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Abstract Street Photography: The Essential Guide

18 Mar

The post Abstract Street Photography: The Essential Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anthony Epes.

the essential guide to abstract street photography

Want to know how to capture beautiful abstract street photography?

You’ve come to the right place.

While I am not a traditional street or abstract photographer, I love shooting in cities – and I love how street and abstract photography allow for so much fun and exploration.

white figures on the ground abstract street photography

So in this article, I’m going to share some tips, tricks, and ideas to enhance your abstract street photos.

And hopefully, the next time you’re out, you can capture some awesome photos of your own!

abstract street photography textured wall

What is abstract street photography?

There is no one definition of abstract street photography, which is a relief. That way, you can make the genre your own.

For me, abstract photography means that you are removing the context of the subject so that what you’re looking at isn’t always clear. In abstract photography, you are re-forming the world to make your own subjects, making things that are not what they appear to be in real life.

And abstract photography is also most significantly about the emotion of the image – what mood, feeling, or atmosphere are you creating?

“Photography isn’t about seeing, it’s about feeling…If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”

– Don McCullin

Now, street photography often involves capturing candid moments of life out on the street. I like to keep the idea of street photography pretty broad, though – to include any imprint of humanity, any aspect of life, whether we see people or not!

window reflection abstract street photography

Ultimately, when we take the idea of abstract photography out onto the street, we can have a lot of fun capturing the spontaneous, often chaotic, ever-changing nature of humans and life.

We can let our imaginations run wild and recreate the world around us.

So let’s get started!

Abstract street photos take work

Before I dive into my tips and tricks for abstract street photography, there is one thing I want to clear up:

Abstract street photography takes real work.

People sometimes presume that, because abstract street photos look simple, capturing great shots is easy, and that you don’t have to work hard to get a good result.

I would counter that taking an interesting photo is challenging in every genre – and perhaps even more so in abstract street photography, because there are no confines, no rules, nothing to aim for. Everything in your images is a reflection of what you can see in the world.

Your imagination is essential

For me, abstract street photography is pure imagination, because you are creating something almost from nothing. It relies on your ability to see the world creatively, not realistically.

Most of us are caught up completely in the real world, the things we have to do, the places we have to go, our responsibilities and tasks. So it’s easier to take a nice portrait than to go out and shoot something where you almost need to detach yourself from the real world that you live in and enter a state of pure creative imagination.

Abstract street photography is about capturing a feeling

The most important skill you should develop is the ability to be present in the moment when you are out shooting.

We love to escape the moment with continuous thoughts about the past and the future, about what emails we need to write, what we need to say to our annoying neighbor, what happened yesterday at work, etc.

We can also get too involved with thinking about how we are shooting – are we in the right spot, should we go somewhere else, did we bring the right lens?

But while some analysis of what we are doing is essential, it can also stop us from experiencing and seeing what’s happening all around us.

When we are fully in the present moment, and not thinking or planning, we can really appreciate our experience, and we can connect more fully to what’s happening around us.

When we see a brooding sky that gives an ominous feeling, we can capture that. When we see something weird and a little gross on the floor that intrigues us, we are more likely to notice it.

And if we see a man walking to work looking a little downcast, we can capture it:

And by being totally in the present moment, we are more likely to bring the feelings of what it’s like to be there and see what we are seeing into our photos.

Abstract street photography is your interpretation of the world

Photography helps me become more of who I am. It helps me see more of the world and really encourages me to pay attention. When I shoot, I allow myself free reign to follow my curiosity.

Abstract street photography is one of the most fun and joyful photographic genres. For me, it’s about playing, about just walking around and looking at things while thinking:

That reminds me of what I think the texture of the moon is like.

Or:

Those dark shadows make me think of a spooky story I read as a child.

Or:

A part of that sculpture looks like an elegant painting.

I am particularly fascinated by things I find at my feet. I have endless photos of weird things I’ve seen: crushed, burned burger buns, smashed fruit, accidental paint drippings, and more. I am entranced by these oddities.

“I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they’re surrounded by things like that all day long, and it must make them miserable.”

– Robert Rauschenberg

lemons in the street abstract street photography

Find what entrances you out in the world. Find what makes you go, ooh, that’s super interesting!

The more curious you are, the more you’ll find. And the more it will become your photography, your interpretation of the world.

Composition in abstract street photography

How can you create beautiful abstract street compositions?

It’s useful to draw from all of the traditional compositional rules and techniques, such as negative space, leading lines, and the rule of thirds. But I’d like to mention a few other guidelines that are particularly useful when we are creating abstract street photos, starting with:

Reduction

I often like to say that composing a photo is more about removing and reducing what is in the frame. It’s extremely easy to overcomplicate your photos, to have complex backgrounds, to include elements that detract from your subject, to not notice things in the corner of the shot.

This is particularly true with street photography, because there is always so much going on in the city. Yet we often don’t actually notice all of the visual information because our brain spends a lot of time blocking most of it out. If we noticed everything, it would be very overwhelming for us. Our brain can only deal with so much, so it’s selective about the information allowed inside.

But when we are shooting, our camera notices everything! So we can end up with unwanted elements, or not really see the complexity of the background until afterward.

Ultimately, we have to be really aware and conscious of what we are placing in the frame.

When out with the camera, I encourage you to ask yourselves:

What can I remove from this photo? What is unnecessary? What distracts from the subject?

textured glass — Textured glass is an awesome abstract element to play with – combining subtle, pretty colors, the light streaming through, and interesting textures from the glass.

Breaking the world down into elements

One way to really help your brain deal with the visual complexity all around you – and to help your eyes compose beautiful, striking, and intentional photos – is to look at the world not as one mass of things, but as many elements.

