Exploring a brand new world II – Conquering the Streets

 

The actual feel of any city is on the streets, that's where in fact the action occurs everyday and each night! A good street photograph tells the story of the area and the people who live there.

 

Street photography is all about timing, you will need to keep your eyes open all of the time. Street photography can also be demanding, you can't always just stand in a single corner and do it, you will need to walk, talk, see, visualize and feel the place!

 

As they say to recapture the action you need to be close. You have to be a the main action and not merely a spectator.

 

Well it's easier said than done. For starters you may be scared to point the camera at some random guy and have a photograph; a workaround is to utilize a zoom lens. Like that you can be at a safe distance and still capture the moment. As you keep carrying this out frequently you will gain your confidence and street photography will end up more pleasurable! People often tend to be suspicious with all the current bad things going all over the world .If someone questions you , smile and reply , let them know it's your hobby, show them several photographs that you have clicked. Remember it's not their fault to feel unsafe around a random guy with a large camera. While doing street photography you can encounter rude and harsh comments or people driving you away once you point the camera at them, you should be patient and don't over react. If you feel the environment gets hostile apologize and Walk away.

 

If they ask you to delete the photograph do it immediately, believe me it's not worth the tussle.

 

You may be thinking why to achieve this risky business!! Well it's much less risky as it sounds. These are just possibilities. Most tourist places are extremely camera friendly. I've hardly been asked not to have a photograph or even to delete a photograph. The important thing is always to smile and look none threatening.

 

Subjects:

 

You will find an array of subjects like street -food, people, colors, artifacts, interesting vehicles like a pull carts or even a trams that are not very common in your city or country you might try to find while doing street photography. Each country as well as state has their very own specialties- look out for them. Following certainly are a few pointers that could assist you to kick-start your street photography skills while travelling or at home.

 

• The important thing is to help keep your camera ready to recapture as soon as at all times. If it's tucked cozily as part of your camera bag then by the full time you pull it out the minute is likely to be gone !!

 

Make an effort to anticipate the moment. It won't be easy in the beginning, but observance, experience and patience will coach you on how exactly to anticipate the moment. The main element is to wait for the moment to happen. Pre- Visualize a scene and wait for it! eg : You view a nice picture drawn on a wall , but it seems incomplete as there's no human element to it , you visualize a person walking across it but there is no body around at the moment. Now don't just walk away thinking that it's just not really a good day ! Stay back and wait for anyone to walk by else move ahead but be sure you come back and try again. That's the way you create photographs!

 

Up, Down, Left, Right: Don't just shoot at your eye level, research, look down, look right and look left! Crouch down and take shots touching the pavement, that's what you need to complete if you intend to get shots with a difference. In the event that you keep clicking at your eye level the result will be obvious and boring.

 

• Shadows and sunlight: With street photography there isn't to whine about “Golden hour “or the “Golden light” .You might be shooting in the center of your day with sunlight directly above your head and still get “WOW” shots. The main element is always to look out for shadows. Harsh shadows too tell a story, and well stories are what we are trying to find aren't we? Not all stories are romantic; there are a few which portray the harsh realities of life too!

 

• Black is beautiful: For an alteration shoot in black and white, there's something about black and white and street photography which will be magical! Your normal looking shots suddenly start to look interesting!

 

Get Closer: Go as close as you can to your subjects. It's something to fully capture standing far away with a zoom lens and another to be inches near your subject and taking the shot. When you are right close to the action you're being a part of it and when you're far away you are just a spectator. This reflects on your photographs.

 

Shoot wide: Employing a wide angle lens is highly recommended. In this way one needs to obtain close and also one can capture a large portion of the scene.

 

• Merge: Do not grab attention while doing street photography. In touristy places nobody really cares. You look such as for instance a tourist and tourists click pictures. Also there are several places where its not possible , like for e.g an Indian guy can't quite merge if you are on the streets of Hong Kong can you ! However what you certainly can do is take pictures quickly before your subject notices you. Like that you can still get good candid pics.