Page 21 - Cape-Camera-April-2022

April 2022 Cape Camera

Photographic Technique

Did you just take my picture

13 Tips to improve your street photography

by Chad Tobin

A mixture of crowded streets and neon glow makes 1/500 s. These ballpark settings will allow for a number of things,
the concrete metropolis of Tokyo the perfect backdrop including freeing movement and providing more context by
having most things in your frame sharp. Embrace the grain that
for street photography. In 2015, I spent a humid comes with higher ISOs and the shadows that come with f/16
summer there making images of strangers. As night and the afternoon sun. Use these settings as a starting point,
would lead into the early hours of the morning, mafia- and adjust as needed. The bending of light and shadow will
type characters and underground taboo clubs seemed become storytelling elements in your images.
to fill the pulsating city. Street photography is an 4. Wear comfortable shoes
incredible visual lottery that gets you hooked the first When thinking about equipment for street photography, your
shoes are as important as your camera. Pounding the pavement
moment something in your image works. Golfers talk for hours or even short periods of time searching for photos is
about the feeling they get when they make their first extremely hard on your feet, but investing in a good pair of
connection with the ball and how that one shot keeps walking shoes will increase your chances of getting better shots
them coming back for more - and street photography because you can stay out longer. You'll also want to be prepared
for inclement weather; having a raincoat and umbrella can go a
is the same. long way toward being able to shoot for longer periods.
Street photography is hard. Doing it well is even harder. It has to 5. Learn from the pros
be practiced repeatedly and, even so, meets with more failure An important but infrequently mentioned part of street
than return. Understanding what makes a good street photo photographers' arsenal is their photobook collection. Studying
involves developing a palette for the genre by studying people what successful street photographers do is essential to growth,
who do it well. The methods and ideas in this article go beyond so examine photo books closely and find ones that speak to
the concept of simply taking a picture of strangers walking you.
in the street and converting it to greyscale. Try some of these
practices used by some of the best street photographers in the
world, and adopt the ones that work for you! It's important to remember that the more calm
1. Use a small camera and easy-going you appear, the less likely
A small camera makes huge difference in your presence on people are to react negatively when you take
the street. Street photography is at about moving and gliding their photo.
between situations quietly, whereas a large camera acts as a
flashing billboard. An imposing camera also implies you might
be professional, and people can be intimidated by the thought 6. Compose with layers
of their photo being used commercially. A small camera is less Geometry and emotion should guide you as you compose street
threatening and will make iteasier to capture the unposed photographs. Look for clean backgrounds for your subjects so
theatre of the street. they do not overlap and there are no street signs coming out
2. Choose your lense carefully of their heads.
In the street photography world, the 28-mm and 35-mm lenses Once you find a great background, stake it out for a while
are two of the most used. These two focal lengths allow for and wait for subjects to come into the frame. Include things
context and relational information within the frame, making a in the foreground, middle ground and background to create
narrative much easier to achieve. Using a telephoto lens provides a sense of depth. Look for gestures that can contribute to the
narrow perspective with no context, and this can lead to boring geometry of the frame and make the picture more interesting.
street photography. A wide-angle angle lens, however, lets Pay attention to the emotion and the moment. Focus on the
photographers get closer to their subject. The resulting images developing scene, and practice taking one frame at a time
are more immersive, which makes a remarkable difference in instead of shooting multiple images.
viewers' emotional reaction to the image. Using a prime lens 7. Embrace failure
instead of a zoom will also force you to bob and weave like a The majority of what you do will not work, and most of what
boxer, adjusting for the best composition. It encourages fluid you think works will not be good either. Alex Webb, one of the
movement from situation to situation. world's leading streetphotographers, often says that street
3. Try these settings photography is 99.0% about failure. There is so much working
If there is a time in this article where am going to lose you, it's against you: the weather, messy backgrounds and upset
this paragraph. Stay with me, though, and I promise you'll get people. Yet, the possibility of getting a good image in spite of
good results. When using natural light in street photography, these obstacles keeps a photographer coming back for more. It
set your ISO to1600, even if it is completely sunny out. Then set takes a while to make good work, so try to enjoy the journey of
the aperture at f/16 and the shutter speed to between1/250 s to learning and pushing through failure.

20 Cape Town Photographic Society