Street Photography

[ShaneS]

I went out to Waikiki a while back with a friend who loves street photography and this is what I came up with (keep in mind that I usually don't shoot things that move as you review them )

First we have beach girl:



Second the hat lady (I missed focus on this one but I still like the expression and her hat):



And my favorite that I am calling "Selfie Sealed with a Kiss":



I know there are poles growing out of their heads but I had to act fast

Any and all C&C welcome...

[rpcrowe]

Nice shots but, #3 is absolutely great!

[Stagecoach]

Good set Shane, the 'selfie' craze gives endless opportunities

No 2 is a nice character shot.

[John 2]

Nice set Shane. 3 then 2 then 1 for me. I bet your shot is better than the selfie.

[IzzieK]

#3 for me too Shane and it will help if the sweater in #2 at the RHS is not there, will it?

[Shadowman]

Shane,

Nice series.

#1, you are well on your way to getting the motion under your control. Be flexible with your aperture settings, some compositions will have leading lines; especially those including buildings, and you'll want to lead the viewer deeper into the image. However, based on these shots you seem to like to get right into the scene (close to the subject) so your choice of aperture is perfect.
#2, even if you missed your focus point, very well captured.
#3, photographers are always a good subject.

[Mike Buckley]

Well done, especially for shooting such a difficult genre for the first time. My vote also goes to the selfie.

[GBO25]

Maybe the monochrome accentuates something that isn't there but the guy across the road in #1 looks like he's wet his pants.
#2 is quite a good side portrait. I'd try getting rid of the traffic lights in front of her hat along with that sweater.
#3 is very much on subject, very candid and street photography-ish. You're right about not having much time to get the shot in many instances of this genre.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Shane, very nice shots. My best is #2

[ShaneS]

Thank you everyone! It was quite fun and I can see how folks can get addicted to this kind of shooting.

I'm not sure if I will work the images any more in the near future but you suggestions regarding the portrait and the man in the background of the first are well noted and appreciated.

John, you said:

based on these shots you seem to like to get right into the scene (close to the subject) so your choice of aperture is perfect.

Thank you and you make an interesting point. In this instance my friend chose the vantage point and I just went along. We were sitting on a ledge near one corner of an all way crosswalk where folks were coming at us diagonally and from the two traditional routes. All of these subjects were on our side of the street. I did find it very hard to "see" a good image from the wider scene as there was a lot going on and I found many of the compositions were quite cluttered.

I do think that you have nailed a tendency of mine to "get up close and personal" in an effort to simply the scenes that I photograph. It is something that I want to work on but it may be challenging as I think that we all have a natural inclination in the way we see things.

Thanks again everyone

[Dave Humphries]

Good series which shows what can be done even with a relatively large camera (D7000), although fitted with a diminutive lens (the 50mm, f/1.8).

Did you use the 'quiet' shutter mode?
- I have once, but also don't usually shoot 'street'

Well done, Dave

[ShaneS]

No Dave I did not use quiet mode (the street is pretty noisy so I'm not sure it would be necessary) I did get a lot more looks than my friend who shoots with a little Leica. I guess I make a good wing man as they notice me and she can go under the radar so to speak

I did shoot a fair bit without bringing the camera to me eye to see what I could get but I should have had the camera set to AF-C (I default to AF-S) which would have allowed me to track moving subjects better.

[vaez]

nice capture i like 2

[wilgk]

I think by it's very name we can understand poles growing out of heads, it's a capture the moment as it happens event, and on the quiet...
Good point Dave about silent/quiet shutter mode. On the 7D I have selected the options, but both seem still too loud. Does anyone else use the 7D on either silent setting for better results & if yes, which one?

[Manfred M]

Silent mode, small camera, small lens? Not always the right answer.

Here's a picture my wife took of me "hiding in plain sight" with the D800, battery pack and f/2.8 70-200mm lens doing street photography. I got some great shots. I've tried the small unobtrusive approach and found that I wasn't getting the quality images I was looking for. Using a portrait camera and lens to do portraiture works for me.

It just goes to show that breaking the rules works!

[Shadowman]

Silent mode, small camera, small lens? Not always the right answer.

Here's a picture my wife took of me "hiding in plain sight" with the D800, battery pack and f/2.8 70-200mm lens doing street photography. I got some great shots. I've tried the small unobtrusive approach and found that I wasn't getting the quality images I was looking for. Using a portrait camera and lens to do portraiture works for me.

It just goes to show that breaking the rules works!

Nice outfit and tell the wife nice image.

[ShaneS]

She caught you chimping your shot Manfred

Thanks for making me feel like it's OK to get out there with my big camera. Now I just need a zoom that is faster than the 55-200mm one that I have

[dubaiphil]

Small, discreet and silent isn't necessarily the way to go with street photography, Shane - it can help and there have been some shots that I took with a Fuji X100S which I couldn't have taken with a DSLR, but I'm still using the DSLR as my go to camera (gripped like Manfred's but with smaller primes)

[FootLoose]

I recall watching a 'street walk with Jay Maisel' with Kelby, and jay was using a nikon dslr with a 18-200/300(?) lens.