Advice on Q2 Street Photography

[Corius]

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Hi, I'd like to get better at street photograph with the Q2 and would appreciate some advice.

Do folk tend to use AF or MF, and if MF do you use a preset zone approach or focussing on the fly? What aperture would you suggest?

I'm not even sure if my questions are the right starting point, so all advice greatly accepted and pointers to other good sources of information would be great.

[Le Chef]

“Street” is a very broad category that covers many different forms. What works for one might not work for another. Some street is more a static scene where the street itself cast in shadows late in the afternoon is the center of attention. In others it can be the movement of people like a parade or street theater. And in others almost a street version of portrait the person sitting at an outside bar table. 

If you have a preference of any of these, or others not mentioned, you might start by simply experimenting with settings and looking at the results.

The other things to consider (maybe obvious) are: get one or two strides closer to your subject, place “anchors” of objects towards the corners of the frame to give perspective, and change your angle of view by kneeling to get a shot.

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[Bazookajoe]

On 7/9/2022 at 11:53 AM, Corius said:

Hi, I'd like to get better at street photograph with the Q2 and would appreciate some advice.

Do folk tend to use AF or MF, and if MF do you use a preset zone approach or focussing on the fly? What aperture would you suggest?

I'm not even sure if my questions are the right starting point, so all advice greatly accepted and pointers to other good sources of information would be great.

I shoot street photography almost every single day! The Q2 is a perfect beast for that genre whether you prefer AF or MF. I mostly use AF, but there are times when I prefer MF. MF, with zone focusing lets you just point the camera in the general direction of what your shooting at, and with all of that deep DOF, you're pretty much guaranteed to get a shot that's in focus.

Make no mistake about it though, the Q2's AF is amazing as well. If I'm prepared, I can get the shot. And that's one of the most important first lessons of street photography:

Have your camera set up and ready to shoot at all times. BE PREPARED!

[Corius]

Thanks both for your advice. As Le Chef pointed out, I should have been more specific and my particular interest is in street photography of people.

The suggestions of anchors and getting closer are helpful, although with a 28mm lens I guess you have to be careful. It seems that for that level of involvement you have to sell yourself to the people you are photographing and not just try to sneak a shot when they are not looking.

So, as suggested I will get practicing!

[Herr Barnack]

@Corius,  My own approach to street photography has been greatly influenced by the world views of both Henri Cartier-Bresson and Thomas Hoepker.

Henri Cartier-Bresson:

Quote

"A velvet hand, a hawk's eye - these we should all have."

“Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again." 

“Think about the photo before and after, never during. The secret is to take your time. You mustn’t go too fast. The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick.”

Thomas Hoepker: 

Quote

"If I had asked you, I wouldn't have the picture - or else the picture would be a lie." 

In street photography, my intent is to capture the unguarded moment.  Photographing your subject undetected is imperative to accomplishing that. This where having the "velvet hand, the hawk's eye"  is critical.  I want to capture the true essence of the person, not the mask they put on for the rest of the world to see. 

This can also be accomplished by not making photographs immediately if the subject knows you have a camera and are making photographs.  Give them 5-10 minutes to forget about you, then make your photographs.  "...The secret is to take your time. You mustn’t go too fast. The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick.”

Things evolve very quickly in street photography; the majority of the time, there simply isn't time to ask permission before photographing or you will miss the decisive moment. 

If you do ask, your subject will most likely begin "acting" for the camera, putting on a contrived persona they want to present,  managing the world's perception of them - in essence posing for the camera.  These kinds of posed photographs are of no interest to me and they seem to be of little interest to others. 

My intention is always to operate with a velvet hand and a hawk's eye - totally undetected and without disturbing my subject.  My objective is to create compelling images without phony expressions and fake actions on my subject's part.

Thomas Hoepker nailed it with the answer he was known to give to his street photography subjects:  "If I had asked you, I wouldn't have the picture - or else the picture would be a lie."  

The world is awash in photographic lies; it is authentic photographs - the unguarded moment and the decisive moment - that are of value.  They are also the most difficult of photographs to capture.  This also makes them the most satisfying photographs when everything comes together for a fleeting fraction of a second and you are able to nail the shot.

As for doing street photography with the Q2, there are several different approaches.  You can set the lens to manual focus and stop down to a predetermined aperture.  By looking at the focusing scale on the lens, you will be able to know that if you are going to shoot at f/8, everything form 3 to 6 feet will be in focus.  When your subject is within that range, you can make your image instantly without losing fractions of a second to focusing.

Another technique I use is to focus on a given spot on the sidewalk and wait for my subject to get to that spot and then make my image.  If my focus spot is at 10 feet, f/2.8 will capture them in focus while rendering the foreground and background out of focus; f/4 will give me more depth of field to ensure that my subject is in focus, but at the expense of not having as shallow of a depth of field.

A lot of times, manual focus is a very good option for street photography, once you become familiar with how to use it.  If your subject is stationary, autofocus is useful,  too.  the thing is to not let autofocus become a crutch, and to know how and when to use manual focus and how to get the depth of field you need by selecting the right aperture for a given subject.

I hope this helps...

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Herr Barnack

[Dennis]

W/ my Q2M, I use AF 95% of the time. First, because it's flawless (not wow or incredibly fast, but either bad). And second, because I don't find myself comfortable (yet) w/ focus peaking, I just don't like it. It feels unnatural. But it's me. Except when I switch to macro, where I use MF.
About the f/stop, unless I have something special in mind to play with certain DoF, I usually shoot at f8 (and be there). You can't go wrong.

[Corius]

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8 hours ago, Herr Barnack said:

@Corius,  My own approach to street photography has been greatly influenced by the world views of both Henri Cartier-Bresson and Thomas Hoepker.

Henri Cartier-Bresson:

Thomas Hoepker: 

In street photography, my intent is to capture the unguarded moment.  Photographing your subject undetected is imperative to accomplishing that. This where having the "velvet hand, the hawk's eye"  is critical.  I want to capture the true essence of the person, not the mask they put on for the rest of the world to see. 

This can also be accomplished by not making photographs immediately if the subject knows you have a camera and are making photographs.  Give them 5-10 minutes to forget about you, then make your photographs.  "...The secret is to take your time. You mustn’t go too fast. The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick.”

...

I hope this helps...

 

Thank you for such a splendid post. It was very interesting, both historically and practical. I appreciate the suggestions on Q2 settings and biding my time to ensure people are relaxed. Now I just need to put it into practice!

[Trankster]

I would just add, if I am walking with my camera I will use AF and shutter priority at 1/1000  or faster shutter speed.  

Edited July 12, 2022 by Trankster

[PhotoCruiser]

Am 9.7.2022 um 18:44 schrieb Le Chef:

“Street” is a very broad category that covers many different forms.

Yep!
The big difference is if there is "shy" things in the scene or not, shy things can be either animals or humans or a static scene.
The possibility to shoot instantly is very important in this case and for this the camera should be already set to the right settings ready to push the shutter button.
For less "shy" scenes I sometimes have the camera on near/my eye and wait patiently until something enter the scenery, humans, animals, cars, etc
AF is mostly a must while shutter or speed priority depend on the available Light, the scenery and the desired DoF

Chris

[Overland]

On my Q2M, the face AF does not work well. It is unusable for street photography. It reacts too slowly. Which AF mode is usable?