Hmm..
street photography is fleeting moments in everyday life.. So pointing the camera at random people on the streets is fine and dandy but capturing little interesting snippets into the lives of people is a whole nother level of street photography.
From the blank stares of people as they go about their routine to candid smiles between friends and even the frown of an agitated old man.
But how do you go bout capturing these precious moments?
Know your camera very well! have all the functions down to muscle memory as street photography is pretty much an instantaneous organic form.
I had this great tip once: Use aperture priority and put the exposure meter to -1/3 or something like that and use a somewhat wide aperture. You'll get pretty good shots without the fiddle of the camera. But try not to use this as a crutch to learning what your camera can and cannot do.
Learn to manual focus. Under low light, the auto focus is pretty crap.
Learn to have great expectations. Imagine a scenario, and try to capture it. It's also known as goal setting. (For me this does not work unless I found a great location and I'm waiting for just the right person to walk into my great picture.)
Respect the people you shoot. (I dunno.. if the person is nice say thank you, smile.. you know the drill.. be a nice person. If you sense any form of danger.. don't hesitate to vacate. No point getting a black eye over voyeurism.)
Don't think about what lens to use but just use a lens. Most people get caught up with using a lens.. but when the reality is.. you can use any lens. I use my 11-16 ultra wide angle most of the time as well as a 50mm f1.8 but on certain occasions I use the 70-200 to achieve some different feels. Just use any lens and adapt to it.
Think outside the box. Don't just point at people straight on. Use reflections, water puddles, bokeh, light, shadows, shapes, colours or whatever.. The sky is your limit or should I say your creative eye is your limit.
A simple but very effective tip is to bring your camera everywhere.. It may seem cumbersome.. but some of my better street shots were just me going from one point to another.
The live view. Very good tool for more discrete shooting.. Can help you manual focus better too but the downside is it eats batteries like a fat man at a buffet.
Not really a tip but a general observation: making your picture black and white does not automatically deem a photo artistic or street. (I'm just biased because I force myself to shoot colour photos all the time.) =P
Err.. shoot in raw? Sometimes you have great shots that are under or over exposed due to moments of panic.. it happens.. but you can salvage it.
I am out of tips.. but I guess this are just stuff I learnt over the course of shooting strangers.
I rarely ask for permission though...
) and this old boy asked me to take another picture of him posing for me! (blur because very little light)
