Street Photography

[pnodrog]

I am sick of trying to find and paying for parking in Auckland so we left the car in a nearby suburb and bused into the city (free for oldies). I don't usually take my camera into town but rather than leave it sitting in the car I decided to take it with me. Walking up the main street I spotted a man taking a photo of a little girl. I turned the camera on and without lifting it I took a grab shot as we walked past. It has been cropped but worked out better than I expected. May try the technique again sometime.

[Shadowman]

Nicely timed and processed.

[pnodrog]

Nicely timed and processed.

Thanks. Yes, as you guessed it took a bit of PP especially to tone down some distracting background highlights.

[Manfred M]

The shot turned out quite well for you. Nicely done!

Shooting from the hip can produce some surprisingly good results (and of course quite of few totally useless images as well, at least for me). When I try this technique, I do like I did in the film days and use "zone focusing", i.e. manually prefocus the camera to cover a band of distances I want in focus. I set it at a suitably wide focal length and suitably wide aperture (usually f/8 or narrower). I have yet to master getting the camera level on my hip,so cropping afterwards is a given.

[Tronhard]

I am not normally a street photography aficionado (I am too reluctant to cause offense) but I must say this is the kind of shot I would love to take and you did it really well. Making it monochrome was great as it let me focus on the people rather than the busy back ground.

[pnodrog]

The shot turned out quite well for you. Nicely done!

Shooting from the hip can produce some surprisingly good results (and of course quite of few totally useless images as well, at least for me). When I try this technique, I do like I did in the film days and use "zone focusing", i.e. manually prefocus the camera to cover a band of distances I want in focus. I set it at a suitably wide focal length and suitably wide aperture (usually f/8 or narrower). I have yet to master getting the camera level on my hip,so cropping afterwards is a given.

I have done a fair amount of shooting without looking through the viewfinder, mainly holding the camera high above my head to get a different viewpoint or to shoot over an obstruction. My walk around lens is a 28-300 generally carried in the 28mm position and usually set to f8 (aperture priority) where it tends to be at it's sharpest. The camera was hanging on the neck strap at about (generous ) tummy height.

The shot was slightly out of level but more or less composed as hoped for. I have actually shot video on it from that position (with moderate success) when I have wanted my grandchildren to remain unaware they were being filmed.

Interesting how level and elevation seem to be the tricky bit but the overall aiming is usually pretty good.

[mugge]

Good shot. Sometimes it works sometimes it is does not. When I do some "heavy" street shots I leave at f/8 and hope for the best.
Cheers Ole

[FootLoose]

Good result, Paul. I wish I could squat like that bloke.

[SRSW Photo]

Excellent! Perfect timing too. Interesting technique of the Photographer too, that sit-down levitation pose. Great work, love that it is in BnW too.

[pnodrog]

I am not normally a street photography aficionado (I am too reluctant to cause offense) but I must say this is the kind of shot I would love to take and you did it really well. Making it monochrome was great as it let me focus on the people rather than the busy back ground.

Thank Trev. I try to be unobtrusive when I take the odd street photograph, mainly because I want to capture the event as naturally as possible. Sometimes I will pause and ask or indicate I would like to take a photograph and usually get a nod of permission. In this case, the subject was completely unaware of me and as I was sure it was a success I did not try and chat with him as I would often do.

My view has always been unless colour contributes to the image it is best in monochrome. Dropping the confusion of colours and subduing background tones is just part of my normal procedure for most street shots.

[pnodrog]

Good shot. Sometimes it works sometimes it is does not. When I do some "heavy" street shots I leave at f/8 and hope for the best.
Cheers Ole

Thanks. Yes, it can be a bit hit and miss and f8 is a pretty safe default aperture.

[pnodrog]

Good result, Paul. I wish I could squat like that bloke.

Greg, I am sure you can squat like that when absolutely necessary. To keep the tonal standards at a reasonable level I won't elaborate...

Excellent! Perfect timing too. Interesting technique of the Photographer too, that sit-down levitation pose. Great work, love that it is in BnW too.

Thanks. The timing was not too difficult as I saw him setting his shot up when I was about 50 metres away and he held his stance for some time. Anticipation and a bit of luck are needed in street photography.

[pat3pee]

I like your photo Paul and I usually like street photography. It often seems more successful when being taken unobtrusively but sometimes when asking and people don't care to partake it can also be good.
Would also like to show, if you don't mind, the below photos taken on a ferry boat where both techniques were used. And Orthodox Priests are great photographic objects.

IMG_9206-as-Smart-Object-1 by Pics-n-Picks, on Flickr



IMG_9207-as-Smart-Object-1 by Pics-n-Picks, on Flickr


IMG_9122-as-Smart-Object-1 by Pics-n-Picks, on Flickr


IMG_8929-as-Smart-Object-1 by Pics-n-Picks, on Flickr

Patrik

[Rent]

Squatting like that is no problem.. The trouble for me is getting back up again
Roy

[rpcrowe]

This image can't be street photography. It is in focus, has no subject movement blur, is very decently composed, well processed and exposed.

In all, it is quite a good photo which should automatically disqualify it from the run of the mill awful stuff that people generally call "street photography"

[pnodrog]

This image can't be street photography. It is in focus, has no subject movement blur, is very decently composed, well processed and exposed.

In all, it is quite a good photo which should automatically disqualify it from the run of the mill awful stuff that people generally call "street photography"

Thank you Richard. Very flattering words. I hope my hat still fits...

There has been some wonderful street photography on this site so I am just pleased to know I have not let it down.

[pnodrog]

Squatting like that is no problem.. The trouble for me is getting back up again
Roy

What you need is a very attractive personal trainer...