Spyro P.
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
|
 p.2 #6 · Street photography - tips & tricks? | |
Hi Kaffemonster,
I'm a street 'tog myself and happy to share my few rules for street photography. These are all personal preferences but also how most of the masters did it, so when I say "no telephotos" dont flame me  . I have friends who take awesome tele shots from across the street, just not my style...
My rulz:
- Dont hide what you're doing, its not a crime. Even in modern societies with the peodphile and terrorism paranoia, its still not a crime to take photos in public places. Be open and honest about it.
- If someone doesnt want their photo taken, dont take it.
- Keep safe, stay out of dodgy places at night when you're alone, you want to return home WITH your camera
- Go to crowded places, look like a tourist (looking up at the buildings helps ), mind your wallet!
- Keep your gear at a minimum, the smaller the camera, the more you look like an amateur/enthusiast, the less people freak out about their photo showing up on a tabloid somewhere. Nothing more pro-looking that a large lens, small lens is the key.
- Dont sneak photos, just take your photos as per normal, even pointing at people's faces. If you cross eyes with someone angry, smile. If they ask you, be open about what you're doing, say its not a commercial photo and you took it because it looks interesting. If they insist, delete it. No photo is worth a fight, especially when you're holding a camera.
- With kids, ask for permission from their parents. Not a crime
- Street photography is as much about light as any other type of photography. Hard light is your friend, dont be afraid to shoot against it, have a look at Trent Parke's b&W gallery:
http://www.in-public.com/TrentParke/gallery/66
- Technical perfection is not a huge requirement, bump up the ISO to get the dof/speed that you need.
- Go wide, get close. Street photography is mostly about people and how they interact with the environment, again have a look at www.in-public.com. Street portraits is another story, you would need telephoto, but street shots are usually wide. Most street togs & photojournalists traditionally use a 28mm (full frame) prime capable of f2.8, and fast film. 28mm does cityscapes, large groups, buildings, and even half/full body protraits with acceptable distortion. Also wide lenses have huge dof, making focusing less critical. Switch your lens to manual focus, set it just shy of infinity (hyperfocal distance) stop down to f8 and bump up the ISO to get at least 1/200. Ready to mingle with the crowd
- I prefer a 24mm and a fisheye, I like the sense of depth compared to telephoto shots, it gives a sense of being there when looking at the photos. I'm not the best street photographer around but have a look at some shots I posted recently:
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/687331
Noone is responding so they're probably crap 
- Shoot a lot, film is chap, digital is free. All masters like Henri Cartier Bresson and Garry Winogrand used to shoot heaps to get exactly the "moment" they wanted.
All that ofcourse is just my recommendations, if you have something else that works for you just go for it, its always great to see something different! I like what you posted although like I said I prefer less "street portraits" and more "people in their environment" type of shots. Keep shooting and posting!
Cheers,
Spyro
Edited on Sep 14, 2008 at 12:16 AM
|
