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PHOTOGRAPHY:
A CONCISE GUIDE
By Anne Darling
KINDLE EDITION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
SECTION 1: CITY, URBAN & RURAL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
Street Photography in Cities
Urban Street Photography
Rural Street Photography
SECTION 2: EQUIPMENT & TECHNIQUE
Cameras
Lenses
How to hold the camera
Shooting from the hip
Zone Focussing
Black and White or Colour?
Different angles
Intentional Blur
SECTION 3: LIGHT
Weather & Light
Strong Sunlight
Back light
Front light
Side light
Cloud & Shade
Reflected Light
Dawn & Dusk Light
Night Light
Synthetic Light
SECTION 4: CANDID, POSED & ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS
Candid Portrait Photography
Posed Street Photography
Environmental Portrait Photography
SECTION 5: TIPS FOR BETTER PHOTOS
Overcoming fear
Format
Find a good background
Eye contact
Hands
Humour
Words
Captions and titles
SECTION 6: QUICK TIPS
RECOMMENDED READING
ANY QUESTIONS?
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY:
A CONCISE GUIDE
Anne Darling
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“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.” Confucius
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INTRODUCTION
Of all the genres of photography, street photography to me is the greatest. It is also one of
the most demanding. Although it’s been around since the 19th century, it’s only now, in the
digital era, that it’s become really popular. Perhaps it’s the freedom it seems to offer,
perhaps it’s the challenges, or perhaps it’s the feeling of capturing a piece of reality or of
being part of the ceaseless ebb and flow of human life.
In many ways, street photography is easier than ever: cheaper cameras with a wide range
of functionality; memory cards which hold a massive number of images; zoom lenses as
standard; and affordable or even free post-processing software to tweak your shots to
perfection. But in other ways, it’s more challenging than ever before as cameras get more
complicated and laws and attitudes to shooting on the streets change. Also, with so many
images on the internet it’s difficult to make your work stand out.
So the reason behind this book is to share my love of street photography with you through
my own images, and to also share what has worked for me with regard to technique. It’s
my hope that you will be inspired to venture forth, with increased confidence, onto the
streets of the city or village you live in, and to create more and better shots than ever
before.
All you need is a camera which allows you to control the shutter speed, aperture and ISO
manually plus a little bit of motivation to get out there and just do it! Here’s a few reasons
why I think you will love street photography:
It’s about people and nothing is more interesting as a subject to photograph
There is a feeling of great anticipation as soon as you leave the house which stays
with you all day
Every time you go out with your camera is an adventure
You often meet people who you remember for ever after
People in general are warm and welcome you and that makes it a joy
It’s often humorous
‘The decisive moment’ gives you a real buzz - all the elements come together in
front of you and you have a few seconds or even a split second to get the shot
You get to preserve memories of places you have visited
You are creating a personal, documentary history, a visual diary
It’s always unpredictable – will you get any great shots today? Or will you go
home empty handed?
The scene is always changing, always new
You can tell a story in a single shot, you don’t need a series of images
Above: The Kiss (Royan, France) - (1/125 s; f/8; ISO 200; 40 mm)
Street photography usually involves people who are either unaware of the photographer or
show little interest in them such that the action can be photographed in a natural way,
almost like being a fly on the wall. Like documentary photos, street photographs are
usually fairly objective, or at least that is the aim of the photographer.
Above: Sidelong Glance (Margao Town Square, India) - (1/200 s; f/5.6; ISO 100; 200
mm)
Urban Street Photography
Urban photography relates to the city, to urban areas, to images made (or found) while
walking around the streets. But it differs from street photography (which is about life, as it
is lived, right there in front of your lens) in that there are usually no people in the images.
Instead, the life of the city is found inscribed in its buildings, both the monumental and the
decrepit.
Urban photography can therefore be more spontaneous as it does not rely on the random
presence of human subjects the way street photography does. As a genre, urban
photography is becoming increasingly popular, and with more and more people living in
cities, this genre offers great opportunities for making interesting images. Travelling also
offers great opportunities to practise urban photography.
Think of urban pictures as representing an archaeology of people who project onto the
buildings their aspirations, expectations, and cultural values. These edifices and urban
landscapes become art when the photographer frames them within the limits of the
viewfinder.
Above: Blessings of the Pope (Lourdes, France) - (1/100 s; f/5.6; ISO 200; 22 mm)
The picture above was made during a visit to Lourdes in the south of France, a major
place of Roman Catholic pilgrimage and of miraculous healings. It features no pedestrians
yet we can learn much and enjoy the cultural references and ironies.
