Taking to the Street

8/3/2019 Taking to the Street

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Street Portraits Capture

August 2011 ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHER 19

© D A V I D B A K E R




20 ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHER August 2011

What you need

TO FLASH OR NOT TO FLASH?

You don’t always need a speedlight to

add a pop o flash to your images. The

photographer Michael David Murphy

has ‘no flash corner’, an intersection in

his home town where natural reflections

create a beam o intense light that

spotlights subjects as they walk.

For the conrontational Bruce Gilden,the New York-based photographer who

sticks his camera right into people’s aces

or ascinating reaction shots, his use o

flash is vital or conveying the sense o

location. He says o his highly charged

shots: “I use flash a lot because flash

helps me visualise the eelings o the city

— the energy, the stress, the anxiety that

you find here.” I flash suits your style and

you’re brave enough, then use it.

But what camera?On page 79 we put our current digital cameras through a real worldtest and here we’ll explain how using diferent equipment can provide a

diferent experience to the act o capturing a street image. But at the end o the day, the very best camera is the one you have with you…

One of the great pleasures of street photography is that you can do it on your lunch break. You don’t have to spend hours building

relationships with a model or trek to beautiful locations for the right light, you can literally just grab your camera and go.

Compacts

Proessional-spec compacts

such as the Canon G10 and

the FujiFilm X100 ofer

improved image quality

and the manual controls

o an SLR, plus you rarely

look threatening or like a

photographer when usingone o these tiny cameras.

However, when using a

compact it’s di cult to get

the sort o depth-o-field

or background blur that a

CSC or DSLR can ofer, and

i your device doesn’t ofer

instantaneous capture (such

as Ricoh GRD III’s snapshot

mode) then you can find

yoursel becoming victim to

the dreaded shutter lag.

Rangefinders or CSCs

Famously the tool

o legendary street

photographers, film

rangefinders are still very

much an option or those

keen enough to shoulder

the continuing costs o

developing film. They’resmall, light, ofer beautiul

image quality, are quiet in

operation and let you see

the world around your rame

through the viewfinder.

Digital rangefinders such

as the Leica M9 are the stuf

o dreams or most o us,

but digital compact system

cameras provide a cheaper

alternative and oten come

with a pancake lens.

SLRs

Unless you’re able to bag

yoursel a digital rangefinder,

SLRs will give you the best

image quality or street

shooting. However, they’re

heavy and instantly mark

you out as a ’photographer’,

which can make peopleaware o your presence.

Try sticking a bit o black

electrical tape over any

obvious branding, and

brush up your shooting rom

the hip. For those using

SLRs, your main decision

to make concerns the

glass on the ront o your

camera. Try a classic street

photographer’s wide-angle

prime lens.

Cameraphones

The primary benefit to using

your smartphone is that it

will probably always be in

your pocket, so you can whip

it out, grab the picture and

be gone in the blink o an

eye. Also by using a mobile

phone as a camera youmelt into the background,

making this an excellent

camera or those people

who are nervous about

photographing the public.

Using a phone has its

downsides: a tiny sensor,

limited file sizes (in some

cases) and very reduced

control can leave you acing

a photo opportunity without

the proper tools to capture it.

One o Eric Kim’s images taken at night with

a Ricoh GRD III and in-camera flash. Working

close up with a flash might not cause as much

conrontation as you’d think. © E R I C K I M





With street photography, content is

inversely proportional to technical

perection: i the content is ascinating,you can sacrifice pinsharp ocus and

perect exposure, but i the content is

mundane, good composition and ocus

can help you tell the story.

So what settings should you be

using to ensure that your images won’t

technically be letting you down? Eric

Kim advises that you should stick in

program, or aperture-priority mode, or

even ull auto i you’re presented with

an immediate situation that demands

capturing. “I’m sure i I always shot in

manual mode, I would have lost so many

photo opportunities due to the act that

I might have not had the right settingsat an unexpected time,” he says. Let the

camera do the maths or you and it’ll get

it right on most occasions.

I you have more time to consider

your settings, try to ollow the ‘sunny 16’

rule o keeping it at /16 in bright sunlight

with ISO the same as your shutter speed.

Keep your shutter speed above 1/250sec.

Autoocus is not great or street

photography, as so oten the key

element o your shot will be the object

thrown into blur. Cameras don’t know

what you want to be sharp so you may

want to dodge this and go manual. Try

setting your ideal working distance bypre-ocusing at a known distance and

using an aperture o around /8 and /11

in order to give you a workable depth-

o-field. I you’re using a prime lens, use

the depth-o-field scale to establish how

much o your shot will be sharp.