When you break the world down into elements, you see a collection of shapes, lines, forms, etc. And you don’t see the world in 3D surround sound where everything is joined together.

Can you look around at your environment now and see each thing as one singular element? Try it! It’s an exercise that helps you become more intentional about what you are placing in your frame.

Celebrating the purity of light, form, and shape

I love abstract photography because you can focus on the singular elements of light, shape, and form.

Shapes can be fascinating as shapes, not as anything else:

When we focus our attention on something small that holds our interest, we can find fascinating worlds to photograph.

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.”

– Henry Miller

What does the photo below make you think of?

How about this one?

Color

As you can see, I am not a black and white street photographer. I am an unashamed lover of color, and I love to celebrate all that color brings to our world.

My favorite photographer of all time, Ernst Haas, said:

“Color is joy. One does not think of joy. One is carried by it.” And I couldn’t agree more.

Abstract street photography is almost an excuse for me to just celebrate the power and joy of color. To let colors attract my attention and totally dominate the photo.

Texture

Being out on the streets is an invitation to explore so many fascinating textures.

Some of my favorite textures are the crumbling walls, torn posters, and disused locations of the forgotten parts of our cities.

Capturing textures gives such a feeling of realness to an image, as if the viewer can just reach in and feel the roughness of the wall, the coldness of the pipes, and the grain of the wood.

When we notice the world as a series of different textures, your photos gain plenty of depth. You’re giving people more of a sense of what it feels like to stand where you are standing, and what it feels like to look at what you are looking at.

Humor

Street photography is filled with humor. This is natural, given how much we humans love to do strange and funny things.

Humor is also a really fun thing to play with when you are doing abstract photos.

For instance, you can try disconnecting things from themselves:

Or you can just look for humorous objects:

white paper on the ground — Here, I see an alien looking up at me from the floor! This phenomenon is known as pareidolia, where you see a face or an image of something that isn’t really there.

Abstract street photography ideas

The best way to embed knowledge is to practice what you’re learning. Information is often retained only briefly if we don’t make the effort to implement it.

And here’s another reason to practice:

So you can take the ideas and knowledge you find interesting and make them your own. For me, it’s super important that I’m not confined in my photography, and that I’m not restrained by other people’s ideas of what’s right or wrong, good or bad.

painting on wall — Street art is one of my favorite things to shoot. I love to find new street art when I am out.

So use these ideas as starting points to leap off in your own direction. Maybe take two ideas and see what happens. Or just do an in-depth exploration of one!

Pareidolia

The Cambridge Dictionary describes pareidolia as “a situation in which someone sees a pattern or image of something that does not exist, for example a face in a cloud.”

Photographing pareidolia is a fun challenge; it’s about finding things that look like other things.

Easiest for me is to find faces or animals in completely unrelated subjects.

tree knots look like a face — Is this a crocodile? Is it a smiling alien?

Reflections

I love shooting reflections because they offer so many opportunities to create really cool images.

But while reflections create naturally busy images, still be conscious of what you are placing in the frame so the whole composition looks pleasing to you, not just chaotic.

Silhouettes and shadow

When we are shooting silhouettes and shadows, especially of people, we can capture some really amazing, pure expressions – because we don’t have the details of what the subjects look like.

I shot this one in Istanbul, and I love to wonder what was happening. Was it a morning greeting? An argument? A heated political discussion?

Here, I’ve gone more abstract and I’ve put two shadows together:

What are the objects? Who knows? What do they look like? That’s for your imagination to decide.

Abstract self-portraits

We always have a subject when we are shooting ourselves, right?

I didn’t use to enjoy taking self-portraits, but it’s something I do more now. Why?

Because I can experiment and not worry about what the subject thinks!

Take yourself to interesting places, then do self-portraits that play with reflections, color, and light. It will help you understand so much more about photographing people.

Plus, if you’re like me – the main photographer in your family group – at least you’ll finally have photos of yourself!

What’s at your feet?

Ever since I discovered Ernst Haas when I was young, I realized that anything could be my subject. All I had to do was be fascinated by it. That was the only requirement.

From that point on, I shot all kinds of road markings and things at my feet, as Ernst Haas did.

I find this exciting because it elevates everyday, mundane objects into something that can be beautiful (beauty in the mundane!).

We rarely pay close attention to things like the streets we are walking on, yet they offer so much possibility!

paint on road — We know what this is, but it becomes something a little different when we disconnect it from its environment. A letter “F” in thick yellow paint, with the rough texture of the gravel pushing through and some pretty light.

Perspective

We can use perspective in a really cool way with abstract street photography. We can find unique perspectives that present our subjects differently and make the subject look unexpectedly different.

I especially like to shoot upward and disconnect parts of buildings or things I see above me from their whole. The viewer then sees the shapes, the colors, and the textures without any knowledge of where or what it is.

roof in Morocco abstract street photography — This is a roof in Morocco. I was looking around a building, and then I looked up. Seeing dark shapes through the thin perspex roof was really interesting to me. Looking up is just as important as looking down at your feet!

Abstract street photography: conclusion

Hopefully, you now feel equipped to capture some beautiful abstract street photos!

So go out, explore, and have fun with your abstract photography.

Now over to you:

Do you have any abstract street photography you’d like to share? Do you have a favorite tip or trick from this article? Share your images and thoughts in the comments below!

The post Abstract Street Photography: The Essential Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anthony Epes.

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Street Candy Film announces new MTN100 black and white 35mm film

05 Mar

Street Candy Film writes that they make ‘the tastiest black and white films around.’ It offers even more black and white film now with the addition of Street Candy Film MTN100 to its catalog, joining its previous film, ATM400.