Urban photography is abstract, it implies life, but there are no people there unless they are
very small and insignificant and only add to the aesthetic or abstract organisation of the
two-dimensional surface of the photo.
Urban photography often conveys a feeling of isolation or emptiness and its proponents
like to photograph old railway lines, sewers, empty warehouses, abandoned buildings,
under bridges… these are the kind of images that can be called ‘urban’.
What attracted me to make the next image was the way the light transfigured the
underbelly of a modern, concrete bridge into a watery, Romantic wonderland. The natural
light and shadow in Under the Bridge created colour where one would not ordinarily
expect it. The utilitarian landscape acts as the basic structure and contrasts with sparse,
weedy vegetation and some weathered brick in the background. Under the Bridge also
alludes to the flux of time. The composition imposes upon the structure what is, to my eye,
a static and timeless nature.
Above: Under the Bridge (Jonzac, France) - (1/75 s; f/3.1; ISO 200; 8.3 mm)
The next shot is another urban scene in a town with the rather weird name of Dong
Ujimqinqi in Inner Mongolia. I don’t know what that funny looking thing in the
foreground is - it’s a pole with a spirally-wiry thing on the top - but it’s definitely urban
photography. No people, so not true street photography. Urban photography is like
landscape photography but it’s not done in the countryside. Call it cityscape photography
if you like.
Above: The Town of Dong Ujimqinqi, Inner Mongolia - (1/80 s; f/18; ISO 200; 18 mm)
Rural Street Photography
Rural street photography is just street photography done in a rural setting. Perhaps the
countryside and country roads are too sparsely populated for serious street photographers
to venture into these areas so they opt for the streets of busy cities. But photographers who
live in the country may often work in the country and document the life around them.
That life is a very different one from city life and is certainly worthy of documentation.
Not only is the general vista different, with its fields and big, open skies but the buildings
are more likely to be farm buildings than office blocks, and as well as people there are
often cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and other domestic animals. If you’re patient enough or
just lucky you can also see deer, badgers, squirrels and other wild animals. The whole
dynamic of country life is different.
It’s not just the landscape that is different, or the light, but the very fabric of life. Even the
villages and small towns can be viewed as an extension of rural life and in towns that
support a farmer’s market you may find people selling eggs and other local produce such
as cheese, meat, vegetables and so on.
Rural street photography, in all probability, was around before street photography in cities.
Photographers such as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans documented the life and times
outside of their studios. Much of their work is candid portraiture made out on the streets of
rural America.
Above: A Country Path, Jonzac, France - (1/100 s; f/6.3; ISO 200; 15 mm)
By now I hope you realise that it doesn’t matter where you live, whether town, city or
countryside, you can always find subject matter for your photos. If you would like to
become a street photographer but are shy and a bit intimated by the thought of
photographing people, you might like to start with urban photography and take it from
there. But let’s move on now to a consideration of the equipment you will need and some
techniques specifically used by street and urban photographers.
Above: Outside the Temple, Karnataka, India - (1/160 s, f/4.5, ISO 100, 33 mm)
Cameras
Virtually any portable camera is good for street photography: SLRs, both film and digital,
compact cameras, rangefinders, toy cameras such as Lomos, Dianas and Holgas, Leicas,
micro four-thirds, even camera phones. All are suitable. But you can spend forever
browsing the internet to find out which camera would be the ‘perfect’ one for you so here
are a few tips before you begin your quest.
1. The ability to control depth-of-field is essential when photographing people in any
situation, in or out of the studio. With street photography, the ability to accurately judge
the depth-of-field becomes invaluable. Having a camera with a digital depth-of-field scale
or a lens with the scale marked on it, will really give you extra creative control.
2. A shutter that is very quiet is preferable to one that is loud because a loud one attracts
attention and you can easily lose the opportunity to take further shots in a candid fashion.
3. If you buy a digital camera, you need a resolution of 10 megapixels or more to make
sure there is a generous amount of picture area for cropping if you so wish. Note that the
sensor is important too, and can affect the quality of the image as much as pixel count.
The smaller the sensor, the more you will find digital noise present. So bigger is better
when it comes to sensor size. Professional DSLRs have a full-frame sensor and measure
36x24 mm. Entry level DSLRs have slightly smaller sensors. In general, the smaller the
camera, the smaller the sensor. The sensor in a camera phone can be as small as 25 mm2.
