Behind the Scenes at Shibuya Crossing: 71mm Crop Chaos

Yo, what’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante — currently at the Shibuya Crossing here in Tokyo, Japan. Check out this gold and beautiful light.

What I’m doing is I’m using the Ricoh GR IIIx with the 71mm crop mode. I’ve got high contrast black and white, small JPEG files cranked to the maximum. I’m using manual mode at 1/2000s, snap focus at 1 meter, with highlight-weighted metering mode. f/16 — point and shoot, baby.

Chasing Faces in the Light

All examples from the sessions of recording this video at Shibuya crossing (November 24, 2025)

What I’m doing is I’m looking for glimmers of faces in the light — looking at the gestures, looking at the small details and nuances of people’s faces — and using compression as a way to isolate subjects from the background.

I’m trying to isolate the subject in the foreground against the shadow area in the background to create a dramatic Caravaggio effect. It almost looks like a blend of Caravaggio with a Japanese woodblock print, etching shape and form into the faces as people enter into the light, creating dramatic abstract imagery on the street.

How the Idea Happened

And this came through me making a mistake. On the side of my camera, I have the crop mode feature enabled, and one day I was shooting here and I accidentally hit it. I started taking pictures and wondered, “Why is it so close up?”

Then as I started to make that mistake, I started to follow through with it — and it’s become an obsession. I can’t stop making pictures with this particular format.

I’ve been here all day basically just making snapshots as people enter into the light, and it’s an absolute obsession. It’s an addiction right now.

Compression, Chaos, and Layering

I can’t stop embracing the chaos of these corners and the light, trying to play with the overlap of people’s faces and using compression to create layered compositions. Or even isolate a single subject, using the side lighting as people pass through the frame — creating a more dramatic Rembrandt effect.

I’m playing with light and shadow. I’m playing with gestures. I’m playing with the faces of Tokyo.

The faces of Tokyo intrigue me. The people are beautiful. And I think there’s something to isolating faces — getting as close as possible with this camera, with the 71mm crop — that really highlights the humanity in the frame.

The Experiment I Can’t Stop

The photos become abstract and different, and it’s very much an experiment I’ve been pushing on this trip. I can’t stop doing it. So I’m following that instinct, pushing myself to photograph this way while I’m here at Shibuya Crossing.

I’m just sharing the behind the scenes of how I work on this chaotic street — isolating subjects from the background using the 71mm crop on the GR IIIx, high-contrast black and white, shooting toward the sun, shooting with the sun to my back… really experimenting with different ways to make a picture with this workflow.

And honestly? It’s very, very fun.

I love the chaos. I love the bustling energy of this street. This is paradise for me and my street photography, and I just can’t stop making pictures.

Alright — I’m going to keep shooting now and shut up. But I just wanted to share the behind the scenes of this new idea, this new workflow. Really weird, but really fun.

So yeah.