MTN100 is a black and white ISO 100 film. The film is taken from a Motion Picture Film and promises to take your ‘black and white photography to the next level with a classic cinematic look and fine details.’ MTN100 is a panchromatic film ideal for outdoor and indoor photography. You can process it as a normal black and white negative or with a reversal kit to create direct positives.

Click to enlarge

Street Candy writes that MTN100’s primary features are beautiful contrast, fine grain and rich details. It comes as a 36-exposure 35mm roll in Street Candy’s recycled paper film canister. Regarding the canister, Street Candy Film introduced the first alternative to plastic film canisters in 2020. The canister is made of recycled cardboard and is printed with soy ink.

Street Candy Film MTN100 is available for preorder now. It is available in small quantities ahead of its April release. The minimum required purchase is two rolls, which costs 21€. For ordering information, click here.

Image shot using Street Candy MTN100. Click to enlarge.

Although not new, it’s worth doing a quick rundown of Street Candy’s ATM400 film. The panchromatic black and white negative film was originally coated for use in security surveillance cameras. It was used in banks, ATMs, offices and other places in need of security before digital surveillance became commonplace. Street Candy states that the ISO 400 film is easy to shoot, forgiving and delivers ‘beautiful contrast while retaining rich details throughout its wide dynamic range.’ ATM400 starts at 19€ and comes in 36-exposure 35mm rolls, which like the MTN100, are hand-rolled.

Street Candy ATM400 key features. Click to enlarge.

If you’d like to check out images shot by photographers using Street Candy Film, the company hosts an online gallery. To see the companies other product offerings, including merchandise for analog photography fans, click here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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In the Dark: 10 Tips for Street Night Photography

20 Dec

The post In the Dark: 10 Tips for Street Night Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by James Maher.

Much is spoken about photographing during the twilight hour, but what about after that?

Night is my favorite time for street photography. Cityscapes are lit with a myriad of interesting and colorful light sources, such as lampposts, neon signs, store windows, car lights, and bare bulbs. People dress in their favorite outfits to go out. Bland scenes by day can suddenly turn ominous and fascinating at night.

street night photography diner — 1/80s | f/2.8 | ISO 1600

Here are 10 tips for street night photography – so you’ll think about starting your next street photography session at twilight!

1. Use the ideal camera settings for sharpness at night

To freeze motion during the day, I prefer to use a shutter speed of 1/320s, with 1/160s as my lower threshold.

At night, this changes. In the brightest areas, you will be able to photograph at 1/250s, but most of the time it will be best to use a shutter speed somewhere between 1/160s and 1/60s.

You need to have steady hands and a wide-angle focal length. In fact, to photograph handheld at 1/60s, you need to stop your own motion completely. Fortunately, with some practice, it can be done.

street night photography person in the snow — 1/125s | f/2.5 | ISO 6400

A wide-angle lens is necessary for this type of photography because the longer the focal length, the faster the shutter speed you need to keep an image sharp. With a 28mm or 35mm lens, it becomes much easier to handhold the camera at slower shutter speeds.

It will also help to use a fast prime lens, such as a 35mm f/2. It is possible to shoot at f/4 in brighter areas, but being able to shoot at f/2.8, f/2, or even f/1.8 will greatly expand your opportunities.

Finally, you will need to raise your ISO significantly. With modern digital cameras, you can photograph anywhere from ISO 1600 to ISO 6400 and get decent or good image quality. It’s just not possible to photograph handheld at night otherwise. I prefer to shoot at ISO 3200, and I sometimes go to ISO 6400 if needed.

To learn more about photographing with a high ISO, you can read this article, called “Reasons to Shoot High ISO Images.”

2. Seek out the light sources first

on the streets at night — 1/60s | f/2.8 | ISO 3200

You should always pay attention to the main light sources in a scene. This is true no matter where or when you are photographing, but it becomes even more important at night. Start by finding a beautiful light source or an area with good lighting, then wait around for something to happen.

Focus on how these light sources hit your subjects. If you are leaning against a shop with a lit sign behind you, like the man in the photograph above, then as subjects pass you they will be lit with a strong light that has a gorgeous color to it. If your lens’s aperture doesn’t go wider than f/4, this is a fantastic way to boost your shutter speed.

On the other hand, if you stand in the street and aim the camera at the light source, as I did for the photo above, then the light will be less pronounced on the subjects, but you will get the beautiful sign in the scene. Notice the difference between the light on the left and right side of the man’s face in the photo.

3. Photograph nightlife

photographing the nightlife — 1/125s | f/2 | ISO 6400

Some of the most interesting night street photography occurs where the most people are, and that is often where the nightlife is.

So seek out the night life and shoot it!

A fantastic project to look at for inspiration is Maciej Dakowicz’s “Cardiff After Dark” series.

4. Alternate between getting close and stepping back

I’m a proponent of Robert Capa’s advice: “If your photos aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” However, I often alter this strategy at night.

I try to get close to many of my subjects, but I will also try to create compositions where the subjects are small aspects of the overall scene. At night, backgrounds can be much more beautiful than during the day, so it often works to have people become the secondary element in the scene, rather than the primary focus.

The technical advantage here is that you do not need to use a fast shutter speed to capture the motion of subjects when you are farther away. You can freeze a moving subject at 1/60s from farther away, whereas you will need to use at least 1/125s when close.

5. Tripod and crowd blur

motion blur night street photography — 1/8s | f/4 | ISO 800 | Tripod

For night street photography, it’s usually best to go handheld, since you never know what interesting thing is going to happen and where it’s going to happen. However, one of the times to use a tripod is when you want to capture a busy scene with lots of people and motion.

