Advice on 'street photography'

[magosak]

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I got my 28mm and 50mm Summicrons and currently saving for a M9. As a novice in street photography, I find your recommendations very useful. I'll be sure to keep them in mind. Thank you.

 

I would suggest the following -

 

1: Use a 28mm or a 35mm lens for your street photography. If you don't have either, shop around for a nice used 28mm f/2.8 elmarit. They can be bought for around $950US. A more economical but not wide angle alternative would be the 50mm f/2.8 elmar which can be had for $500-600US.

 

2: Get CLOSE to your subjects. If you are photographing a single subject, get close enough so that the subject occupies 1/3 to 1/2 of the space in your frame lines. This will create images with visual impact.

 

3: Watch your frame lines. Don't cut off parts of your subject's hands, feet, ears, head, etc.

 

4: Cropping off parts of the body works if you do it at the 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 lines of the body (knees, waist, chest).

 

5: Experiment with both shallow depth of field and hyperfocal depth of field. See which you like best.

 

6: Experiment with slow shutter speeds - subjects blurred by their own movement can be interesting. Try bracing against a solid object and hand holding your camera with no support. See which result appeals to you.

 

7: Don't neglect doing some street shooting at night, especially at fairs, carnivals and festivals.

[BlackDE]

Where to begin ? First, see how high the bar is. Have some idea of the work of the following: Andre Kertesz, Cartier-Bresson, Robert Klein,Helen Levitt, Tony Ray-Jones, Robert Frank, Gary Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, and look at the street work of Walker Evans (Many are Called). There are many more but that is a start. Winogrand rejected the term street photography. Most street photographs are dumb and fall into easy genres. I think most good photography has a larger ideas incorporated in it. There are all kinds of techniques but the main thing is to have conviction about what you are doing. I photographed in the street when I was young and was painfully shy and got nothing . I worked for years with cameras on a tripod, with no people. Recently I have been re-inventing myself as a street photographer, thanks to the M9. I am working in a single public space -- Toronto's provincial version of Times Square, and I think, after a year and a couple of thousand images, that I am starting to get something.

Geoffrey James - Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts

 

Thanks a million!

 

Bernhard

[BlackDE]

I would suggest the following -

 

1: Use a 28mm or a 35mm lens for your street photography. If you don't have either, shop around for a nice used 28mm f/2.8 elmarit. They can be bought for around $950US. A more economical but not wide angle alternative would be the 50mm f/2.8 elmar which can be had for $500-600US.

 

2: Get CLOSE to your subjects. If you are photographing a single subject, get close enough so that the subject occupies 1/3 to 1/2 of the space in your frame lines. This will create images with visual impact.

 

3: Watch your frame lines. Don't cut off parts of your subject's hands, feet, ears, head, etc.

 

4: Cropping off parts of the body works if you do it at the 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 lines of the body (knees, waist, chest).

 

5: Experiment with both shallow depth of field and hyperfocal depth of field. See which you like best.

 

6: Experiment with slow shutter speeds - subjects blurred by their own movement can be interesting. Try bracing against a solid object and hand holding your camera with no support. See which result appeals to you.

 

7: Don't neglect doing some street shooting at night, especially at fairs, carnivals and festivals.

 

Thank you, too, for your advice!!

 

Bernhard

[johnloumiles]

Another technique that I use mostly (which some frown on) is shooting from the hip. It really entails shooting from the stomach. I have my strap set short and pull it down on my neck using two hands to ensure it's level then I zone focus and shoot. This helps especially when your in a crowed area and gives you a different perspective then coming from your eye down. Use a wider lens to limit the amount of throwaway shots you have, which most will be at first. Once you've done it for a while it becomes second nature and you can visualize the shot without looking. It's like using a medium format camera without the viewfinder.