4. There are times when making use of the manual focus is essential, for example, when
light levels are low the auto focus may not be able to cope. As a street photographer you
need to be able to do this as quickly as possible so a camera that makes it easy to focus as
quickly and accurately as possible is another great boon.
5. A camera that lets you set the ISO fairly high while delivering images with an
acceptable level of digital noise. Some say Canon, others say Nikon… you need to make
an informed choice on this one so look for camera reviews which compare digital noise at
800 ISO and even 1600 ISO.
6. Cameras that can accept the fastest memory cards on the market are obviously better
because they allow you to shoot and then keep on shooting. You don’t want to miss a great
shot in the ever-changing scene in front of you because you were trying to make shots too
quickly and the card couldn’t keep up.
7. Don’t buy from the internet. Go in to a camera shop and talk to the people there. Tell
them what you want, what you can afford and get good solid advice. Tell them you will
think about it. Go back again if need be. Take time over this because you may be using
that camera for many years to come. Consider your time investment as important as your
money investment. Get the feel of the cameras in the store. Is it a bit heavy? A bit small
and fiddly? These kind of questions will lead you to the purchase of the camera that is
right for you personally. When all the technical considerations are put aside, whether or
not the camera suits you personally is perhaps the most important.
8. Consider a refurbished or second-hand camera. You can often find superb cameras this
way at affordable prices. Refurbished cameras are cameras which have been sent back to
the factory as an unwanted gift or a shop demonstration model. They are thoroughly
checked at the factory, reboxed and sold at reduced prices and with a renewed guarantee.
Check out Amazon for the latest refurbished models. Offers change quickly so keep
checking back.
9. Remember that there is no such thing as the perfect camera. If you want superb quality,
the payoff is a heavier, bulkier camera. If you want light weight and portable, you will find
the image quality suffers. So think about what I most important to you.
Above: Temple Boy (Karnataka, India) – (1/60 s; f/9; ISO 100; 55 mm)
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A good photograph has a direct simplicity without recourse to dazzling technique. -
Isräelis Bidermanas (known as Izis), Lithuanian-Jewish photographer who worked in
France
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Lenses
Above: The Final Farewell (Shaoxing, China) - (1/320 s; f/7.1; ISO 200; 200 mm)
How to hold the camera
It is totally impractical to carry around a tripod with you when you are out shooting so it is
important that you hold the camera in such a way that you minimize camera shake and
thereby avoid blurred images. Blurred images are most likely to occur when the light is
low and you are shooting with a slow shutter speed simply because the shutter will be
open for longer.
Not only do slower shutter speeds increase the likelihood of blur but so does holding the
camera at arm’s length as any slight movement in your hand will be amplified If you
really feel the need to hold your camera at arm’s length in order to frame the shot just the
way you want it, then try to use two hands to help you keep it steady as using one hand
only will add to the movement.
Some people like to breathe in, hold their breath while they press the button, and then
breathe out after they take the shot. This can be helpful so try it out but perhaps breathing
out first, taking the shot, then breathing in will work better. Do whatever works best for
you. Also, make sure you squeeze the shutter release button gently to avoid shake.
If you stand with your two legs a little apart it can add to the stability of your body or if
you can find a wall or tree to lean against, this can also help. Kneeling will also help to
keep you steady and you can get some interesting angles when you are lower down. I do
find though that kneeling draws attention to me and my camera so I don’t do it very often
but if you are a bold kind of person you might like to try it.
If you have image stabilization on your camera this can really help and allow shutter
speeds up to 4 stops slower. Image stabilization won’t eliminate motion blur though nor
will it freeze blur due to moving objects such as cars. But it will reduce camera shake due
to normal, tiny movements of the hand that occur naturally.
If you are going to line up your shot using the view finder, then the camera will obviously
be close in to your body so tuck your elbows into your body while remaining relaxed and
stand with your two feet a little way apart to give your body extra stability.
Bear in mind that long focal length (telephoto) lenses will increase camera shake.
Most importantly, find out what works for you and make sure you feel relaxed and
comfortable whatever method you develop.
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There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. – Ansel Adams, American
photographer (1902-1984)
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Shooting from the hip
‘Shooting from the hip’ is a phrase which street photographers have borrowed from Wild
West movies when gunfighters would shoot their target while the gun was still holstered.
It meant they could shoot more quickly than their opponent and required the shooter to
really think on their feet.
Some street photographers like to ‘shoot from the hip’ too, meaning they don’t bother to
raise the camera to their eye but press the shutter release button while the camera is still
hanging round their neck.
