but it also gives you a closer view of life.
Personally, I love street photography because I get to experience the city I live in, in a more intimate way. Not to sound like a cliche but street photography gives you the space and time to really get to know people around you through your lens. It lets you build relationships with those people.
I think, when it comes to street photography, people should look for images that they can relate to. I always go to the same places, sometimes for six months in a row, to photograph the location and it’s really amazing to see how that particular location grow through my photos.
Here, you’ll find some of my favourite street photographs that I took with the Huawei P9 at the Ramadhan Bazaar near SOGO near the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
For this photo, I had to kneel on the floor to get this shot. I used the pro mode and tweaked the exposure to +0.8 which was the perfect setting to use as the evening sunlight streamed in from the left. I used a high shutter speed to freeze the walking people and avoid any kind of motion blur.
I love getting really close to the scene I am shooting and the Huawei P9 lets me do that. It’s discreet and less obtrusive than a full-fledged DSLR with a large lens attached to it. And that is the best thing about street photography, it’s all about getting close to the subject and getting in the action.
I am always attracted to unique characters when I photograph the streets. This guy, for example, is a clown and he sells balloons at various locations. On his way home, I stopped him and asked if I could take a photograph of him and he was more than willing to pose for a picture. I had him stand in front of the truck that was promoting a new Tamil movie blockbuster and let him do his thing. I’d say the result was rather good.
For this photo, I was also on the pro mode. I set the exposure to +0.2 and the shutter speed was left at 1/640. I left the ISO on auto and the P9 decided that ISO 50 was good enough. With the right lighting, a low ISO value is good because it has minimal or no noise. Back in the olden days, you could only shoot with ISO 50 on a bright day or in the studio, but the P9’s ability to capture light lets me use a low ISO value even in less than ideal lighting.
The Huawei P9 has great versatility when it comes to focusing plus a great ability to come up with incredibly accurate exposures. Despite having a lot of backlight when I shot this, the P9’s camera still captured the bubbles perfectly. This was an easy shot because the focusing on the P9 is fast and the spot metering is also awesome. The P9 even has a manual focusing mode which is what I used for this shot
The monochrome mode really impressed me so much. I didn’t expect to get all the details that I did in this shot The black/grey and white shades are so well contrasted and easy to pick out when you shoot with the P9’s native monochrome mode. This photo was also shot in the pro mode with an EV of +2.2 while the ISO was left at auto. This is yet another example of the P9’s superb auto ISO.
The panorama mode was off the charts. The details that it captures at 9pm at night with this many people in the scene was simply impressive. Also, the panorama was really responsive and it didn’t create double images even though people were moving.
[nextpage title=”At the end of the day”]
As far as the Huawei P9 is concerned, I think it’s the perfect tool for street photography. It works well as a compact camera and it is super versatile with all the various modes. People are also less intimidated by it and that lets you get really close to your subjects.
I would say that the Leica-certified camera phone is made to give the ultimate Leica experience on a device that can also make phone calls and send text messages. On top of that, the P9 is a fantastic tool if you are a serious street photographer as myself. Its focusing and responsiveness is beyond awesome. The P9’s native monochrome feature is also done perfectly while the colors captured by the RGB sensor are beautifully balanced.