Shoot in Raw mode and you may be

able to salvage a picture’s exposure and

white-balance when you’re back at the

computer. Some photographers advocate

putting cameras into black & white

mode. As you can see rom most o the

images in this eature, monochrome suits

street photography.

What settings do I use?

Though it’s tempting to shoot rom aar,candid pictures can become voyeuristic

when the photographer is using a long lens.Robert Capa amously said: “I your pictures

aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”Or as Eric Kim points out: “Creepiness is

directly proportional to ocal length.”

A wide prime lens such as the classicphotojournalist 35mm (or equivalent length

or your camera’s crop actor) is ideal. Most

prime lenses have a depth-o-field scale toshow how much o your image will be inocus at a specified aperture. They’re also

oten aster, making them more useul inlow light situations. Primes will also orce

TECHNIQUE

Lenses

ABOVE LEFT: Avoid creepy behaviour. ABOVE RIGHT: Olympus’ new 12mm MFT lens has a depth-o-field scale.

This means exactly what you think it does:

holding your camera at waist-ish height andtaking a picture without using the viewfinder

or LCD screen. The first 500 pictures you

take like this will almost certainly be rubbish,with the occasional keeper amongst the dross.Digital capture can really save you money

here – shooting continuously rom the hip asyou walk past a subject might land you the

shot you’re looking or. I your camera’s AF isreliable, centre the ocus point and leave it up to

your device. Alternatively, use pre-set ocusing

(discussed in the panel on the right) to give youmore o a chance at sharpness while working

in manual ocus.A lot o street photographers try this style

out while learning the ropes and then oncetheir confidence levels are up, return to the

viewfinder – but it can be useul when in a crowded place and you don’t want to stand out.

SHOOT FROM THE HIP

Some alternative approaches to shooting rom the hip – flipping cameras upside down, concealing them under

olded arms and always looking as nonchalant as possible.

you into a compositional decision, making

you move your legs rather than zooming in– and i you stick with it, you can learn the

field o view and compose accordingly. All

time-saving lessons which may make thediference between getting a shot and not.





Portraits with

permission AN EXCELLENT WAY OF DESCRIBING THE HUNTIS ‘LOOKING FOR THE LUCK’ – BUT THE MORE YOUPRACTICE, THE LUCKIER YOU WILL BECOME

© D A N N Y S A N T O S

Looking for the luck

An excellent street photograph may looklike a spontaneous moment. But what’s

hidden rom view is the years o poundingthe streets, the thousands o binned images

that went beore, the decades spent lookingat lie and people and the way they behave,

that enabled the photographer to knowexactly what settings to use, where the

buttons were located on the camera in orderto change them quickly, to wait a heartbeat

longer so the subject’s arm was no longer

in shadow. Exhausting stuf. The Britishstreet photographer David Gibson talks o

going out to take street pictures as ‘lookingor the luck’, which is an excellent way o

describing the hunt – but the more youpractice, the luckier you will become. Here

are some ways to help you get lucky.

Pound the streets

Knowing your home tur inside out is the

perect way to improve your odds. When

you walk around, keep your eyes out orpatches o light, or clever advertising

posters, or areas where people converge –then try studying one o these places to see

i they have any photographic potential.

Creating a street photograph by seeinga potential picture and waiting or an

individual or event to come along andcomplete the scene isn’t cheating – it

could be likened to the common practice o waiting or the light to change in landscape

photography. You still need the creativevision to see the possibilities.

Although it’s important to study an area,

the longer you stay in one location, themore likely it is that you’re missing chance

opportunities elsewhere. This is somethingthat you’ll have to judge or yoursel every

time you find yoursel with a potential shotin ront o you. Is it ever actually going to

come together in the perect image?

People pictures

For Eric Kim, street photography is

nothing without people in the pictures. “Ipreer shots with people in my images, as

I find the human ace utterly ascinating.However, I would still say that images that

don’t include people can still be ‘streetphotography’ – although the best shotstypically include people,” he says.

When shooting people, try to get imageswhere the person is looking towards you.

