Mastering Street Photography

[angelus]

Hey Rob (namesake), your work is one of the best I've seen recently.

I love the street photography, but I'm afraid to ask someone for permission to take their shoot... Looks like I will have to follow your way... Just ask and hope for positive response.

[graciousness]

I don't get it. Why didn't this tutorial get a lot more reply posts? So much work had been done putting this together by Robert and yet so few responses.

Many thank you for sharing your insights, experience, and images, Robert. I don't know if you are still using the forum, but many thanks for this.

[RichardTaylor]

Super tutorial and some inspirational photography.
Thanks for the post.

[sk66]

Nice work. Nice tutorial.
Thanks for putting the thought/effort/time into this!

[Hill Country Hack]

What an effort to put this all together. Thank you very much for the lesson and the honor to view your outstanding work.

[Sweetlifephoto]

Wow, many thanks for the detailed information and inspiring images. I will definitely be coming back to this tutorial over and over again...

[Robert Watcher]

I just noticed on my Creative Wedding Photography, Professional Family Portrait Photographer, Ontario Photographers in Canada website stats, that there were quite a few page views this month, that were linked from this forum post. So I followed the link to the forum - only to find these latest replies. Sorry that it has been a while since I checked in.

I have to thank everyone for their wonderful and supportive comments. They are greatly appreciated. I continue to hope that some are able to benefit or even be inspired a little - by reading my slant on things related to how I have approached my street and travel photography in Central America. Cheers.

[Robert Watcher]

Can you share some techniques in shooting in low light conditions like indoors?

Well let me see - I do not have cameras that provide low noise at Higher ISOs - but I do not let that stop me. I am not after perfection of the image. The character and content are far more important to me. Many times I even crop heavily - might be as much as only 1/2 the frame being used - and so this even adds to the degrading and noise of the image. If the content is there, I will be using it.

So I have many images that are favorites of mine, that contain slight and even strong movement as well as many that have tons of noise - even obstructive at times. That does not stop me using the shots or even printing them large for display. I personally tend to prefer a gritty image with noise, over the overprocessed smoothing that I see with images from many of the cameras that handle high ISOs better. And so I also keep my cameras noise filter, set as low as possible and OFF for the most part so that there is as little detail smoothing as possible.

One thing that I value in my Olympus gear, is that I can get high quality images when shooting my lenses wide open. Typically lenses require stopping down around 2 stops to get good sharpness and IQ. An advantage of the 2X conversion of the four-thirds camera system, is also that I have more depth of field when shooting wide open - and so do not have to sacrifice from getting too shallow a DOF when shooting at the maximum apertures. As an example, a full frame 28mm wide angle shooting at f2.8 from 10 feet away, would provide about 7 feet of in-focus content (1/3 in front and 2/3 behind point of focus), wheras my Olympus equivalent of 14mm (14-60 f2.8 SWD) when shooting at f2.8 from 10 feet away will provide 23 feet of in-focus content (from 6 feet to 30 feet). If you were to try and get an extra stop out of the full frame lens by shooting wide open at say f1.8 to compensate for low light, the dof would drop to under 5 feet and may be of little use for street photography where I capture environments and use zone focusing and have people moving to and from me quickly. And of course the sharpness and IQ might not be there at that aperture.


Also, all of my lenses benefit from Image Stabilization as a result of that being accomplished on the sensor and not with purpose built lenses only. And so I am able to shoot with very slow shutter speeds when needed - and especially when there is little subject movement.

I don't use tripods, and so I have to always be aware to stabilize myself in slow shutter speed scenarios. I try to lean against objects near me. I spread my feet and spread my elbows and dig them into my sides. I have at times found that turning at my shoulders gives me a strong and stable base. I pace my breathing - exhaling and pressing in on the whole camera gently with my hand, while triggering the shutter. If there is a ledge, rock, table or ground to set the camera on - I will make use of it while pressing the shutter gently.


In Photoshop processing, I am able to apply modest noise cleanup that looks realistic, if I don't wish to have a lot of noise in a particular image (using Nik Dfine or Neat Image). Then again, many times I add noise and grit to the image to get the feel that I want. For me, the most difficult thing to handle in post processing is "banding" at the highest ISOs. My Olympus E-3 is particularly bad when shooting at 3200ISO and so I tend to try and stay away from that setting as much as possible, although when that is what is required I use it and accept what is there. I never refuse to take the shot because I am pushing the limits of my gear.

[Robert Watcher]

Lucky you get to travel so much.

I know what you mean - at times I feel that way about what others do - but it really isn't a matter of being lucky or having any special access or ability (and I am not implying that you think that ). This is my story:

Some 35 years ago my wife and I made a choice while we were raising our children, that once they were grown and on their own we would be doing exactly what we are doing now. And so it is a priority in our life at this point in time.

We make our plans, save up what is needed such as flights to get there and back as well as having to live for 2 months (we are hoping for 6 months away in the next year or two). And we just "do it". It isn't actually a matter of being well off financially or having a great paying job so that we have extra money to put towards the trips - as much as it has to do with the simple lifestyle that Anne and I have chosen to live so that we are able to fulfill our dreams. This has required lots of sacrifice at times, and doing without many things that others feel are essential to live (owning, credit cards, 30 pairs of shoes, all the new gizmos, etc etc).

We have never been interested in owning a home because we did not want to be tied down so that our goals could not be achieved. Before heading down to Central America the first time almost 4 years ago, we simplified further to where we currently rent a beautiful but modest 1 bedroom apartment that is both a living and work space for us. The monthly living costs are easily handled , even when work isn't as plentiful as we'd like it to be. We have no debt and our only real threat to our plans is every few years when our vehicle needs replacing and so we have to come up with many thousand of dollars in cash to purchase a newer one. That puts a strain on our ability to put together the 6 to 8 thousand dollars that it costs to travel and live simply down there for those months. But that is our reality.

Where I am fortunate (lucky if you want to call it that), is that I am able to make enough money from the few wedding and portrait jobs that come in through my website each year - as well as the small web hosting business that I provide for 100 or so photographers and small businesses - - - that I am able to pay our monthly expenses, feed our bellies, travel and most importantly have the freedom to be able to take whatever time whenever I want, to take these long excersions. The way that all has turned out - I would not live any other way just to sacrifice the experiences we have had and the freedom to thoroughly enjoy my photography while there.

I want to thank you for the nice comments in your reply.