street photography tips.

lizzard_nyc

Hello All,
I'm going to try my hand at street photography in the next few days as opposed to what I've been doing til now, my kids in the yard. I'm branching out.:D

I am not yet comfortable with going full manual, specially in locations where I have little control (ok I'm actually highly uncomfortable with it and feel all thumbs and discombobulated).

I dont' have any prime lenses yet:cry, what I do have are my two kit lenses on my Oly E620 14-42 m f.5 - 5.6 and the 40-150m f4.0-5.6. Most street photo blogs state that you should stay away from big time zooms, so I'm thinking the 14-42 (dont' have much choice).

Questions:
1. Aside from manual is there a specific priority mode to shoot in?
2. Are there particular settings best for street journalism.
3. Should I just bite the bullet and go full manual in the hopes of maybe, just maybe getting one good shot out of 400--feels sort of like what I remember fishing was like, casting all day just to get a guppy--but it was fun trying.

I figure between my nerves at trying street photography, trying not to piss anyone off by taking photos of them and trying to do so manually, I will be lucky to even get the one shot.

I appreciate any words of wisdom.

Richard

lizzard_nyc wrote:

Hello All,
I'm going to try my hand at street photography in the next few days as opposed to what I've been doing til now, my kids in the yard. I'm branching out.:D

I am not yet comfortable with going full manual, specially in locations where I have little control (ok I'm actually highly uncomfortable with it and feel all thumbs and discombobulated).

I dont' have any prime lenses yet:cry, what I do have are my two kit lenses on my Oly E620 14-42 m f.5 - 5.6 and the 40-150m f4.0-5.6. Most street photo blogs state that you should stay away from big time zooms, so I'm thinking the 14-42 (dont' have much choice).

Questions:
1. Aside from manual is there a specific priority mode to shoot in?
2. Are there particular settings best for street journalism.
3. Should I just bite the bullet and go full manual in the hopes of maybe, just maybe getting one good shot out of 400--feels sort of like what I remember fishing was like, casting all day just to get a guppy--but it was fun trying.

I figure between my nerves at trying street photography, trying not to piss anyone off by taking photos of them and trying to do so manually, I will be lucky to even get the one shot.

I appreciate any words of wisdom.

I wouldn't recommend full manual. Light conditions change very rapidly as you are walking around and the key to successful street shooting is reacting quickly. I generally use ISO 200-400 and shoot in aperture priority mode. A little noise is usually acceptable in a street shot and unless I am specifically going for motion blur, 400 usually gives me enough shutter speed regardless of the aperture. But check your histogram from time to time to make sure you are in the right ballpark. As for settings, you need to remain conscious of what the background is going to look like unless you are shooting up close and open wide. Think about what is going to separate the subject from the background and how important the background is to convey your conception. Set your aperture accordingly. And remember that most people are rather forgiving of technical flaws if the scene you capture is really of interest. Go for it and post some samples here.

lizzard_nyc

Richard,
You saved me from going manual .
I appreciate your advise and will follow your instructions.
I will definately add my best photograph of the day to this thread.

Gracias!

rookieshooter

my big rule if I'm shooting people is set the camera up before I approach so that I only take ten seconds of their time.

Codelogic

Something I've run into myself when shooting out on the street is that if you have time to think about a shot of someone to take the time to set the focus (if your on auto focus) before you point your camera at someone. It's probably one of the more awkward moments of your life to be ten feet away, pointing a camera at someone while you try to get the camera to focus on the person and not the bush that's between you and them.

Not like I'm speaking from personal experience or anything...

Trevlan

What are you trying to acomplish? Model street or PJ of people on the street? If the later is the case, why would you use at wide angle lense, you'll have to get closer. Getting closer, makes you noticed, being noticed does two things. Makes the people pose, or alter the moment.

I always thought of street photography as an image of a scene that you didn't alter. When I shoot my street, I use my 200 mm lens. I don't know how the manual settings are on your camera, I tried Shannon's Cannon and the manual settings are a pain in the rear. On the Nikons, the jog wheel controls the shutter, and a button and the jog wheel control the aperture. TTL mettering and you are not far off from a proper exposure using spot meetering. Shoot raw and make your corrections in post. WB issues are non-existent when shooting raw. Just make sure ACR has your camera's porfile, or an equivalent. Good luck and my the F-stop be with you. (Nik don't sue me please.)