2 days ago marked my 2 year anniversary on Steemit. I just wanted to thank everyone of you who made this the best time of my life. I got to know a lot of amazing people here whether through curating or sharing my personal stories. Still a long way to go for this platform, but I'm just happy to be a part of it. Now to today's topic.
For anyone who is starting in street photography this is probably the biggest challenge. Let's be honest, photographing total strangers on the streets can be intimidating and you never know how they'll react if they see you taking their photo. This fear often causes photographers to act sneaky, conceal their camera, "shoot from the heap" or without looking at the composition etc.
Here are a few tips that helped me along the way to feel more relaxed when out on the streets.
- Smile - people will be more relaxed around you if give out a happy vibe and don't look threatening :)
- Act like a tourist - Good advice regardless of street photography, but here it can especially help out. People are generally accustomed to tourists and their cameras so pretend to be one and "take" photos of everything
- "Make a video" - just walk around and pretend as if you are making a video, while actually taking photos of things you find interesting
- Go to more crowded places - you will stick out less when there's bunch of people around
- Avoid eye contact - If you prefer interacting with your subjects then ignore this advice. However, if you just want to make the photo and leave the scene, it's best to avoid eye contact. If someone sees you taking a photo of them, you can either give them a thumbs up to let them know you are OK with them noticing you, or you can just move the camera pretending to photograph something else and just move on. :)
- Use smaller camera with a silent shutter - If you point a big DSLR in someone's face, people may get scared. So get one of those smaller, mirrorless cameras with a leaf shutter or just use your phone.
- Don't overstay your welcome - if you stay too long shooting a particular scene, it may start to annoy people. Know your settings beforehand so you are able to make couple of photos and leave.
That's it, those are my tips to ease your life if you like street photography. Let me know if you try it out. :) As always, here are some recent photos, hope you enjoy.
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Useful tips, I have always wanted a few pointers on how to start so thank you! And happy 2 year anniversary!!
Thank you! Good luck if you try these out. :)
Looks like you are getting better! Great job!
Thanks! I'm glad you think so. :)
Yes good advice. Also I have found that shooting video can be a great way to get cool stills, but the quality not as good of course but it has potential, especially for manipulating these kinds of images further. Manipulating the accidental like this can lead to great stuff and nice surprises.
I don't think I would shoot a video to extract images from it. Yeah, it might help capture some moments, but I like to wait for the decisive ones and time the shutter. It's more fun that way. I don't use continuos shooting mode for the same reason. Great if it works for you. :)
Really useful tips! I admit I have some problems to take pics total strangers on the streets, because the reasons you wrote, but I'll try to use your tips to contrast my fear to do it ^_^
Good luck if you try them out. :)
You really do it in an inspiring way. It's a real pleasure for me to watch your photos and be sure that I am not exaggerating. Regards.
I'm very happy to hear that! Thank you.
Incredible images! I really enjoyed the ones "through the windows" - there's magic in the way these images have been processed, and I simply love the colours, they've got an excellent, film-like quality to them.
Thanks! Yeah, those are very entertaining to capture and edit. Glad you enjoyed!
woow what Said here is very amazing and to be honest you are such a talented person to take all these nice photography. I got some positive vibes indeed.
Keep it up.
Хорошая информация! Я последую вашему совету! А то иногда такое бывает, что кому-то не понравится.
just ah perfect click!
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...I wouldn't like to be photographed by a stranger in the street without being paid.
Most people don't mind, but yeah some may not like it. It's just how it is, if you visit public places there is a chance of someone photographing you. :)
Dear Daniel...I agree when we speak about public places where you may have a lot of people on your photo...but the examples that you show in your blog are one or two people exposed to your curiosity... these are nice shots by the way...but as you say "just how it is" you may your shooting device having destroyed by some angry person.
The world is full of angry people, I can't worry about all of them. I just do my own thing like every other street photographer. The genre produced some of the most important photographers of our time who simply liked to document spontaneous life as it happens.
Hello @alcibiades, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!
Short but precise tips, man! I write about street photography too so I really apreciate these kinds of posts!
Great tips, and great photos. One of my favourite techniques is to find the context in which you want to shoot and then let the people walk into that context. For example, find a narrow street with a shaft of light entering it, get your exposure ready and then, when someone walks through the shot, take it. It kinda helps with the "stalker paparazzi" issue that comes with being a street photographer. It seems like you are taking the image without them there. Often they will apologise for walking into your shot without knowing that they have done you a favour by doing so :D
Thanks! Yeah that too, forgot to mention it. When you take a good spot and wait for people to pass by it's like they are invading your space instead of the other way around, so it's easier. Sometimes they'll stop or go around to not ruin your "shot" though. :D Trick to not have that happen is to check your composition first, then when you see a subject approaching put the camera down and just before they enter you raise the camera back as if you were waiting them to pass. :)
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