Passing Train

This image is a perfect example of why it is sometimes crucial to shoot in RAW format, especially when in street photography, because the moment often only lasts a couple of seconds.

I use a sligstrap when I walk around with my camera, always having it set up so I know that I can grab it and take the shot quickly. Being ready is alpha and omega for street photography but sometimes lady luck flips you off, but as long as you shoot in RAW there is a chance that the shot can be saved. 

In the case of this shot, my camera was in M (manual mode) instead of AV (aperture priority), because the 5D classic doesn't have a locking mode dial, and my manual settings where 1/15 sec, f/2.8, ISO500. The manual settings resulted in a very overexposed image, as you can see at the bottom of this post, and at first I didn't expect it to be salvageable.

But because it was shot in RAW, I was able to drop the exposure slider to -2 stops in Aperture and retrieve most of the details in the overexposed areas of the image. I did a b&w conversion, because the colors where a bit washed out, added a bit of polarizing to further darken the image and ended up with the result you see at the top. So this is a reminder to always shoot in RAW, regardless of the mode.