Originally posted by Hattifnatt Well... not always, for me at least. I have realized that the background is also very important and here I'm especially referring to street shots, but also model photography for instance. I always try to have something interesting happening in the background, even if the background is blurred. So one thing that I sometimes do is cruise the city looking for an interesting spot (that maybe be due to light, shadows or some other things) and then just camp there and wait for an interesting subject to pass by. Takes a lot of patience but it works. I've read about this technique on this forum... this is why I love it so much
Excellent point!
The same strategy of setting up and waiting occurs in landscape photography in which one might pick the background mountains, mid-ground lake, and foreground flowers but them wait for the sun & cloud, or sunset/sunrise to create the lighting and sky or wait for passing creatures to add there elements to the whole scene. In fact, the "best" landscapes often entail the photographer revisiting the same location multiple times until they get the best combination of lighting, sky, foliage, creatures, etc.
Too often we speak of "The Subject" the way a studio portrait maker might. But a great many street and landscape images really have many sub-subjects composed together. I know some people say a photograph must have a focal subject but I've always loved extremely detailed images (e.g., the drawings of
David Macaulay - Wikipedia) that invite exploration of the many subjects in the scene more so than focus on a single subject.