Street Photography : Shooting from the hip practice (C&C Welcome)

[Rebel]

First of all can I just say that this is a lot harder than I expected!

Especially framing your subject!

The reason I was doing this is I don't want the people I'm shooting to know I am taking a photo so I can capture their natural expression... I prefer these types of photos than to have people smiling at the camera.

I do like the high contrast black and white processing look for street photography, but its work in progress for me. Not sure I'm totally happy with the PP in these.

Here are some of my better shots, some of them have a little blur, wonky horizons etc but I dont mind this sometimes, it can give the image a edgy feel in the right image. Although I definitely need a lot more practice.

#1 - I was hoping she was going to run all the way through this but her mother gave her a stern look.


#2 - This guy could do with a 'New Look'? (Apologies )


#3 - This guy is no doubt waiting for his wife outside the nail bar, wondering how much money shes spent?


#4 - This gentleman is tucking into a late breakfast, and his dog is hoping he can't manage it all!


#5 - I just liked the geometry in the building in this one, but I suppose the guy is kind of interesting...

[dem]

Good try. Apart from the fact that it is difficult to frame the subject when shooting from the hip (need to point the camera down a bit more, #2, #3, and #5), how do you select focus? f/4 seems too wide for prefocusing the camera and hoping the subject will be at the right distance when you press the shutter.

#4 is my favourite. Nice atmosphere, well composed and sharp. #3 is also nice - the light is better, the background is more interesting but the crop feels too tight at the bottom.

[Rebel]

Good try. Apart from the fact that it is difficult to frame the subject when shooting from the hip (need to point the camera down a bit more, #2, #3, and #5), how do you select focus? f/4 seems too wide for prefocusing the camera and hoping the subject will be at the right distance when you press the shutter.

#4 is my favourite. Nice atmosphere, well composed and sharp. #3 is also nice - the light is better, the background is more interesting but the crop feels too tight at the bottom.

Hi Dem, thanks for the feedback.

This is a new camera and new type of photography for me so I'm trying different settings to find out what works best.

Today I had the camera set in 'P' mode I set a minimum shutter speed of 1/125 and a maximum ISO of 3200... and the camera sets the aperture.

My focus is set to Spot AF

But looking at the results I think I need to change the settings a bit, do you have any suggestions?

[Shadowman]

The from the hip method is usually done with the camera set to manual focus, cuts down on time needed to hold camera in position while finding focus point. You would usually pre-focus the camera at a certain distance, choose a reasonable aperture 5.6-8.0, and set ISO wherever appropriate. You will have as many near misses as your method and it takes some practicing. The downside to this technique, at least in the early stages; is I had a tendency to check the viewfinder after each shot to see if I got the shot.

[Rebel]

The from the hip method is usually done with the camera set to manual focus, cuts down on time needed to hold camera in position while finding focus point. You would usually pre-focus the camera at a certain distance, choose a reasonable aperture 5.6-8.0, and set ISO wherever appropriate. You will have as many near misses as your method and it takes some practicing. The downside to this technique, at least in the early stages; is I had a tendency to check the viewfinder after each shot to see if I got the shot.

Hi John,

I did check the viewfinder after every shot

I'm going back out tomorrow and I've set my focus to 1m so I'll see how that turns out.

I think the framing will just come with practice!

[Shadowman]

Hi John,

I did check the viewfinder after every shot

I'm going back out tomorrow and I've set my focus to 1m so I'll see how that turns out.

I think the framing will just come with practice!

For some reason your photos aren't displaying, will comment once they become available.

[Rebel]

For some reason your photos aren't displaying, will comment once they become available.

Sorry John, should be working now

[Shadowman]

Sorry John, should be working now

Matt,

Finally visible, nice series. Each is well framed and is what you'd expect from the "shoot from the hip" method.
1. I like the first mainly for the reflection, the perspective, and the floating look of the little girl.
2. Nice effort, a hard shot to get everything just right, would have been better done with a panning motion which would have blurred the background and the walkers.
3. This one is good because of the bored look on the man's face and the added elements of the ads seeming to mock or monitor the gent.
4. The dog is the star.
5. Good array of elements, would have been better if taken a few seconds afterward, this would have revealed the side of the building and would have extended the scene.

Nice efforts.

[rpcrowe]

IMO shooting from the hip can work... Actually, it is shooting from the chest for me. I was coming out of a lacquer shop in Xi'an China when I saw a group of young Chinese soldiers climbing off some buses and falling into ranks wearing their "one size fits no one" uniforms with tin wash basins strapped to bedrolls they were wearing like back packs.

The officer in charge called over to us "No Photo". It probably wasn't the wisest thing to do, but I turned my head and talked to my wife while firing off my camera pointed towards the soldiers. I had the lens on AF, at 17mm with exposure in programmed mode. This gave me an exposure of 1/250 second @ f/8 using ISO 100. This was probably the best shot of the group. I wish that I had shot a half second earlier to frame the officer in the rear of the ranks...



