Street Photography Dump (CC Greatly Appreciated)(Picture HEAVY)

ForceGhost

Hey guys! I'm kinda new here but i've been out shooting a lot of "Street" photography lately and would really appreciate some constructive critique on some of the shots .

If this is in the wrong section i'm very sorry .

Anyways, here are the shots.

1

IMG_1525 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

2

IMG_1460 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

3

IMG_1468 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

4

IMG_1160 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

5

IMG_1283 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

6

IMG_1747 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

7

IMG_1745 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

8

IMG_1720 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

9

IMG_1444 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

10

IMG_1722 by ForceGhost, on Flickr

11

IMG_1574 by ForceGhost, on Flickr


12

IMG_1662 by ForceGhost, on Flickr


13

IMG_1474 by ForceGhost, on Flickr


Sorry for the amount of pictures, Have numbered them for easy CC

Chris02

No expert and never taken shots of strangers (one day when i get my confidence up) but I like no 3.

One chap who does street really well - http://www.85mm.ch/index.html

Qarik

To be brutally honest, I really don't find the subjects in your shots very compelling. Take 11 for example..it's a guy walking on the street. There is no interplay with the person and background, no ironic juxtapositions, nothing of interest about the guy himself, no humor, no emotion, etc. As an excercise...you tell me what you found interesting about shot 11.

Btw welcome to the forum and please don't let my criticism discourage you..we are all learning! Also there is "documentary" section that is bit more geared towards street photography fyi.

M38A1

I'm in the same camp.... That said:

1. Try to not do a dump of so many images in a single thread. That way focus can stay on the image presented instead of addressing multiple images in the same thread. Single image = Single thread unless the multiple images are connected in some distinct way.

2. Image #1 actually has a bit of juxtaposition in it if you look close. There's an able bodied cyclist in the foreground with what I'd call an 'odd' look, and just over his shoulder is a poster of a para-cyclist. So there's actually some content there. But you chopped off the wheels.

3. Speaking of chopping, most everyone's legs are, uh.... shortened. Any particular reason for this?

4. Image #4 is somewhat interesting to me if you ditch the two guys on the right and go with a square crop to highlight the lady and her pointing finger/arm shadow. Not sure what all is there, but a crop would draw you more to her and the shadow.

Again, not trying to be harsh and I'm certainly no expert. But this is what I see.

And welcome!


.

Quincy T

Welcome, ForceGhost. Keep working at street, and eventually you'll get some compelling images. These aren't in that category for me personally.

ForceGhost

Cheers for the feedback guys! I'm not sure why i keep chopping peoples feet off, i think it is becoming a very bad habbit. I'll be trying to find more interesting places to head out to to find some more "Intresting" people. Cheers for the feedback guys!

Edit: Most of these pictures were taken from a car due to my lack of confidence taking pictures from the street, Thus why the poor composition. The only ones taken on the street are 10,8,7,6.

Thanks again

michswiss

I'm guessing you're in Bedfordshire or close there about. There are a couple of others on the forum that frequently shoot from their cars. It shouldn't matter if the shot works. So pay attention to composition and content. The problem with shooting from the car is that you're pretty stuck in terms of seeing something and being able to move into a better position to get what you're hoping for. It might be a matter of a foot or two left or right. Or forward. None of which are conducive to good driving etiquette.

Instead of worrying about what's street or taking pictures of strangers, give us a candid or environmental shot of someone you've had a conversation with. Despite the car, you are clearly wanting to capture something of your community and that's a good thing. Keep it up and give us a couple in the next go.

ForceGhost

michswiss wrote: »

I'm guessing you're in Bedfordshire or close there about. There are a couple of others on the forum that frequently shoot from their cars. It shouldn't matter if the shot works. So pay attention to composition and content. The problem with shooting from the car is that you're pretty stuck in terms of seeing something and being able to move into a better position to get what you're hoping for. It might be a matter of a foot or two left or right. Or forward. None of which are conducive to good driving etiquette.

Instead of worrying about what's street or taking pictures of strangers, give us a candid or environmental shot of someone you've had a conversation with. Despite the car, you are clearly wanting to capture something of your community and that's a good thing. Keep it up and give us a couple in the next go.

Bournemouth dude!, you were quite far off! :P

michswiss

Hey, I went by the URL for the Estate Agents in one of your shots. I'm a simple Australian. If you're coastal, I'd love to see some of those lovely beaches.

ForceGhost

michswiss wrote: »

Hey, I went by the URL for the Estate Agents in one of your shots. I'm a simple Australian. If you're coastal, I'd love to see some of those lovely beaches.

Sure thing! I'm heading out to take some evening shots in the local harbour, will PM you the link to the thread when it is posted if you like!

Quincy T

You'll have to pardon a potentially unpopular opinion, but I would consider it more ethically dubious to be taking pictures from a vehicle than to walk directly up to their face and snap the picture.

MarkR

Quincy T wrote: »

You'll have to pardon a potentially unpopular opinion, but I would consider it more ethically dubious to be taking pictures from a vehicle than to walk directly up to their face and snap the picture.