Shooting from the hip allows you to be more discrete when making shots. Your subject
may have a suspicion that you have just pressed the shutter release button but because the
camera is held low down on your body, near the waist, it is less likely to annoy people
than if the camera is held at the same level as their face. And a lot of the time they just
won’t notice. But the most important thing is, you will be able to take pictures of people
that look very natural, as if you were a fly on the wall.
However, shooting from the hip doesn’t mean you are shooting blind. You will need to
engage your imagination much more. Going home with tons of photos which were taken
in a random fashion with the camera held at waist height is akin to giving a chimpanzee a
camera and letting it push the buttons all day. Yes, you might get something that looks like
Cartier-Bresson took it but more likely you will get a bunch of dull or blurred shots that
you need to delete quickly before anyone sees them!
Shooting from the hip needs practice. A wide angle lens works best as it will include the
whole scene around your subject and allows for some cropping in post-processing. I have
a Canon 10-22 mm lens which works fine for this method. Frame your shot without
looking at the camera at all as this draws attention to it. Look ahead and frame the shot
mentally – in your imagination. Practise this technique a lot and it will get easier, I
promise.
Set your camera to a fairly fast shutter speed such as 1/125, 1/250 second or even 1/500 if
there is enough light. This will ensure there is no blur. Do this during daytime. At night
there isn’t enough light.
If the light is good and you have a small enough aperture to match your fast shutter speed,
you will have a good depth-of-field. So pre-focus your camera using a nearby wall (this is
called Zone Focussing – see the next section for a more detailed explanation) and keep it
at that setting. As you walk around, you can make shots of people when they are roughly
the same distance away as the wall was. If you have problems with blurred shots, refocus
at a different distance and keep trying until it works for you.
You can also shoot hands-free with the camera on a table outside a café and a wireless
shutter-release in your hand. Or try hanging the camera on your shoulder and wait for
people to move into view. Again, always experiment to find what works best for you.
Zone Focussing
Some photographers advocate zone focussing as a method of ensuring that your shots are
sharp throughout while still allowing you to make natural-looking candid shots. To do this
you need to choose your cameras settings in advance so that your shot will have the depth-
of-field you want.
If the light is good it helps but if not, you need to choose a high ISO. If you are indoors
(for example, on a platform on the London Underground) then you could use a high ISO
such as 3200 although you will get a fair bit of digital noise. On balance though, the
choice of a high ISO gives you more leeway with your other settings, the most important
of which is aperture because it affects the depth-of-field the most.
The five main factors which affect depth-of-field are aperture, ISO, focal length, focal
point, and the size of your camera’s sensor.
1. The smaller the aperture, the greater the depth-of-field. So f/16 will be much
greater than f/2.8 for example.
2. A higher ISO will let you choose a smaller aperture which in turn will give a
greater depth-of-field
3. The wider your lens, the greater the depth-of-field. At 10 mm more of the scene
will be sharply focussed than at 28 mm.
4. The further away the focal point, the greater the depth-of-field. Focussing at 10
feet will give you more of the scene in sharp focus than focussing at 3 feet.
5. Cameras with small sensors take shots that have greater depth-of-field than
cameras with large sensors.
There is a great website called DOFMaster which has a depth-of-field calculator that
allows you to choose your camera, focal length, f-stop and subject distance and it then
calculates the nearest and furthest limits of the depth-of-field – the zone. It’s a useful tool
for getting an idea of how depth-of-field changes as the settings change.
So… once you have set the aperture as you would like it, and chosen a suitable shutter
speed, all you have to do is focus the camera manually on a particular point in the scene,
and wait for people to walk into the zone. When you press the shutter release you can be
sure your subject will be sharply focussed. There will be no need to wait for the focussing
mechanism to kick in. Plus, you can be very discrete as you don’t need to put the camera
up to your eye.
I’ve summarised the whole process here but it needs a bit of practise to get right and then
more practise to make it automatic. So if at first you don’t succeed…
SECTION 3: LIGHT
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Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light.
Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography. - George
Eastman, founder of the Eastman Kodak Company (1854-1932)
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Above: Water Reflection (1/160 s; f/5.6; ISO 1250; 113 mm) - Photo by Éva Zara /
Pixabay
Try doing a Google search for Martin Parr’s “Bad Weather” series and browse some of the
often amusing shots Parr made for his book of the same name. Wind, rain, fog and snow
were all grist to the mill for Parr as he bravely ventured forth with his (waterproof) camera
for this acclaimed series of shots made in 1981.