I you’re having difculties with the

ethics o pictures without your subject’s

knowledge, you could take a lea rom

Danny Santos’ book. The Singapore-

based photographer specialises in

a sub-genre o street photography,

commonly termed street portraiture. He

set himsel the project o shooting 100

strangers walking on a specific street

in Singapore, but rather than capturing

candids, Danny approaches strangers,

asks i he can take their picture and then

uses a Nikon D300 with an 85mm /1.4

lens to take three shots wide open at/1.4 and another three shots at /2. “No

flash was used in any o the portraits,

only available light on overcast skies or in

shade,” he says on his blog. “I’ve always

considered mysel lucky whenever I get

a ‘yes’ rom a stranger. Some would say

’sure’ immediately, which is always a

wonderul surprise – others would be a

little wary and ask ‘what or?’ I would tell

them exactly what I’m doing: shooting

portraits o people, a personal project.”

Working in colour also marks it as

dierent rom the usual monochrome

that street shooters tend to use.

Capturing portraits o strangers withpermission is a challenge that will help

your confidence no end.

www.dannyst.com





TOP: Unusual activity in an ordinary location can create a

ascinating final image. ABOVE: I your camera can handle

it, go out shooting in the rain – weather makes people

behave strangely ABOVE LEFT: Interesting advertising

set against people on the street is always a great place to

start your street photography habit – but make sure you

wait or the perect raming moment to press your shutter.

© P E B S Y

© E R I C K I M

© E R I C K I M

While walking, keep an eye out or groups

or contrasting objects that might make

excellent subjects. Juxtaposition is king –

set things against their opposite, or their

perect pair, and you’re golden. Henri

Cartier-Bresson spoke o “a rhythm… a

rhyme between diferent elements” that

helps to create a world-class street image.

He enjoyed geometry in pictures andgroups o three or five objects or motis

are amously much more pleasing to

humans than even-numbered groups.

As humans, we like looking at aces ratherthan backs o heads, and expressions

are ar more interesting. Eric agrees:“I am ascinated in human interaction,

both individually and in groups, and Ilove capturing these interactions in my

images,” he said on his blog. “Whether it is

people communicating, a person showingto others what’s on their mind through

their body or acial expressions, or howpeople communicate how they want to be

perceived by others.”

Most street photographers choose tomove into the scene or person that they’reshooting. “In order to ‘give a meaning’ to

the world,” Henri Cartier-Bresson said,“one has to eel onesel involved in what he

rames through the viewfinder.” Though it

might eel odd, moving closer to the personwill normally result in a better image.

I you want to take it urther, Erichas recently been trying out a style very

similar to Bruce Gilden’s potentiallyconrontational approach – getting

extremely close to people and crouchingdown and kneeling and taking a photo o

them at a vertical angle. “People usually

notice me doing this, but I pretend like I’mtaking a photo o something else. Very ew

people have bothered me regarding this.”The main hurdle to overcome when

taking pictures o people is your own ear,but overlea there are a ew steps you can

take to help yoursel get over it.

PATTERNS





© W I L L C H E U N G

There’s a popular sel-help book titled

Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway which is

good advice or those looking to brush

up their street photography. Most peoplehesitate because they’re nervous about

their subject’s reaction.

I you flip it round and ask how would

you react i you saw someone taking a

photo o you, you’ll probably find that

you’re not too bothered. You might be

intrigued as to why they were taking the

picture, but not outright ofended and

urious. Especially i they were smiling

and riendly while they snapped you.

Practice smiling at strangers and you’ll

see that most o the time they’ll smile

back – they’re busy with their own lives.

I someone in your picture does goto the trouble o stopping you and asks

what you’re doing, be polite: tell them

that you ound them interesting, or

that you liked their hair, or their shoes

– which is the truth. I a random person

complimented you in such a manner, it’d

probably make your day. Be riendly.

Weirdly, getting close to people may

help your candid pictures. “I always love

to say that you actually are less noticed

when you shoot up and close to people,

rather than when you’re ar away,” Eric

says. “When you are so close and taking

photos, people typically turn around tosee what you are taking. Also, i you try

to avoid making eye contact with people,

you will be invisible.”

I your device o choice has a

viewfinder, you could try making eye

contact through your camera rather than

doing it in person – keep your camera

strapped to your ace and lock eyes with

your subject. The street photographer

Thomas Leuthard has developed a style

based on people wondering i he’s taking

pictures o them. He waits to take the

picture until they’ve looked away and

then taken a second look back at him.

I you do find yoursel making eye

contact with your subject, you could try

looking past them into the distance as

i you’re trying to compose a picture o

whatever’s behind them.

Dress congruously so you won’t stand

out rom the crowd, and act natural. I

you relax and just act like you’re waiting

or someone or checking some settings

on your camera, you won’t stand out at

all and most people will just walk straight

by. Alternatively you could try acting

the non-threatening tourist, completely

delighted with everything around you and

thrilled to be out with your camera.

