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Forum: General Photography 09-27-2018, 07:13 AM  
Sticking your lens in someone's face...
Posted By alamo5000
Replies: 70
Views: 4,900
I love that first photo!!!!

And you and me are alike in the sense of focusing on the artistic. I personally almost never get the opportunity to do 'street photography' (I live in rural Texas) so in ways I envy people (photography wise) that live in cities. In normal situations I travel a lot when I can. I recall walking around a place like Istanbul on sensory overload. You could spend a year there without any problem. Other cities too.


When I go to places like that I often either walk around for days exploring and making notes (physical) or mental about the who what when and wheres. Paying particular attention to light is the biggest deal to me and then throw in some fantastic composition....it's actually an art form so if it was easy everyone would be doing it.
Forum: General Photography 09-26-2018, 09:34 PM  
Sticking your lens in someone's face...
Posted By alamo5000
Replies: 70
Views: 4,900
Another skill that is good to have is focus trapping skills. You can manually focus and get some stellar shots.


I also know that it's kind of cheating but there is nothing wrong with having a friend (or model) be a part of the plan. Follow the plan in my first post about finding good locations and then have willing participants dress up or whatever and not really 'pose' but say 'walk across the street' at a designated point or whatever. The real trick there is to get them to not stare right into the camera, but rather just go on about business to get the effect you want.

If you take the latter approach it's a whole lot easier to be productive than to have unwilling participants. Depending on what I wanted to do, I've even put like a little pebble on the ground as 'point A' and then had another one set at 'point B' and I would just have people walk from A to B and on to C and I would just have to determine the optimal snapping point.
Forum: General Photography 09-26-2018, 09:16 PM  
Sticking your lens in someone's face...
Posted By alamo5000
Replies: 70
Views: 4,900
I like that first video that was posted up. That guy has his game down. I rarely if ever will stick my camera anywhere. If it's going to cause a fight I don't bother. The US is the worst, by far, about this.

At the end of the day it depends on what kind of shots you really want to get. A lot of people walk around with a big camera or long lens looking like some kind of paparazzi and I just don't think that's effective. It could be but only marginally. I myself have walked up to people on the street and took shots of them, for sure. It tends to work out well if you have a good rapport with people. On the other hand walking around just clicking at anything that moves has a downside. Most of the time if not always you wind up with crappy shots. That said unless you're taking pictures of the Pope or President it's not the best idea to just run around trying to force a shot.

For me 'street photography' requires a lot of planning (when I get a chance to do it). I will walk around and note scenic areas, I will also walk around and make note of when and where the light is at. Recognizing good light is key. For example if you camp out near a glass high rise on a shiny day odds are you will get a ton of reflection back into your image. Basically put I am looking more for a 'landscape shot' and I approach it in ways that are similar to that.


I will take days or longer to figure out where I want to shoot, what kind of background it will produce, and try to determine the best kind of light for that area. Then on top of that I have to see if there will even be people in that area when the stars align. Overall the whole thing can take a ton of preparation and advance planning.


One key feature that helps facilitate things though is the tilting screen. It makes you look less conspicuous. I might only get 5 or 10 shots off, but at the end of the day I might have 1-2 keepers.


On another level I also do stuff in big crowds. When there is a festive mood going on it's a great time to 'run and gun'. By "Festive Mood" it can be anything from a riot in the street to a big street party. In those kinds of situations it's much easier to do the whole 'running around shooting thing'. It doesn't or rarely I should say give you 'technically good' photos all the time but rather is more of a documentation of the events.


Really there is no right or wrong answer. It all is dependent on situations and what your end product is that you want to produce. Planning 3, 4 or 5 days for a 30 or 45 minute window to get shots isn't what a lot of people consider 'street' but it really in fact is.


I guess the real question here is are you trying to document something or are you trying to create and capture an artistic impression of something?
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