‘Mo’ might not be camera shy but he is deceptively hard to photograph!

This bronze statue of Roy Rene, AKA ‘Mo’, sculptured by Robert Hannaford was unveiled in its Hindley Street location on March 2010.

The deep creases and course textures create harsh dark shadows in the street lighting. At first glance you just perceive a very contrasty image but an after dark natural light shot of ‘Mo’ is just too harsh without some help.

You could bring in a couple of soft-boxes and softly fill those dark and shadowy creases but soft-boxes are usually not part of a street photographer’s kit. This is one of the best examples I can describe where the extended dynamic range of capturing in ‘RAW’ means I can be quite aggressive in pulling out the tones in the shadows.

Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 374, Mo’s Not Camera Shy. 1/60s f/6.7 ISO1600 200mm