If you don’t have a waterproof camera, It is possible to buy a waterproof housing for your
camera, whether DSLR or compact, or even make one from a plastic supermarket bag
with holes cut in it but I have personally never got on with them very well. If it is raining
lightly I don’t worry too much about the odd spot of rain and if it is raining heavily then I
just use a shop doorway or the overhang of a building to make sure my precious camera
keeps dry!
Strong Sunlight
Strong sunlight creates strong, hard shadows like those in the shot below, and is not ideal
for making pictures of people. The soft, even light such as you find on an overcast day is
better for most street shots because you won’t have to deal with these shadows which can
look ugly.
Above: Three Young Men, Goa, India (1/250 s; f/8; ISO 100; 102 mm)
The shot above demonstrates how hard shadows can look. They don’t always spoil an
image, but it is important to be aware of them. Also, you will find there is a loss of detail
in the dark side of the face which can be difficult to retrieve in post-processing.
Back light
When the light is behind your subject it is called back light. If you want to create a
silhouette or add drama to your shot, this can be a good choice. Macro shots of flowers
can also benefit from backlight as the light will shine through their semi-transparent
petals.
Back lit shots are a bit more difficult to expose properly though. You can either expose for
the shadows to help you retain details in the dark areas or expose for the light to deepen
the shadow areas and create a silhouette.
There is also the possibility of lens flare with back lit shots. You may not want to use a
lens hood as they attract attention to your camera in which case just shield the lens from
the sun with one hand. Or go with the creative urge and find an angle on your subject
which uses the lens flare to good effect.
Above: Silhouette of an Old Man (1/320 s; f/18; ISO 6400; 50 mm) (Photo Courtesy of
PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay)
Front light
When the light is in front of your subject (in other words it is behind you, the
photographer, and illuminates your subject’s face) it is called front light. Front light can be
very harsh and can make people squint. However, at dawn and dusk, front light can work
well especially for city street photographers who can make creative use of the light
reflecting off windows and walls. Keep an eye on the histogram to ensure the highlights
are not blown out, and use the exposure compensation to adjust the exposure time to suit.
Side light
Light coming from the side can be very attractive and creates a modelling effect on
objects, as you can see in the shot of a tree-lined avenue below. It also brings out textures.
The shadows that side light cast can be an interesting element of the photograph in
themselves. Early and late in the day, side light will create the longest shadows and can
add drama and impact to your shots.
Above: Street Artist, Xi’an, China ((1/60 s, f/5.6, ISO 400, 50 mm)
Below is another example of reflected light. The image shows a man reading from a book,
possibly some kind of a journal as there is a pen on the ground beside him. He is seated by
a pillar in the grounds of a Hindu temple in Karnataka in India. I was drawn to make this
shot as I liked his absorbed expression, the echoed shape of his legs in the carving on the
pillar, and, importantly, the reflected light on his face from the white pages of the book.
Above: Canal-side Dweller, Shaoxing, China (1/60s; f/4; ISO 200; 18 mm)
The next shot above is also a candid photo, shot from a sampan on the canals of Shaoxing
in Zhejiang Province, a town renowned for its hundreds of canals and bridges. I captured
this shot as my boat drifted along the canal, a few feet below the water-side dwellings. I
don’t know who he was smiling at, certainly not me, but I particularly liked the framing of
the shot, and the natural, unposed feeling.
If you want to ensure you get candid shots, try using continuous shooting mode to make a
series of images. Sometimes you can capture the perfect facial gesture that way or an
interesting gesture that you might have missed if you had been shooting in single shot
mode. I don’t like to use this method too often as I think it’s a bit like monkeys and
typewriters. If you give enough monkeys a typewriter each and let them bash around at
will, sooner or later you will get something equivalent to a Shakespeare play. Or not.
Another way to get good candid shots is to photograph people while they are engaged in
doing something interesting such as work for example. The shot below shows two people
in their workshop, engaged in the making of a duvet. The workshop opens on to the street
and it stays open while they work to allow air to circulate. This was lucky for me as it
gave me the opportunity to look in and to make a series of shots.
Above: Making a Duvet by Hand (Lanzhou, China) - (1/80s; f/7.1; ISO 800; 10 mm)
I used a Canon 10-22 mm wide-angle lens for the shot at the widest setting which is why
there is some distortion at the sides of the frame. However, a focal length of 10 mm meant
that I could include both people, husband and wife, and the whole of duvet which was in
the process of being constructed.
Posed Street Photography
Posed street photography is the antithesis of candid street photography. The photograph
below is a posed shot although it was the children themselves who adopted the pose, I did
not direct them at all.