The later is what the paparazzi do. Bruce Gilden too. And yet, neither is particularly ethical, IMHO.

Jay Maisel suggests standing in shadow so that you're less visible when doing street work. How is that "more ethical" than taking pictures from your car?

I do believe that you will get a lot more opportunities if you're out on the street and can work a scene, but ethics, imo, has more to do with the what and why of shooting than the how.

Quincy T

MarkR wrote: »

The later is what the paparazzi do. Bruce Gilden too. And yet, neither is particularly ethical, IMHO.

Jay Maisel suggests standing in shadow so that you're less visible when doing street work. How is that "more ethical" than taking pictures from your car?

I do believe that you will get a lot more opportunities if you're out on the street and can work a scene, but ethics, imo, has more to do with the what and why of shooting than the how.

Well, I'll agree with that I guess, and I idolize Jay Maisel, personally, and I don't think standing in low light is particularly unethical. I wasn't suggesting he run up to them and shoot in their face, I was merely trying to get the point across that shooting from a car isn't really a reliable method of making decent images/practicing street photography.

MarkR

Quincy T wrote: »

Well, I'll agree with that I guess, and I idolize Jay Maisel, personally, and I don't think standing in low light is particularly unethical. I wasn't suggesting he run up to them and shoot in their face, I was merely trying to get the point across that shooting from a car isn't really a reliable method of making decent images/practicing street photography.

Yep yep. Not reliable, not a preferred method. Unethical? Well, that's another kettle of fish altogether.

bdcolen

michswiss wrote: »

I'm guessing you're in Bedfordshire or close there about. There are a couple of others on the forum that frequently shoot from their cars. It shouldn't matter if the shot works. So pay attention to composition and content. The problem with shooting from the car is that you're pretty stuck in terms of seeing something and being able to move into a better position to get what you're hoping for. It might be a matter of a foot or two left or right. Or forward. None of which are conducive to good driving etiquette.

Instead of worrying about what's street or taking pictures of strangers, give us a candid or environmental shot of someone you've had a conversation with. Despite the car, you are clearly wanting to capture something of your community and that's a good thing. Keep it up and give us a couple in the next go.

I'm going to both agree and disagree with our mod.
First, welcome to the forum - the more the merrier.
Next, I agree that you should limit your offerings to a couple images at a time, rather than 'dumping.'
Of those you dumped, numbers one and two both have something worthwhile in them, but, as Michaswiss suggested, you need to pay more attention to framing. Number one would be best as a vertical, or a square, getting ride of all the wasted space to the right, but including the cyclists entire front wheel. The cyclist and the wheel would then much better play off the cyclist in the poster in the background, and you'd have something. Similarly, Number two should have been a vertical shot, homing in on the woman with the shadow...you should have given her all of us, top to bottom, rather than the pretty aimless waist crop.

As to the rest of them - not much there, other than the fact that you are out in the world shooting, which is good.

Where I disagree with Michaswiss is in the advice to chat up people and then shoot them. If what you are trying to do is street photography, as opposed to some sort of neighborhood documentary project, by engaging with the subjects you will completely change the nature of the photographs. No longer will we have the person engaged, or removed from, their environment; we will have subjects engaged with, and directed by, you. I would definitely avoid that if what you are trying for is traditional street shooting.

But in any case - keep shooting.

studio12c

My two cents. I agree with Quincy. Driving around in a car taking random pictures of people walking down the street is not very creative. Not only is it unethical it's dangerous. It's obvious no thought was given to the making of the photos. There are some folks out there that don't want their picture taken. As a parent I would be a little concerned about someone in a car taking photos of my daughter. Street photography in my view should tell a story. The subject does not necessarily have to know the photo was taken. In those types of situations I approach the subject introducing yourself, tell them about my project and showing them the photo. If they object to their picture being taken I delete the photo. If they like it, I asked for their contact information to send them a photo. I then ask them to sign a release so the photo can be used.

Quincy T

stinky Feet wrote: »

My two cents. I agree with Quincy. Driving around in a car taking random pictures of people walking down the street is not very creative. Not only is it unethical it's dangerous. It's obvious no thought was given to the making of the photos. There are some folks out there that don't want their picture taken. As a parent I would be a little concerned about someone in a car taking photos of my daughter. Street photography in my view should tell a story. The subject does not necessarily have to know the photo was taken. In those types of situations I approach the subject introducing yourself, tell them about my project and showing them the photo. If they object to their picture being taken I delete the photo. If they like it, I asked for their contact information to send them a photo. I then ask them to sign a release so the photo can be used.

Well, to be clear, I don't agree with shooting from the car, simply because it's probably not going to give you reliably good street images. Exceptions exist, obviously.

But, as for asking people permission, etc., et al., no, I do not agree with that. You are certainly more than welcome to, but I don't believe there is anything to be gained in 80% of cases by asking someone to take their picture. You lose the moment, typically, rather than open up a book of photographic value.