The art of candid street photography is a fine subtle one. First thing you need to get over is knowing where it is OK to do it and where NOT to do it. First off, it is perfectly legal to photograph people when their in public space, this includes streets, squares, and municipal spaces. For example, if there was a massive street party happening, you can go around photograph people and post their images on the Internet without fear of legal repercussions. Canadian Photography Laws allow this. (This even includes children!). If it’s a private event on private property, then permission must be obtained (preferable in writing) from the venue owner. Often Malls can be picky about photographers taking photos inside the mall. If approached by an agent of the mall (This includes Security) be open and honest and if asked to leave do so without complaint.
Nikon D300 ~ AI Nikkor 135mm 1:2.8
Now it becomes a question of gear, as in what to bring along? Again it all depends on the situation. Back in Febuary I went over to a local sledding hill on a warm day (warm by winter standards, so zero degrees Celsius). The lenses I brought along, my 50mm 1.8 and 10-20mm. Both strange lenses for such an activity. Sure I could have taken my telephoto lens and stood off at a distance out of harms way. But then I would’ve looked to be up to no good. Hence the ultra wide and very low profile 50mm. The reason? Simple, I could get in close, I interacted with the kids and the parents. By the end of the ‘trip’ I had three email addresses to send the photos to.
Nikon D300 ~ Sigma DC 10-20mm 1:4-5.6 EX HSM
Out on the street is a different story. But again, the trick is to be able to catch life, without you influencing it. That’s the key to catching people unawares. Most people when they see a camera will either shy away or strike a pose or something between the two. This is where the telephoto helps, either a huge zoom or a short mid-range telephoto.
Nikon D300 ~ AI Nikkor 135mm 1:2.8
Nikon D300 ~ AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G VR
Sometimes both serve their purpose, the 70-200 will get you noticed more as I found out when I ventured into Union Station with the big lens still attached to my camera and was called over by Security. Yeah, they really wanted to know what I was doing. But even with street photography the small unassuming lenses like a 50 or 35mm will get you the results you are looking for. For technique, open the aperture, shoot at f/4 or straight up wide open (my fastest lens is the AI-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens, but that has a very low depth of field so I’d usually shoot at f/2 where possible on lenses faster than f/2.8) So that the subject is in focus, everything else is blurred around them. The idea is to catch them!
Nikon D300 ~ AF Nikkor 35mm 1:2D
Tags: candid, lessons, Photography, street
June 24th, 2009 at 12:03 am
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