It turned out (according to our guide, a retired People's Army soldier) that these guys were new prison guards coming to relieve a group of guards at a prison down the street. They were greeted at the prison with firecrackers (which Chinese use to scare away ghosts). The firecrackers produced a lot of bursts of light and smoke and were quite photogenic...

That would have been a better picture, but, I thought better of taking any more chances. I liked being on this side of the prison gates better than the other side

[RBSinTo]

Good try. Apart from the fact that it is difficult to frame the subject when shooting from the hip (need to point the camera down a bit more, #2, #3, and #5), how do you select focus? f/4 seems too wide for prefocusing the camera and hoping the subject will be at the right distance when you press the shutter.

#4 is my favourite. Nice atmosphere, well composed and sharp. #3 is also nice - the light is better, the background is more interesting but the crop feels too tight at the bottom.

I do a fair bit of shooting from the hip (or from the chest) with my manual focus, mechanical, Nikon film rangefinders and the method I use with wide lenses, is to set hyperfocus on the lens.
After determining the correct exposure whether by metering or from experience, I'll select a suitable aperture that would give me a fairly wide depth of field, and then set the distance infinity mark to the far point for that aperture on the depth of field scale. Now everything between that far point and the near point for that aperture (as indicated on the distance scale) will be in acceptable focus. So it is enough to point the camera at the subject knowing that because of the wide angle of view for the lens the subject should be in frame and if the subject's distance is between infinity and the near distance point for the selected aperture on the depth of field scale it will also be in focus.
Basically, hyperfocus and a wide lens turns the camera into a point and shoot.
Learned this little skill almost forty years ago and have used it successfully ever since.

[Rita]

You have done a lot better than my attempt at this, you got something in your frame. Mine ended up being of the sidewalk, I piece of building etc. I had to wonder where all the interesting people were that I captured, seems I couldn't seem to quit get the correct angle for the camera to capture what I was trying for. Having tried this I say you have a really good start to doing this

[William W]

. . . This is a new camera and new type of photography for me [shooting from the hip] so I'm trying different settings to find out what works best. Today I had the camera set in 'P' mode I set a minimum shutter speed of 1/125 and a maximum ISO of 3200... and the camera sets the aperture. My focus is set to Spot AF But looking at the results I think I need to change the settings a bit, do you have any suggestions?

Using Auto Focus will present problems unless your aim is precise: if your aim is precise then use Centre Point AF only if your camera allows for that - otherwise use a pre-focus point and a safe Aperture for adequate DoF. A pre-focus point can be achieved by focusing on something in the other direction at the same distance as the Subject and then locking that focus distance and then lowering the camera back to the hip and making the shot. Another method is to have the camera focused a a pre-focus distance and move oneself to that distance before making any hip shot. The latter is the technique usually applied for "doorstop" or "hail-mary" photography.

If you use any automatic mode for the purposes of automatic exposure, then cover the viewfinder. Many cameras have a special viewfinder cap for this purpose.

1/125s and 1/160s Shutter Speed is typically too slow for this type of work: this is evidenced by the movement blur in the images of the man waiting outside the nail salon and the bicycle rider. 1/400~ 1/500 is usually safe.

Using an Aperture of F/4 on the Ricoh GR II is probably not that safe for all circumstances – F/5.6 would be better.

Remember that “shoot wide, crop tight” has advantages.

*

This is how close you can get and how accurate the focussing can be, when using the method I mentioned above. I focused on the person at my table, opposite me; locked focus and turned the camera sideways to the table next to me and then waited:



WW
Images © AJ Group Pty Ltd Aust 1996~2016 WMW 1965~1996

[Sergio M.]

Matt, seems like you're coming along pretty good. They all have some interest and I think you've done well for shooting from the hip for the first time.

You've gotten some good advice about how to focus. Use whatever works best for you. I personally like to use zone focus or hyperfocal distance. Things happen so quickly on the street I want to be ready. If I hadn't set my lens to hyperfocal, I would have missed the two gallery shot I recently posted. I'm getting better at judging distance and most things I shoot are within my zone focus. If not, it's just a quick little turn on my lens to set it to infinity and I can shoot things farther away.

Above all have fun. Use whatever is best and most comfortable for you. What works for someone else may not work for you.

Sergio

[Rebel]

Matt, seems like you're coming along pretty good. They all have some interest and I think you've done well for shooting from the hip for the first time.

You've gotten some good advice about how to focus. Use whatever works best for you. I personally like to use zone focus or hyperfocal distance. Things happen so quickly on the street I want to be ready. If I hadn't set my lens to hyperfocal, I would have missed the two gallery shot I recently posted. I'm getting better at judging distance and most things I shoot are within my zone focus. If not, it's just a quick little turn on my lens to set it to infinity and I can shoot things farther away.

Above all have fun. Use whatever is best and most comfortable for you. What works for someone else may not work for you.

Sergio

Hi Sergio, thanks!

Today I went out and set my camera to 'Snap Focus' which is basically pre-focus to 1m, I think that was a bit too close so I am going to try 1.5m next time.

I don't understand how people have time to play with settings, or change ISO because its a split second shot but thats just me.

Here are my results from today: Some more Street Photography