The image shows children from an impoverished background - they are not used to posing
in front of cameras. Perhaps they are so poor that they have never seen a camera. Their
faces are very serious – no cheesy smiles - but I captured a sense of dignity in the image
which I really like, and although it is posed, the image retains some of the feel of candid
street photography.
Above: Railway Children (Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China) - (1/50 s; f/3.5; ISO 800; 10
mm)
Robert Capa, the war photographer, famous for his statement: “If your pictures aren’t good
enough, you aren’t close enough”, died when he moved from his Jeep to get closer to the
action and unwittingly stood on a land mine so perhaps his advice shouldn’t be adhered to
all of the time. Making an environmental portrait is one of those times.
When making environmental portraits you need to move a bit further away from your
subject in order to include more of their working or living environment as it is the details
of their daily life which add interest to your shot – the more you include, the better
because the really great thing about environmental portraits is that they tell us so much
more about a person than a standard portrait shot of someone placed in front of a wall or a
photo of someone made in a studio. A wide angle lens is almost essential as you want to
include as much of the surroundings as possible.
Environmental portraits often work best when you take a little time to interact with your
subject and get them to relax a bit, even forgetting the camera if possible. While you are
chatting to them, take in the surroundings. You want every element of your image to count
in the final shot.
Think about the background in particular and try to eliminate anything irrelevant by
judicious framing or by using a larger aperture to limit the depth-of-field. Bear in mind
that you can crop the image later in post-processing.
Let the action unfold in front of you, and be ready with your camera set so that you can
respond quickly. You may want a larger aperture to blur out the background a bit but bear
in mind that a faster shutter speed might be the better choice for a quick reaction time. The
choice is yours.
The shot above of three children shows them in one of the rooms of their two-bedroomed
dwelling. The other room is where there mother sleeps. There are no washing facilities, no
running water, no bathroom, and no toilet. All these facilities are in a communal building
and are shared with local residents.
The next shot is a group portrait in which I included much of the environment. As often
happens in environmental portraits, the background proved to have its own level of
interest, and whether the girls were laughing at the boy’s ripped trousers or not, I will
never know.
Above: Ripped Trousers (India) - (1/250 s; f/5; ISO 200; 72 mm)
The final shot below was a grab shot I made whilst on a bicycle rickshaw tour through
small villages in Goa in India. The man didn’t seem to care whether I made a shot or not
but I liked the framing and the inclusion of his home in the background, coupled with the
relaxed posture and indifferent facial expression.
Above: Nonchalant (1/320 s; f/4.5; ISO 100; 86 mm)
Overcoming fear
This is one of the hardest aspects of street photography for many people especially if you
want to get shots close up. I have found that many photographers don’t like having their
own portrait made and are often very shy in front of cameras. They therefore assume that
the people who they want to make photos of will naturally feel the same way but this isn’t
necessarily true. In fact, many people are flattered that you want to take their picture.
1. Take it slowly
First of all, take heart in the knowledge that one of the world’s most famous
photographers, Robert Doisneau, had great problems in the beginning with his shyness
and fear of making photographs on the street.
Doisneau started by taking photos of children because he didn’t feel intimated by them.
It’s a bit more difficult in today’s climate to make photos of children but I have found that
people who have dogs are very happy for you to make photos of their beloved pooch.
I met the woman in the photo to the right in a small village in France. I petted the dog and
praised him before asking her if I could make the dog’s photo. She happily agreed and I
made a few shots before sneakily including her as well in one of the images. When she
realised she had been included, she threw back her head in laughter. That’s when I got the
final image, the one you see here.
There is also a larger version at the beginning of the book. Although she was in her
slippers and didn’t have her teeth in, she was happy to have her photograph made, and
actually thought the fact that she had been tricked very funny. I didn’t find out her name
but I do know that the dog was called Poonie.
2. Blend in, move quietly
Another tip that helps, is to blend in with your background. This means avoid wearing
brightly coloured clothing, move slowly, and so on. Also, some photographers like to use
a zoom lens so they can capture people from a distance but the problem with that is that
zoom lenses are often very big and can be heavy and clunky when the camera is hanging
round your neck. Having a prime lens may be a better option as it is smaller, lightweight,
and almost disappears into the body of the camera. It will make you feel that the camera
(and you) are less obtrusive).