Experiment with slower shutter speeds, such as 1/8s, and shoot a lot of photos. It took me a long time to capture the image above, because I wanted the people spread out evenly throughout the entire scene, and I also wanted something interesting in the foreground (ultimately, this was the pose of the woman in the street and the man looking at her).

It took some waiting and a lot of captures for this to happen.

6. Use a flash

Whether you want to try flash on the street is up to you, but keep in mind that it can easily lead to a confrontation. I prefer to work with the constraints of the natural light on the street, and I also get uncomfortable flashing strangers in the face in dark settings, but many prefer to photograph this way. It creates a fantastic look when done well.

Using a flash frees you from a lot of the constraints of photographing at night. You can use a faster shutter speed, include more depth of field in the photo, and reduce graininess (noise).

You can have the flash do all of the work lighting the scene, where the foreground area is lit and everything else is dark.

Alternatively, you can set the camera to expose for the scene, similar to what you would do without the flash, and then use the flash to add some fill light to your main subjects in the foreground.

7. Noise and the dreaded underexposed image

people sitting on bench at night — 1/250s | f/2 | ISO 3200

You should always expose correctly when photographing with a high ISO.

That being said, even with the best settings, some of your images will be taken in areas that are too dark to be exposed correctly. It’s impossible to photograph this way and expose every image perfectly in-camera. For the occasional shots with excellent content that you want to save, you will have no choice but to raise the exposure when editing.

For that type of photo, I first ignore the noise and get the exposure and look correct in Lightroom. After I do this, if I’ve had to raise the exposure a significant amount, the grain will look terrible. Luckily, there are some ways to save an image like that as long as you’re photographing in RAW.

What I do is first remove the grain – then I add it back. I want the image to look grainy, but I want the grain to look pleasing. There are many noise reduction programs, such as Photo Ninja, Topaz’s DeNoise, and DxO. Personally, I like Lightroom’s built-in noise reduction. If the noise is still bad after noise reduction, I will sometimes bring the image into Photoshop and add a very slight Gaussian blur.

Then I will use Lightroom’s grain settings to add grain back into the photo. This grain looks much more pleasing to the eye than brightened, extreme digital noise, and it can further hide some of the technical deficiencies of underexposed images. The result will not be a perfectly sharp image, but it will still be pleasing and beautiful.

8. Blur and imperfection

Aim to get your photos as sharp as possible when you want sharpness, but know that a photo can still look fantastic even if it’s not tack sharp.

You don’t need to freeze motion perfectly when photographing at night for the image to still look great. I hold my day images to a higher standard than my night images when it comes to sharpness. They need to be interesting and look good, and that’s what counts.

Also, at shutter speeds around 1/60s to 1/30s, you can experiment shooting handheld with a slight blur, where your subjects are somewhat sharp but have a little motion to them. It’s a great way to add an energetic feeling of movement to an image.

9. Night images should be dark

a dark shot at night — 1/250s | f/2 | ISO 3200

This is an overly general statement, so feel free to disagree, but I want to make a point here.

I believe that night shots should look like they were taken at night. They should be dark, with deep shadows and areas that are hard to see and make out. When you look at the histogram of a night image, it should be further toward the dark side (the far left) than a day image.

When you expose a night shot, especially with automatic settings, the camera will often misread the scene and overexpose the image. The photo will be bright and you will be able to see everything as you would during the day, but it will not feel like a realistic night scene. In such cases, you’ll want to lower the exposure compensation on your camera slightly.

There are many situations where bright night images are a good thing, but don’t be afraid to make your night images dark and realistic.

10. Be careful

Depending on where you live, going out at night with a camera is not always the safest idea. Travel light, keep your equipment to a minimum, and be careful about where you go.

Use your best judgment regarding who to photograph and think about bringing a friend along. You don’t want to suddenly find yourself in a bad situation.

Tips for street night photography: conclusion

Getting beautiful street photos at night isn’t always easy.

But if you remember these tips and you practice frequently, you’re bound to get some great shots!

Do you have any street night photography tips you’d like to add? Please share them in the comments below!

The post In the Dark: 10 Tips for Street Night Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by James Maher.

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The Five Key Features on any Street Photography Camera

06 Jul

The post The Five Key Features on any Street Photography Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

dps-key-features-street-photography-camera

Are you struggling to choose the perfect street photography camera?

You’ve come to the right place.

Because while picking the perfect camera for street photography can be tough, it doesn’t have to be.

In fact, there are five basic features you’re going to want with any street photography body. While finding them all in a single camera can be tough, depending on your current lens lineup and preferred system, I’d recommend getting a camera that offers as many as possible.

And if you can find a camera that includes all of these features, you know it’s going to be a great street shooting option.

Let’s dive right in:

1. A compact body

When you look for a street photography camera, the very first aspect you’ll want to consider is size.

Because here’s the thing about street photography:

The less that people notice your camera, the better.

expressions captured by a street photography camera — 50mm | f/2.8 | 1/320s | ISO 200

As soon as people start to see your camera, they get nervous, you get nervous, and photography becomes uncomfortable.

And while it’s inevitable that your camera will be seen, the smaller it is, the less this will happen.

That’s why I recommend you get the most compact camera you can find. Or, at least, a camera that offers a small form factor.

One option is a higher-end point-and-shoot camera, such as the Fujifilm X100V. That camera is tiny but still manages to offer excellent image quality.

But if you’re a fan of interchangeable lens cameras, you have other options. Some APS-C mirrorless cameras are designed to be near pocket-sized, including models such as Sony’s a6000 series, or the Fujifilm X-T200. Same with quite a few Micro-Four-Thirds cameras, such as the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III.

These bodies are light, they’re compact, and they’re some of the most inconspicuous cameras I’ve ever come across.