GETTING OVER IT

ABOVE: Shot in Berlin with an Olympus E-P1, using the in-built grainy film art filter setting to orce my hand into

a style o shooting. BELOW: Keeping an eye out or interesting grafti can be worth a five minute wait to see

who comes along to complete the picture.

© E R I C K I M





IN THE UK, IT ISNOT ILLEGAL TO TAKEPHOTOGRAPHS IN A PUBLIC SPACE – BUT MOVEQUICKLY AND YOU WON’TGET CAUGHT ANYWAY...

The law

Bottom line: i you’re shooting in the UK,you do not need a permit to take pictures in

a public place and the police have no powerto stop you taking pictures. It is not illegal to

take pictures in a public space.Here comes the grey bit: this applies in

public spaces, but you might find yoursel surprised what isn’t a public space these

days. Train stations and large areas o

London might look public, but they’re underthe control o private companies, so you

may find yoursel tapped on the shoulder byan inquisitive security guard.

Capturing pictures o people in a publicspace is also not illegal. You can’t invade

people’s privacy by taking photographs o them somewhere they would expect not

to be seen, such as in their own house orgarden. On top o this, you can’t harass

anyone. Pursuing an interesting-looking

person with your camera in hand mightbe un, but is it worth them eeling

uncomortable? Probably not.I you are planning to sell your images or

commercial use – which is unlikely - thenyou will need a model release rom any

people that appear in your shot. You’ll alsoneed permission or any shots involving

other companies’ advertising. I you’reusing your images or personal use or art (as

most o us are) then it’s not a problem.

Though they’re hugely temptingsubjects, it’s best to avoid children.

Photographing children is not illegal, butyou may find yoursel being investigated,

and nine times out o ten, it’s not worth thepotential hassle.

The best street photography advice is

to learn to judge the situation. Carry cards,ofer to send the pictures and SMILE.

There is a our-page PDF onphotographers and the law available rom

www.sirimo.co.uk which has more detail,but try not to get too bogged down in it.

Always have in your head: is the pictureworth it? I anyone o cial does stop you, be

polite and co-operate – and remember youcan shoot in any public space and no one

can orce you to delete an image, not even a

police o cer.Most o the time, street photography will

come down to your own personal ethics. Doyou eel uncomortable? I so, then you’ll

have to make the decision or yoursel. At

the end o the day, it is not illegal to takephotographs in a public space in the UK– but i you move quickly, you won’t get

caught anyway. Best o luck.

ABOVE: O course, i your subjects are totally

unaware, then you’ll definitely get away with it

LINKS

ERIC KIM Eric Kim runs a antastic street

photography workshop that will run

you through the thinking behind street

images as well as practical inormation or

capturing better shots. Though he has no

dates planned at present, keep an eye on

his website or inormation on uture dates.

While you’re there, his site is an absolute

goldmine o inormation or those looking

to try street photography or the first time.

www.erickimphotography.com/blog

PROJECTS As mentioned previously,

projects can help you ocus your mind

and it just so happens that the Street

Photography Now group is halway

through a year-long project designed

to get photographers out taking street

pictures. Visit the website below to sign

up or weekly email-based questions or

pointers set by other street photographers,

which you then have to try and capture in

a photograph and upload to the relevant

Flickr group within the timescale. It’s an

excellent way to think dierently about

your street work and the accompanying

discussions within the Flickr groups arehugely inormative.

www.streetphotographynowproject.

wordpress.com

The introduction to the book Street

Photography Now is also online, and is an

excellent read or those interested in the

more philosophical side o this genre.

http://bit.ly/streetphotonow

OTHER SITES OF INTEREST

2POINT8 Michael David Murphy’s site or

street photography, complete with ethics

discussion, approach, topics to shoot and

more besides.http://2point8.whileseated.org/

IN-PUBLIC Profiles and portolios rom some

o the world’s best street photographers, ull

o ideas, inspiration and discussion.

www.in-public.com

I’M A PHOTOGRAPHER, NOT A TERRORIST

A group which has done much to highlight

the targeting o photographers by security

guards and the police. Its website contains

useul inormation on the law and an

interactive map o sensitive areas.

http://photographernotaterrorist.org

FLICKR One o the best Flickr groups orstreet photography, this pool o images is a

antastic inspiration.

www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet

© C H A R L O T T E G R I F

F I T H S

© P E B S Y

Documents

Taking to the Street