Above: Hello Kitty (Zoo de la Palmyre, France) (1/500s; f/4; ISO 800; 28 mm)
In the shot above, I have used words to make an observation. The little girl has a T-shirt
with the words ‘Hello Kitty’ on the back which refers to the well-known fictional
character and the huge range of soft toys and gift items which became a global
phenomenon. She clutches a toy leopard while a real leopard silently walks past on the
other side of the glass.
I am a great lover of animals so this picture for me is a comment on how many people see
them, either as zoo exhibits for their amusement or as cute and cuddly but never as wild
beasts with needs and rights of their own. To get this shot I had to be patient, and I moved
quietly so as not to disturb the child. So be like the big cat in the picture, move quietly,
with stealth, and you will get your shot!
3. Engage your subject
Above: Kiosk Vendor (Shaoxing, China) - (1/160s ; f/4; ISO 200; 27 mm)
One way to overcome any fear of photographing on the streets is to actively engage your
subject. This is a bold move but if you engage people in light conversation or even just
smile at them, you can often weigh them up quite quickly and decide just how friendly
they might be – or otherwise! Once you have engaged them for a while, indicate that you
would like to make a photo of them. Your shots are street portraits at this point, not really
candid photos, but it will let you get started and with repetition and practice will help you
to overcome your fears. Once you are feeling a bit more confident you will know
intuitively when you can make photos without asking and when you need to ask first.
4. Disengage your subject
Do not get so close to your subject that they feel you are standing in their space. Move
back a bit. You can still use a wide focal length but you will have more of the scene
around your subject included in the shot. This lets you show the person in their
environment which can often make for more interesting images. Plus your subject will not
feel threatened if you have moved back a bit and will be more likely to ignore you. It will
also give you more confidence when shooting.
5. Be patient
Usually when the subject of your photo involves two or more people, at some point they
will become involved in something other than you and your camera. Life moves fast, so be
ready to make your shot just as soon as they are engaged in another activity.
Above: In Your Dreams (Dalian, China) - (1/80 s; f/10; ISO 200; 38 mm)
At other times you may just want to lose the background by choosing a different angle or a
wider aperture to create a smaller depth-of-field and some nice blur. Either way, the
background can make or break a good shot. The shot below was made very hastily in
response to a wonderful Chinese gentleman who crossed the street specifically to say hello
to me and to have his photograph taken. We didn’t communicate very well as neither one
of us spoke the other’s language but he was friendly and he waved nicely so I made a
photo.
Eye contact
Above: Creating a Calligraphy Block (Xi’an, China) (1/60 s; f/7.1; ISO 400; 50 mm)
Although facial expressions are one of the most interesting things to photograph, hands
can tell a lot about a person too. We all work with our hands, even office workers type or
use the telephone. Even when we are not directly using our hands in a particular task, we
gesticulate, we wave, we touch, hold, throw our hands up in the air. So much of our body
language is communicated through hand gestures.
The above shot of someone creating a calligraphy block was taken in a street market in
Xi’an in China. We don’t need to see the man’s face to feel his patience and concentration,
and to realise that many years of learning have gone into the skill of crafting this detailed
stamp block, his hands say it all.
Another example is given below. This shot was made in a mosque just outside the men’s
washrooms. The man with the long stick, sitting on the floor, is counting money that has
been given to him by one of the men visiting the mosque. He is obviously a beggar but he
wears the traditional hat which men of the hui Muslim community in China wear so he is
clearly welcome at the mosque.
Don’t pay for photos. If you are travelling in a country where the economy is poorer than
your own, you may find some people have expectations regarding your wallet. Have I ever
paid for a photo? No, and I probably wouldn’t, certainly not in advance. However, I have
given money to people on some occasions where I thought it would be helpful, not where I
thought it was expected. When I was travelling through China, I once gave 100 Yuan to an
elderly gentleman who I was told was three months behind with his grand-daughter’s
school fees. 100 Yuan was just £7 to me but to him it was the equivalent of a whole
month’s rent.
Don’t hesitate, click first, think later - or as the Nike slogan says: ‘Just do it!’
Use a prime lens for a whole day and see how it changes the way you work. When you
don’t have a zoom lens to move in and out, you have to move your body instead. This
involves you much more in the scene and makes you less of a voyeur. By changing the
way you work, you change the way your photos look.
Be very careful when photographing children, even if the parents are standing right
next to them. I was attacked once at a bus stop for taking a general shot of the people
waiting for the bus to arrive, and there was a cute little girl standing right in the middle of
the scene. The mother was incensed and tried to rip the camera from my neck. Always ask
first if it’s a child you want to photograph.
