Show us your Street Photography! **56K Warning**

Bodster

Not too many posts in this section with everyones photo's so I thought I could create a thread to let everyone share their street work Let me see what you all have been shooting recently!

Since buying my camera in late November last year, I quickly became fascinated by street photography and almost only now shoot that. At the moment I shoot using my Canon 550D and a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens (I will be buying a 35mm f/2 soon!). Here are a few pictures I have taken since buying my camera

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5.


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8.



My full street gallery can be found here - http://www.kyleboddyphotography.com/Street-Scenes/Street-Photography

Let me know if the images are too large for the thread and I will link to smaller sizes

michswiss

Bodster, I don't think you need to worry too much about sharing in this group. There's a lot of it, although it can come in waves. Two general comments about your post: 1) It helps to number the images and 2) Not so many at a time unless it's a specific series. Both of these will help others commenting on your work.

Welcome aboard, looking forward to seeing much more.

Bodster

michswiss wrote: »

Bodster, I don't think you need to worry too much about sharing in this group. There's a lot of it, although it can come in waves. Two general comments about your post: 1) It helps to number the images and 2) Not so many at a time unless it's a specific series. Both of these will help others commenting on your work.

Welcome aboard, looking forward to seeing much more.

Hi michswiss, it isn't really just to show off my own work, I was hoping to create a thread specifically so that users here can share their work. I see it a lot on other forums and was hoping I could start it here

michswiss

Well, this is a street forum. Everyone shares their images at their own pace and normally in their own thread. Search on a couple of the frequent posters here and you'll see. The whole forum is about street and derivatives. Not sure what other forums you frequent, but this isn't the same concept as Flickr where a community of interest needs to be joined and encouraged. It's more a traditional opt-in discussion group.

You've got some basic technical chops and willingness to shoot people "in the wild". Keep it up.

Quincy T

Bodster wrote: »

Hi michswiss, it isn't really just to show off my own work, I was hoping to create a thread specifically so that users here can share their work. I see it a lot on other forums and was hoping I could start it here

Bodster, this is the Street/PJ subforum. It's entirely devoted to street photography and in no capacity do we need a thread which is for "users to share their work". This entire subforum is dedicated to that...

As for your images, #5 is sort of interesting in that there is at least some human interaction taking place.

I will say that there is a noticeable tendency in several of your shots to have a great deal of negative space above the head. Sometimes it serves the image well, but in this case I think it is just a case of poor composition. No worries, this is something you'll overcome as you spend more time behind the camera.

Welcome to Street/PJ.

damonff

I REALLY dislike seeing a photographer's name across the image. No offense, just letting you know. I suspect most agree with me.

TonyCooper

Commenting on the comments:

It's good to observe a bit before deciding what's going on somewhere you are new to.

I prefer one or two shots at most in a thread.

The negative space above works OK for me. I don't like to see images too crowded.
However, chopping off feet is not OK. Either show the full figure or chop at the middle.
Man on the rail and backs of the two are chopped at the bottom.

Watermarks annoy me. I understand why they are used on some photos, but
they belong only on images where the owner thinks they may be lifted.

Comments on the images:

Some nice shots here. I would like the guitar player and friend better if the shot
had been wide enough. It shouldn't cut off the guitar like that.

bdcolen

Welcome to the STREET and PJ Forum, where, as others have noted, Street is what we do and endless discuss. For whatever it's worth, looking at the images you've posted I'd make the following observations:
1. Think carefully about what you post before you post it
2. Think about what you're shooting before you shoot it.
3. Street photography is far more than simply photos of people in public places - to be interesting, the photos should tell us something we don't know, or make us gasp, or make us laugh, or challenge us to think, or make us angry, or impress us with their compositional elements, or confuse us in a way that ultimately informs us.

Keep shooting.

Demian

Hey man, I thought your stuff was pretty good. I really loved the shot of the torn poster

RyanS

Kyle, Welcome to the street/PJ forum. Couple of forum basics here:

* There are some interesting opinions to be discovered. Not everyone agrees. This is a good thing.
* You might get more out of it if you post a single image, or a series of related images, per thread.
* Don't post images in other people's threads without permission. This happens rarely because it makes the conversation about a given image more complex.