(Another advantage of a compact body is that they’re easy to carry around. You can take a Fujifilm X-T100 with you wherever you go, so that you never miss a shot!)

So start your search by looking for a small body, and only then should you consider the rest of the features on this list.

store model street photography camera — If you want to capture close-up candid shots of people, I recommend a compact street photography camera.
50mm | f/3.5 | 1/200s | ISO 200

By the way:

It’s not just the camera that should be small; you’ll want small lenses, as well. One of the best ways to ensure you have plenty of small lenses to choose from is by working with a Micro-Four-Thirds camera (offered by both Panasonic and Olympus).

These systems have unusually compact lenses, thanks to their smaller sensor size.

2. A high continuous shooting speed

If you’re planning on doing lots of street photography, then you’re going to need a camera that shoots fast.

Why?

Because the best street photos tend to involve a convergence of elements. Three people are perfectly aligned with a building, a person makes a sudden strange expression, or a biker passes in front of an interesting facade.

street photography camera continuous shooting — The ability to shoot frame after frame is key when shooting images like this.
50mm | f/2.8 | 1/200s | ISO 250

And you’re going to miss out on these moments…

…unless your camera can fire off a burst of shots in quick succession.

I’d recommend a continuous shooting speed of at least five frames per second, and more is better. For me, the 8-10 range is ideal, which you can find on quite a few cameras these days.

And honestly, anything more than 10 fps is overkill for most street photography purposes. You’ll run through your memory cards ridiculously fast, and end up with a huge amount of unnecessary shots.

You’ll also want to get a camera with a decent buffer. There’s no use in being able to shoot at 10 fps if you can only capture 15 frames. So I recommend you look for a camera with a buffer of at least 25 RAW files (and more is better!).

man hidden by umbrella — 50mm | f/3.5 | 1/160s | ISO 320

3. Excellent autofocus with strong eye detection

As I said above, street photography happens fast.

And you’re often reacting to moments that come and go instantly.

man walking through door street photography camera — 24mm | f/8 | 1/200s | ISO 320

That’s why the best street photography cameras have lightning-fast autofocus and, ideally, face/eye detection.

I’m talking about systems that can nail focus instantly, as well as track a subject through a complex array of objects without losing focus.

For this latter requirement, a great option is any of the more recent Sony a6000 models (including the a6100, the a6400, and the a6600). These cameras offer fantastic tracking, great AF speeds, and amazing Eye AF.

Now, it is possible to do street photography with a less AF-adept camera. But you’ll frequently struggle, especially when trying to lock focus for spur-of-the-moment shots.

You’ll also want good AF for situations when you’re shooting from your LCD or from the hip. If your camera can grab focus with ease, you’ll end up with quite a few keepers, even if you’re firing the shutter without looking!

4. A silent shooting mode

Getting a camera that can shoot in silence was a real game-changer for my street photography.

Finally, I could shoot without people realizing, and it made me feel so much less anxious.

silent shooting street photography camera — f/2.8 | 1/640s | ISO 200

And the truth is that most street photographers feel anxious at one time or another, and a loud shutter sound just made that anxiety worse.

(If you’re a street photographer that never feels uncomfortable, please share your secret in the comments!)

In fact, I almost quit street photography. It was only once I had a camera that could do true silent shooting that I was able to resume and feel better about what I was doing.

That’s why I recommend you get a street photography camera that has some sort of silent shooting mode. Ideally, it has an electronic shutter, one that allows you to shoot in total silence (though any silent shooting mode is better than nothing at all).

You’ll want to be careful, though:

Some cameras can be restricted when using a silent shutter. For instance, my Sony a6300 can only shoot bursts at about 3 frames per second when silent, and this can be extremely frustrating. So, I’d suggest looking for a camera that can maintain both silence and fast continuous shooting speeds.

That way, you can capture bursts of action without dealing with the chatter of a camera shutter!

5. A tilting screen

This feature is a bit more optional, but it’s still useful in quite a few situations.

You see, there will be times when you want to shoot from the hip (i.e., keep your camera held down low and fire off some shots).

low angle street photography — 50mm | f/4 | 1/800s | ISO 200

I do this while walking past people on busy streets because I don’t want to bother them with the sight of my camera. And I also like the low-angle look that it creates!

Of course, you can do this blindly, and you’ll end up with some keepers.

But if you have a tilting screen…

…you can look down at the camera while you walk, in order to ensure perfect focus and composition!

Note that you don’t need a fully articulating screen, as you won’t need to shoot from ultra-strange angles. A screen that tilts up 90 degrees will do just fine.

And since we’re talking about screens, I’ll mention that a touchscreen can be pretty useful in these situations, too. If you can tap to set focus, you can quickly choose a subject while looking down at your LCD, then fire off shots as they come closer.

Make sense?

The five key features on any street photography camera: Conclusion

Choosing a camera for street shooting doesn’t have to be hard.

Just make sure it has as many of these characteristics as possible, and you’ll be capturing stunning shots in no time!

That’s the power of a great street photography camera.

The post The Five Key Features on any Street Photography Camera appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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Google Street View is unavailable in Mauritius, so one resident created his own using a DJI drone

27 Jun

On the island of Mauritius, which is about 1,200 miles (2,000km) southeast from the mainland continent of Africa, Google has never sent a car for gathering street view data. Considering the remoteness of the island nation and its relatively small – but dense – population of nearly 1.3 million, Google’s neglect makes fiscal sense. However, Mauritian resident Reuben Pillay wanted to address the situation himself and he started his ReubsVision project.