Above: The Art of Communication (Jonzac, France) - (1/97 s; f/4.9; ISO 100; 8.3 mm)
Train yourself to be decisive. If you take a series of photographs of the same subject,
usually the one that works best is either the first or the last. You know when you’ve got
the shot you wanted. When you think ‘That’s the one’, when you feel it clicked inside of
you, move on to something else, don’t overwork it.
Avoid using zoom a lens - it distances you literally and metaphorically from your subject.
Wide angle lenses are good - they let you take in a large area of the scene easily and they
are better when light levels are low.
Smile! Of all the street photography techniques, the most important one has got to be -
smile. Try to connect with people all the time (unless they look scary). It really works.
You will remember the event. I spent an hour and a half in a family’s home in Inner
Mongolia because I smiled at them in the street as I was passing by. They didn’t speak
English and I didn’t speak Mongolian but we got on like a house on fire, so much so that
they offered me dinner in the family restaurant, and, more importantly, their friendship.
The photos I made were exhibited in the National Art Museum of China in Beijing as part
of a 60-year celebration. And it all started with a smile!
Above: The Family Restaurant, Inner Mongolia (1/30 s; ISO 400; f/3.5; 18 mm)
Always have a UV (ultra violet) filter on your lens - it works as a transparent lens cap.
It’s inexpensive, protects your optics, and one day you will be glad it was there. With a
UV filter in place, you will be able to respond really quickly to what’s happening in front
of you as you won’t waste time taking the lens cap off!
Take your camera everywhere. I mean, everywhere.
Get feedback. Garry Winogrand said that photographers often mistake the emotion they
feel while taking the picture as judgment that the photograph is good. The only way to
know whether the photo is really communicating that emotion to others is to ask them.
Above: Sensing the Qi (Shaoxing, China) - (1/80 s; f/5.6; ISO 200; 200 mm)
Don’t just ask your best friend or a member of your family who you know is going to say
what a wonderful shot that was because they want to be supportive. Ask someone who
will tell you what they like and what they don’t like. If you know someone whose
photographic work you admire, even better as they can give you feedback which will help
you to do even better next time. Never get complacent!
“Don’t think, but look.” This is a famous quote by the philosopher Wittgenstein. What it
means to me is, give your brain a rest, switch off, become aware of the spaciousness that
surrounds you, of how everything and everyone is in their right place, nothing
overlapping, it’s all good just as it is. Walk around with that awareness and just look, give
your analysing, left brain the day off. Don’t hunt for shots, just wait for them to happen.
Make your street photography into a form of relaxation.
Above: Time to Relax (Pingyao, China) (1/125 s; f/5.6; ISO 200; 18 mm)
And my final tip… As a street photographer you will be moving around a lot so please
keep in mind that it is very important to be careful when you cross the road!
Above: The Out-Patient (1/125 s; f/16; ISO 200; 55 mm)
RECOMMENDED READING
If you want to be a great photographer then you need to study great photographs and find
out how the giants of the past worked. Below I have listed some of the most important
names in the field of documentary photography including a link to a Wikipedia article for
each one and a link directly to their book page on Amazon.com. Never give up learning
and growing, and good luck with your street photography.
John Thomson - Scottish photographer (1837-1921) on Wikipedia and on Amazon.com
Eugène Atget – French photographer (1857-1927) on Wikipedia and on Amazon.com
Brassaï - pseudonym of Gyula Halasz - Hungarian photographer (1899-1984) on
Wikipedia and on Amazon.com
Henri Cartier-Bresson – French photographer (1908-2004) on Wikipedia and on
Amazon.com
Willy Ronis - French photographer (1910-2009) on Wikipedia and on Amazon.com
Izis – pseudonym of Isräelis Bidermanas - Lithuanian-Jewish photographer (1911-1980)
on Wikipedia and Amazon.com
Robert Doisneau – French photographer (1912-1994) on Wikipedia and on Amazon.com
ANY QUESTIONS?
Do you have any questions or comments? I would love to hear your thoughts. Please feel
free to email me at anne.darling@gmail.com.
One last thing… when you purchase a Kindle book you have the opportunity to rate the
book and share your thoughts with other potential readers. If you enjoyed reading this
book, I would very much appreciate it if you would post your thoughts and give it a star
rating. Follow this link to take you directly to the page:
https://tinyurl.com/photographic-composition for US customers
https://tinyurl.com/composition-kindle for UK customers
https://tinyurl.com/m5bqzll for FR customers
Many thanks, and I wish you all the best with your photography.