About your portfolio (I looked through):
* When you focus on nice cars, posters, wall art, and architecture as main subjects it becomes something besides street. Not sure what, but it doesn't seem like street. Those other things are nice and probably deserve their own gallery.
* Get closer!!!! Not enough oomph, let me try that again. *ahem* GET CLOOOSSSSERRRRRR!
* Generally speaking (and this is as much an admission of guilt as anything), the back of a person's head just isn't as interesting as the front of their head.
* Lots of images with chopped off legs and feet that might have been more interesting with them included.
* I liked the "denim" shot. Nice one. I think that captures what BD was saying about making an interesting image.

Bodster

Thank you all for your constructive criticism, I understand my street form isn't exactly inch perfect, but as I have said, I have only been shooting with my camera for really only a few months with no experience before that. In terms of the picture meaning something, almost all of them have a memory for me that is meaningful, apologies if I didn't manage to portray that to others.

In terms again of why I created this thread, as I have already said, it wasn't to show off my work, I am often on the forum photographyonthenet and have seen this thread work really well there and I was hoping to create a similar thing here. By your responses it doesn't seem like you guys are wanting that so if you would like, you can remove this thread...

Ryan, I would love to get closer! Not the most confident person in the world, so it was a challenge to even get as close as I have just now. As I said in the op I am hoping to get a 35mm lens soon which will encourage me to get a lot closer to get the image that I want.

Again sorry for posting this thread, was just hoping to bring everyone's images together, but that doesn't seem to be how it works here...

RSL

Kyle, BD Colen just about said it all, but there's one thing I'd add... something I've said before, but that needs to be said often: The most important thing for a painter to know is when to stop. The most important thing for a photographer to know is to know when to cull. Keep shooting. Your technique is competent enough, but pay attention to what BD said. It hurts to throw away something you worked hard to get, but in the long run your reputation will be based on what you show. Don't ever show anything that isn't up to your standards. We all violate that rule from time to time, but the important thing is to try not to violate it.

TonyCooper

Bodster wrote: »

In terms again of why I created this thread, as I have already said, it wasn't to show off my work, I am often on the forum photographyonthenet and have seen this thread work really well there and I was hoping to create a similar thing here. By your responses it doesn't seem like you guys are wanting that so if you would like, you can remove this thread...

(snip)
Again sorry for posting this thread, was just hoping to bring everyone's images together, but that doesn't seem to be how it works here...

Don't over-react. I don't think anyone's offended, and I'm sure no one
wants the thread removed.

My earlier suggestion was to get to know what goes on in a group before
you wade in. "Lurking" is what many call that. If you had done so, you
would have known that 95% of the posts here are in the "street" genre
and that there is considerable volume over time of "street" photography.

There are, from time to time, minor quibbles on what is, and what is not,
"street". Basically, if it's a candid shot of complete strangers doing
ordinary things, it's going to fit. How well it fits will be determined by
how interesting the image is and how well it is composed and processed.

You'll find a general preference for black and white, but some images do
work better in color and that's recognized.

The most frustrating thing - for me, at least - is when you get a comment
about something that should have been included (all of the guitar or feet)
or a suggestion that it should have been shot from a different angle, and
what you have is a "grab shot" and you didn't have have a chance for
a second try.

damonff

follow for now

Richard

Bodster wrote: »

In terms again of why I created this thread, as I have already said, it wasn't to show off my work, I am often on the forum photographyonthenet and have seen this thread work really well there and I was hoping to create a similar thing here. By your responses it doesn't seem like you guys are wanting that so if you would like, you can remove this thread...

Hey Bodster,

As others have already pointed out, we don't need a thread because we have a whole forum. But we're glad to have you participating here and encourage you to keep shooting and posting. If you're just getting started, you might want to take a look at the stuff in the Tips sticky at the top of the forum page. Lots of helpful links there. Where are you in Scotland? My daughter just started a postdoc at U of Edinburgh and I'll likely be going for a visit this summer.