Over the last year and a half, Pillay traveled around Mauritius with his DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone. As you can imagine, it’s a large undertaking. He told PetaPixel ‘We’re a small island – driving from my place to anywhere can take at most an hour and a half since I’m pretty much centered.’ Pillay also noted that the constantly changing weather on the island added a lot of difficulties.

A screenshot from ReubsVision showing Grand Sable. Image credit: Reuben Pillay, ReubsVision

Pillay stitched the photos from his drone together to create a 360-degree image of each location he visited, covering the entire coastline of the island using more than 220 high-resolution photos. Each image took Reuben about 10 hours to create.

In addition to spending a huge amount of time and effort to capture and stitch together his images, Reuben also needed to learn how to code and set up the website for ReubsVision. He tells PetaPixel, ‘[It] was actually the first website I ever built…I had no prior experience in doing any of that.’

A zoomed-in view of the same location as above. Image credit: Reuben Pillay, ReubsVision

It was an expensive project in terms of cost and time. ReubsVision is completely free to access and explore, and is a really great way to learn more about Mauritius. Pillay says, ‘All I want for now is that people discover my island.’

If you’re interested in capturing your own 360-degree images using a drone, you can refer to the following video tutorials from Atti Bear and Ben Claremont.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Ricoh launches ‘Street Edition’ version of its GR III with new paint and custom accessories

11 Jun

Ricoh Imaging has announced the release of the GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit, a limited edition camera package that includes a new look and exclusive accessories.

The updated look gives the GR III a textured metallic grey paint job that Ricoh claims was chosen ‘to appeal to a street photographer, evoking the asphalt pavement in the city.’ Also new in this limited edition camera is the orange-yellow lens barrel ring that Ricoh says is ‘reminiscent of traffic lines painted on streets.’

Beyond the new paint job, the Ricoh GR III Street Edition comes with a detachable viewfinder with the same metallic grey finish (the standard version of this finder retails for $ 250), as well as a genuine- leather hand strap, the latter of which has an orange-yellow stopper meant to match the lens barrel ring. When turned off, the camera will also display a street-view image as well as a specialized product logo.

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Internally, the new Street Edition version of the GR III is identical to its less-colorful counterpart, complete with the 24MP APS-C sensor, the 28mm equiv. F2.8 lens and the hybrid autofocus system.

However, this camera will include Ricoh’s new ‘Full Press Snap’ feature, which allows users to pre-define a focal point and have the lens immediately snap focus to that point upon fully depressing the shutter and/or tapping the back LCD display. Ricoh notes this feature will be available on the standard GR III via a firmware update after the release of this limited edition camera, but no specific timeframe is mentioned.

The Ricoh GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit is limited to 3500 units worldwide and is set to launch mid-July for $ 1199/£1099. If you don’t care for the entire kit or miss out on the limited-run, don’t fret — this coming autumn, standalone GR III Street Edition units will be available (no pricing information has been shared at this time).

Press release:

Ricoh launches RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit

Limited-quantity package featuring high-end digital compact camera with a stylish metallic gray body and exclusive accessories

PARSIPPANY, NJ, June 10, 2020 – Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation today announced the launch of the RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit. Available in a limited quantity of 3,500 units worldwide, the kit combines the RICOH GR III camera body, finished in a metallic gray color, with a compact, detachable viewfinder and a genuine-leather hand strap, both designed exclusively for this package.

Offering the same high image quality as the standard RICOH GR III, the small, lightweight camera body has been treated with a metallic gray finish designed to appeal to a street photographer, evoking the asphalt pavement in the city. The finish features an elegantly grained texture that is smooth in appearance but helps improve camera grip. It’s accentuated with an orange-yellow lens barrel ring, reminiscent of traffic lines painted on streets.

In addition to the camera, the kit includes a pair of exclusive accessories: a compact, detachable viewfinder featuring the identical metallic gray finish and a genuine-leather hand strap. The viewfinder has the number 28 imprinted on its top panel to highlight the camera’s angle of view, while the strap’s stopper is finished in orange-yellow identical to the camera’s lens barrel ring.

This camera allows the photographer to instantly activate the Full Press Snap feature* with a single touch on the LCD panel. This feature shifts the lens to a preselected focal point the moment the shutter release button is fully pressed. It can also be assigned to the LCD screen, assuring the photographer of flawless point-and-shoot photography to capture once-in-a-lifetime shutter opportunities. One of the strong points of the GR series, this feature comes in handy when taking snapshots on the street and will be available in the standard GR III via a firmware update that is scheduled for release later this year.

The RICOH GR III Street Edition, a high-grade digital compact camera that doesn’t include the viewfinder and the strap, is also scheduled to be launched in the autumn of 2020.

Pricing and Availability

The RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit will be available mid-July at www.us.ricoh- imaging.com as well as at select Ricoh Imaging-authorized retail outlets nationwide for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $ 1199.95.

Main Features of the RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit

The camera body has been treated with an attractive metallic gray finish that designed to appeal to a street photographer, symbolizing the asphalt pavement in the city. It’s also accentuated with an orange-yellow ring encircling the lens barrel. The exterior finish features an elegantly grained texture created by repeatedly spraying droplets of a coating material onto the camera body. Although smooth in appearance, this special paint also helps improve camera hold.

The camera comes with a pair of exclusive accessories: a compact, detachable viewfinder featuring the identical metallic gray finish, and a genuine-leather hand strap. The viewfinder has the number 28 imprinted on its top panel to highlight the camera’s angle-of-view, while the strap’s stopper is finished in orange-yellow identical to the camera’s lens barrel ring, to enhance the product image.

