Béla T. Kalman, at 89; photographer who had an uncanny eye for his subjects

His third eye, an intuitive inner lens “enabled him to visualize compositions before framing them in his viewfinder,’’ said his stepson, Eric Zimberg of San Diego.

Mr. Kalman, a photographer for more than 55 years who formerly owned and ran Studio 350 on Newbury Street in Boston, died June 26 at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis of lung and cardiac complications. He was 89 and looking forward to his 90th birthday on July 29.

Mr. Kalman and his wife, Edna, lived in Boston and summered in Centerville on Cape Cod.

“Bela liked to tell a story with his images,’’ said Glenn Engman, who worked at Studio 350 for Mr. Kalman and said he learned a lot from his generosity of information before striking out on his own with On Target Inc., a digital imaging lab in Boston.

“I’ve told a lot of people that Béla was kind of like a slave driver and expected a lot from you,’’ Engman said. “When I did work there, I was glad because he was so demanding and was just as hard on himself.’’

Mr. Kalman had Studio 350 for 25 or 30 years, his wife said.

“He was a phenomenal person … with an amazing sense of humor, who made the visual case for photography as art,’’ said Elizabeth Ives Hunter, executive director of the Cape Cod Museum of Art, where Mr. Kalman had an exhibit. “He was generous to a fault, a consistent donor to the museum. Because of him, I see photography now with a different set of eyes.’’

Mr. Kalman’s work has also been exhibited in Santa Fe, where he and his wife spent part of 15 years. Longtime friend David Scheinbaum, chairman of the photography department at Santa Fe University of Art and Design who owns a gallery with his wife, described Mr. Kalman as “a very gentle soul, a wonderful human being and philanthropist.’’