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Street Technique


chudlyfudly

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After posting a few of my street shots in the 'Street Photography' open thread, I thought it might be an idea to start a topic specifically for technique / individual approaches to street photography. I imagine some of the responses will be down the path of 'I grab my camera, go out and shoot', but in this wonderful, vastly open genre there are a lot of different approaches...and one of the things that draws me to street photography is that there are no hard and fast 'rules', just different interpretations of 'Street Photography'. 

 

So lets start with an example. Love him or hate him, one of the modern day kings of Street Photography is Bruce Gilden. His technique is could be distilled to getting right up close and personal with a flash, often generating some sort of response from the subject. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRBARi09je8 is a good example of how he works. Compare this to Matt Stuart, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhSaR5ckKZI and some real differences in approach start to emerge. 

 

Anyway, that's just to get the ball rolling. Fuji-wise, perhaps it would be worth also posting any tips and tricks you've found work well specifically with the Fuji system. It might be worth showing some examples to demonstrate any points you've got, but if we could keep this from being a gallery of Street pictures without explanation that would be good. 

 

My current approach to Street Photography resonates with the quote from the Gilden video I posted above: 'If you can smell the street by looking at the photo, it's a street photograph'. I'm not a fan of his obtrusive method, but I feel like this quote says a lot about being up close and putting the viewer right there in the scene. Candid, close images are for me my favourites. In terms of technique, I tend to favour zone focusing - I'll usually set my aperture to around f/8 and manual focus to a set distance. The 23mm 1.4 is brilliant for this as it displays a distance scale on the top of the lens.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing what you all do, novices and experienced shooters alike. 

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In bright daylight, I'll be at f/11, and either zone focused if I'm aiming at a wall and hyperfocal otherwise (this is with the 23mm). Because of this I don't tend to need to manual focus, and I hardly ever use autofocus.

 

Although I'm not intrusive, I'm pretty shameless when I point my camera; I don't try to hide it. In fact, I try to make it obvious that I'm taking photos in an area and pretty soon people just ignore me. I don't try to be a fly on the wall as I imagine that would make me seem even more creepy. If someone gives me the stink eye, I'll actually engage them in a conversation, which they're never expecting. I have had a few cases where people ask me not to take pictures of them where in fact I wasn't taking pictures of them; they just assumed I was. One of them said that she knew for a fact people were paying me to take pictures of them. Not quite sure how to handle those situations, but maybe next time I'll just take a nice close-up of them so as to make sure they're not liars.

 

As far as aesthetics, I believe street photography is first and foremost a visual art and therefore should strive to incorporate composition, but beyond that it should have emotional impact. I don't prescribe for myself whether subjects should be shot close-up, in the distance, fill a frame, or even be facing the camera. Just as long as it has emotional impact. If there's something on a person that's interesting to me, I try to get that thing, whether it's an arm, their pants color, whatever, to fill the frame instead of shooting their entire body.

 

I look through my viewfinder a lot but try not to press the shutter unless I know I've got a shot. In fact I usually feel pretty proud of myself when I don't take a shot since I have a pretty itchy trigger finger and use to take a bunch of crap where I figured maybe I'd luck out. I usually never luck out. Even if I did luck out, it was luck that got the shot, not my skill.

 

On a related note, I don't take hip shots. Even if I get a good shot with a hip shot, I don't feel satisfied because it was luck, not skill, that got the shot. Also, I use to feel like I was chickening out when I did take hip shots in the past. This is different than, say, using the flip-out screen on an X-T1. You're still composing so I consider it fine, no different than using something like a Rolleiflex.

 

I try to smile and acknowledge people I shoot in an area, or even people I don't shoot but make eye contact with. I continue to smile when I put the camera to my face. The rangefinder-style camera helps here because they can actually see me smile.

 

I dress casual, but not sloppy, and definitely not like a professional photographer. I don't carry a camera bag. I walk around looking at stuff like I'm a tourist. I randomly point my camera at far off buildings to make it seem like I'm shooting them. If anyone asks, I'm a photography student, which for the most part is true.

 

I think that pretty much sums it up. Would love to hear other people's techniques.

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I'm a noob at street photography. I tend to prefer shooting film on my Xpan for my street shots, but occasionally I'll use the X100T or the X-T1 with the 16 1.4 too. I live in a rural area, so I only get to shoot street when I'm abroad and have time for it.

 

Zone focussing is easiest, using f11 mostly. I tend to keep it at 2m or at 3m, depending where I am. That ensures that sufficient subject matter will be in focus, while allowing me to focus on composition and subject. I have a lens tab, which makes it easy to manual focus quickly. Just remember where certain positions are and focussing is quick and usually accurate enough.

 

I wear casual clothes, but nothing too shabby. I only take bare essentials, camera, strap, perhaps a small inconspicuous messenger bag. Stay friendly, keep moving. I don't tend to stick around in the same place too long. I might spend 5 or 10 minutes if I see something with potential, but usually I stay on the move. If a place looks promising, I'll revisit it during different times of day. Wear comfortable shoes, that helps. I'm very tall, so stealth is never an option for me, I tend to get noticed quickly. Smaller cameras help, makes me look more like a tourist. Smile when people notice you, if someone takes offence, try to explain but just delete the photo if they ask. I try to look "through" people when they noticed me, as if I'm looking at something behind them. That almost always works. Or look annoyed, like they ruined your shot by being in the frame.

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Does a lens tab work on the x100T? As in, when you turn off the camera and turn it back on, or switch to autofocus, does the camera keep the same focus position all of the time (so the tab position is always at say, 1meter when facing down)?

It's not great on the x100t,for that reason. But just fine on the 16mm and my film cameras.

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Some great ideas already and really interesting hearing everyone's thoughts. As I mentioned at the start, there are so many different approaches so it's great to hear how you all approach your street photography. Coincidentally, having written about Matt Stuart in the initial thread, he's recently featured discussing his work in a podcast for thephotoshow.org. Have a listen at https://soundcloud.com/thephotoshow/matt-stuart-episode-21.

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