This camera allows the photographer to instantly activate the Full Press Snap feature* with a single touch on the LCD panel positioned on the camera’s back panel. This feature shifts the lens to a preselected focal point the moment the shutter release button is fully depressed. It can also be assigned to the LCD screen positioned on the camera’s back panel, assuring the photographer of flawless point-and-shoot photography to capture once-in-a-lifetime shutter opportunities. One of the strong points of the GR series, this feature comes in handy when taking snapshots on the street.

* This feature can be added to the standard GR III model by installing function expansion firmware, which is scheduled to be released after the time of the camera’s launch.

When the camera’s power is turned off, the camera displays an original termination screen consisting of the specially designed product logo and a street-view image that symbolizes the camera’s “street snapshot” concept.

Notes:

• The camera’s other specifications are identical with those of the standard GR III model.

• The design and specifications are subject to change without notice.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Everything a Beginner Should Know to Improve Their Street Photography

24 Mar

The post Everything a Beginner Should Know to Improve Their Street Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by James Maher.

Everything a Beginner Should Know to Improve Their Street Photography Featured Image

Street photography may seem simple on the surface, just a lot of waiting around looking for an interesting moment to happen. However, the reality is that it is one of the most difficult forms of photography. Particularly at the beginning, it can be very hard to improve in street photography.

The best moments don’t occur very often, and when they do, you have to be aware enough to see it quickly. You have to be brave enough to capture it, and your camera has to be set right.

A lot has to go right, but when it does, that’s when the magic happens. There is a specific set of tips that are important to learn early on that will make all of this much easier and, eventually, second nature.

Fear and timidness

Improve Street Photography — 1/150th at F8, ISO 1600

Fear and timidness are two of the toughest obstacles to overcome for new street photographers. If you don’t feel this way, then skip to the next tip! But most people have a lot of difficulty with this aspect at first. It takes time to overcome, but the less timid you can become, the faster you will be at capturing the best moments.

No matter how tasteful your photography is, street photography is a little creepy! We’re kind of stalking people on the street a bit. But it’s important to know that we’re doing this for a reason. We like people and we want to create interesting photos of our society.

The fear aspect will get better with time – the more you shoot, the easier it will get. But it can help early on to capture some street portraits to get you comfortable. You will quickly realize how many people will be flattered by what you are doing.

Another important thing to know is how to deal with a situation if you are caught.

I just like to smile and be honest. I tell the person that I was photographing the area and the people and culture, and I thought they looked great! Flattery can get you a long way.

If the person seems uncomfortable after you speak to them, offer to delete the shot. You don’t have to, of course, but it’s the right thing to do.

And always be careful about who you photograph. Sometimes, a photograph is just not worth the chance of getting yourself in trouble.

General camera settings

Street Photography Camera Settings — 1/350th at F5.6, ISO 1600

I typically prefer to shoot on Aperture or Shutter Priority settings. Since you are usually going back and forth between different levels of light, this allows you to focus on the scene itself instead of going back and forth on your camera settings. In steady lighting conditions, Manual Mode works very well, though.

Raise your ISO up! I typically use ISO 400 if I am in pure sunlight, ISO 800 in light shade, ISO 1600 in dark shade, and ISO 3200-6400 for dusk into night.

Raising the ISO allows you to have a faster shutter speed to freeze motion. It also gives you more depth of field to make sure you capture the focus correctly, or if you have multiple subjects at different depths.

On Aperture Priority, f/8 is usually my ideal setting whenever possible. It allows enough depth of field but also enough light to enter the camera. And as it gets darker, I will go down with the aperture.

Finally, I always try to keep my shutter speed above 1/250th of a second to freeze motion in people. The key on Aperture Priority is to pay attention to your shutter speed as the lighting gets darker, to make sure that it does not dip too far below 1/250th.

Prime lenses

Prime lenses are made for street photography. They are smaller, lighter, and less noticeable. Also, the act of using a single focal length will make you much faster and more intuitive with the camera. Using one is a key way to improve your street photography.

Zooming constantly will just slow you down and keep you off balance when a moment occurs. With a prime, you are ready when something happens.

I prefer a 35mm and 50mm focal length depending on what I am shooting. Both are wide enough to capture complicated shots that mix foreground and background, and they allow you to get close and intimate with your subjects.

Acting

When some people think of street photographers, they think of the photographers that jump out in people’s faces to take a photograph. It just does not have to be done in that way to get great, candid, close shots. I find the opposite approach to work much better.

I prefer to act like I am just looking around at something above or behind the subject I want to capture, and I carefully get myself in position. They just think I’m probably a tourist looking around, and while they notice me, they continue in their own world without realizing I’m photographing them.

I also take very quick shots where nobody notices. That way, you don’t have to do any acting in these situations. But, acting comes in handy very often.

Finally, you don’t always have to walk around while photographing. Pick an area with foot traffic and wait around. Doing this allows your subjects to enter your personal space instead of entering their space. It also allows you to get very close and nuanced photographs with much less chance of people noticing what you are doing.

Emotion and gesture

One of the keys to creating interesting street photography is showing emotion and feeling in your images. One of the best ways to do that is to capture those emotions and feelings in your subjects.

Pay attention to the looks in peoples’ eyes or the gestures in their bodies. Try to see who is walking around wearing their emotions on their sleeves, so to speak.

I would rather photograph a non-descript person with incredible emotion over the flashiest person just walking down the street emotionless.

Getting closer

This is a general tip for improving most photography, but it is especially difficult for street photography. The closer you get, the more intimate your moments will feel.

But you don’t have to put so much pressure on yourself at first. Start from further back and over time, work to get closer and closer. This is a process that can take a little time to get comfortable with.

Spontaneity and intuition

Everything a Beginner Should Know to Improve Their Street Photography — 1/250th at F9, ISO 3200

At some point, you need to become fast with your camera to capture some of those split-second moments. Embrace your intuition and work to become spontaneous and fast with the camera.

