Street photography is natural and casual. This is their main advantage over staged studio photos. In order to make a good shot, you don't have to use expensive equipment.
The street photography genre is a favorite of many famous photographers. The environment is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. To get real masterpieces, you don't need to rent a studio and spend hours getting ready to shoot. A staged photo session requires time and money, and for those who prefer street photography, the most important thing is to catch the right moment.
How to take good photos
Camera selection
Modern SLR cameras allow you to take very good quality pictures. But for street photography in the daytime, the cost of the camera and its ability to shoot in unfavorable light conditions is not important. Pay attention to the dimensions of the camera. Heavy equipment is not convenient to carry with you. For photographing strangers, it is best to use a camera that does not attract attention. Some popular photographers even taped black tape over shiny parts of their cameras to make them less visible and blend in with the crowd.
Lighting selection
Light in photography is of the utmost importance. Before you start photographing, you need to carefully assess the light conditions and understand where the sun's rays come from, how the shadows will fall. Over time, assessing conditions and choosing a location for shooting will become much easier. If you need to photograph a familiar person on the street, you can take a reflector. For portraits, this accessory is simply irreplaceable. The ideal time to take pictures is in the early morning and afternoon, when the sun is not too active and the light rays fall gently.
Building a composition
The compositional decision in the frame has an impact on the final perception of the photograph. In outdoor conditions, when shooting fast, there is not always time to think about composition. Viewing the works of great photographers, visiting exhibitions will help develop an artistic taste, learn to quickly assess the situation and separate the main from the background.
Angle selection
In order to make your photos look vivid and natural, it is recommended to shoot scenes at eye level of the people being photographed. When it is necessary to remain unnoticed, you can try to shoot a photo from the lowest points, placing the camera at hip level. In this case, you need to be prepared for a large number of defective personnel.
Lens selection
Instead of "zoom", due to which the quality of photos is often lost, it is better to use a standard portrait lens and get closer to the subject. You can use wide-angle optics and concentrate all your efforts on shooting.
Emotions of people
Another secret to successful photography is an unusual emotion on the face of a person or several people. If you catch the right moment, you can get a real masterpiece. It is desirable that the emotion is understandable to those who will be viewing the photographs. The audience shouldn't be left with a sense of uncertainty.
A look into the future
When photographing people in their natural environment, you need to think about what the photographs are for. When working in the genre of documentary photography, it is important to consider how interesting they will be to strangers, whether they want to consider them, and what the value of photographs will be. Perhaps it is worth including in the frame some objects of modern life or buildings of historical value.
Plot selection
To want to look at the photo again and again, it is important to choose an interesting subject. If we are talking about a street staged photo, you can come up with one yourself. When photographing strangers, it remains to be observant and wait for the right moment. Some photographers go for a little trick. They use the help of an assistant and ask him to perform some action that could induce the photographs to act out a certain scene or cause genuine emotions on their faces.
Inner comfort
It is very important for a street photographer to achieve inner peace. You don't need to worry about how strangers will react to the shooting, what emotions it will cause them, but you shouldn't cross certain boundaries either. If in doubt, it is better to ask the person for permission to shoot or ask how he will react if he gets into the frame. Internal stress greatly affects the quality of work, so it is important to train such qualities as communication skills and stress resistance.
Training
If you want to develop in a given direction and even make money on street photography, you need to improve your skill level by studying the relevant literature, attending courses for beginner photographers and thematic master classes. The result will not be long in coming.