You will miss a lot of photographs this way and come back with a lot of bad ones (why editing is so important), but the special photographs will be special.

If you feel that there is the potential for a great photograph in your gut, just stop thinking and go for it. The worst that can happen is you will delete the photograph later on.

Imperfection

Unlike some other forms of photography, perfection is not celebrated as much in street photography. We’re looking for real and unplanned moments, and these moments are not perfect.

Sometimes the best way to improve your street photography is to just loosen up.

What matters is that the photograph is interesting and it looks good. Everything else is gravy. If the photograph has those qualities, who cares if it’s skewed, a little blurry, highlights are blown out, or if there’s an element in the way. That’s the real world.

Sometimes these aspects will ruin your photograph, of course, but just as often they’ll ground the moment in reality.

Photograph in busy and quiet places

As you are learning and getting comfortable, it’s very important to practice in busy places with a lot of foot traffic. This gives you many chances for great photographs and it’s easier to work in a candid way as well. This is how to work out the kinks and develop your technical skills and overall awareness.

But it is equally important to photograph in slower and quieter areas too.

These areas can be just as interesting and even more so than the busiest areas. It can take some time to get used to photographing here and figuring out what makes a good photograph, but you will be much better off for trying.

Conclusion – take photos for yourself

Street photography is about taking something that is internal, capturing it in the real world, and then showing those ideas in your work.

It’s not worth taking photographs that you think other people will find interesting. Ultimately, your work can only become so good that way.

Shoot what you think is the most interesting and forget about everyone else. Over time this is how you will develop a strong and distinct voice.

And most importantly, get out there and shoot as often as you can. That is the real way to improve your street photography.

Do you have any other tips to improve street photography that you’d like to share? Please do so in the comments, along with any street photos you’d like to share.

The post Everything a Beginner Should Know to Improve Their Street Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by James Maher.

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A Look at the Fujifilm X100V in Action for Street Photography (video)

14 Mar

The post A Look at the Fujifilm X100V in Action for Street Photography (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video from Moment, Taylor takes the puts the new Fujifilm X100V in action on the streets to see how well it performs.

For street photography, the camera is the perfect size and weight to carry with you anywhere you go. The flip screen allows you to shoot from the hip – which is a great advantage when shooting street photography less obtrusively.

The fixed 23mm lens on an APS-C sensor is the equivalent of a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera.

Also, the famous Fujifilm film simulations are another great feature of this little camera.

So check out some of the images that come from this camera.

What is street photography?

This can be a difficult area of photography to define because street portraits can easily be mistaken for street photography.

It’s also true that it’s possible to practice street photography and still have permission from your subjects.

So what sets this area of photography apart?

Well, the simple answer is that street photos should be natural and not staged. So what does it take to get a good street photo?

Image: YOu can even use a fisheye lens for street photography. People’s faces aren’t rea...

YOu can even use a fisheye lens for street photography. People’s faces aren’t really shown here, yet there is a story.

The equipment

The camera body you use here is important for street photography that occurs in low light situations, where you’ll want to use a higher ISO.

The choice between DSLRs or mirrorless cameras is a personal one. However, the smaller size of mirrorless cameras is an advantage.

You really want to keep to one lens, so you can keep things lightweight while you’re on the move. There is an understandable desire to use different focal lengths, though, so consider returning to the same location twice, and with different lenses.

So which is the ideal lens for street photography?

A lens of 135mm means you need to stand quite far away to include the context in your scene.

50mm – This is many street photographers’ lens of choice. That’s because it has a similar field of view to a person’s eye. That field of view is also wide enough to give your scene context, and you have a large enough aperture with a prime lens to photograph in low light. Keep in mind the crop factor for DSLR cameras that have a crop sensor, as it will change the effective focal distance of your 50mm lens.
Wide-angle – Then there are those photographers who like to have even more stories in their scene and will look to use even wider lenses. That might even mean a wide-angle zoom lens. You’ll now be getting very close to the people you photograph, making it harder to avoid them noticing you.
Telephoto – On the other end of the spectrum are those who prefer to photograph from a distance. This allows you to photograph the scene without the chance of people posing, as they’re much less likely to see you. On the other hand, you’ll compress the scene. If you don’t stand even further back, you won’t show very much context in your photo.

Image: Market’s make great locations for street photography. They are even better at night, wh...

Market’s make great locations for street photography. They are even better at night, when there is more atmosphere.

The location

Street photography is the exploration of your urban environment, so it needs to happen in this setting. The photo might happen away from the street itself, for instance, in an indoor market, but this would still be considered street photography.

The best place to practice this will be a place that allows for plenty of moments of capture. With that in mind, locations like markets, train stations, or high streets would work.

The subject

Now you know the location for street photography, the next thing to think about is the subject. There are plenty of photos you can take from the location suggested above that aren’t street photos.

A photo that shows only fruit is more of a food detail photo than a street photo. That said, does every street photo need to include a person’s face? The answer to that is, no, it doesn’t. But there does need to be a narrative element to it.

A photo that just shows people’s feet can certainly still contain a story. However, in most cases, you’ll want to see a person going about their daily life, and that means including their face.

A street portrait will see your subject fully engaging with the camera.

What is a street portrait?

A street portrait is one that shows the person’s face. It’s almost certainly posed, and it will be taken on the street. There is an authentic element to it. You’re not taking a model out with you, and you never know if the person you ask will give you permission to take their photo.

Once granted permission, you’ll be able to control many elements of the photo. You might be able to ask your subject to stand in front of an interesting background, turn their face towards a light source, or control their facial expression.