Street Photography Tips

>>2755854
Find actually interesting stories that people would care to actually look at, rather than just being proud of yourself for having the guts to shoot a photo of someone's back.

Get close enough that your subject is obvious in the frame.

Put your camera on one of the priority modes do you're not fucking with your camera while missing shots.

>>2755854
>What are you best tips for making the most of my time?

I just have one: Don't shoot street photography.

>>2755858
Thanks, yeah the first time I did it I was too anxious about taking pictures of people until I realised in a busy city nobody seems to notice.

>>2755869
Any reason you feel that way? Just wondering that's all...

>>2755875

It's a lame phase for guys who are just getting out of their "zoo photography" period.

95% of it is exploitative garbage, 4% of it is cliche retreads of the photos that HCB, Frank, Winogrand, Friedlander, et al, were doing last century. 0.99% of it is interesting, .01% is truly great.

>>2755878
Fair enough. Care to share any examples of that .01%?

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>>2755885
Not him, but I think I'm one of the few people who like Vivian Meyer's highlights unironically.

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>>2755854
I shoot a lot of street.

In the beginning you will shoot a load of crap just getting confident. As the other guy said, avoid shooting people's backs. Walk around crowded areas at first, see something happening, shoot it without even considering what's going on around you and just walk on. Do it enough and you won't even notice yourself doing it. The more confident you are the less people mind what you're doing. You just need to develop an eye for what's about to happen around you and capturing it instinctively.

If they notice me I always smile and say hi afterwards, it's extremely rare anyone cares what you're doing though. Only once has someone asked to see the pic and I've never had a negative reaction from someone yet. But then I'm a more of a shoot and walk away and get on with stuff kind of guy.

I'd recommend just take a fixed lens out like a 50 so you don't even think about zooming but anything will do. I only own a 50mm and 24mm lens so I'm biased I guess.

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>>2755887
Thanks for that, good inspiration!

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>>2755898
No problem.

>>2755892
Nice one, yeah I've got plenty of crap but like you said it's just gaining that confidence. Practice make perfect and all that.

>>2755854
ORITE OUR KID

>>2755878
great insight

Yeah you're just going to be anxious at first, try to accept that and it's easier to roll with it. I'm just a beginner also shooting street, and yeah I have loads of shots of peoples backs, but I'm steadily improving my ratio. I say it's okay when starting out to go through that phase, but it's silly when you see people on Facebook's street photography groups that have shot for years doing creepshots of backs with their teles.

One trick that can help to get out of that phase is shooting without a viewfinder or "from the hip" as they say. Some people consider it a crutch, but who cares if you learn to compose and "see with your hands", I don't think it matters that Winogrand thought it was bad. Like for example Daniel Arnold said in the Eric Kim interview that he shoots like 90% without the viewfinder, and I really like his photos. Daido Moriyama also shoots like that a lot. I know I can compose on my iPhone quite okay and it doesn't even have a viewfinder, and that in my experience translates to my Mju II which is also 35mm.

But yeah if you use crutches, remember that they're crutches. You'll develop your own style by shooting. I shoot a ton on just my iPhone even though it's an old 4S and sucks in the dark, just because I find I'm quick to compose on it and can comfortably point it at people. I shot a ton of film at first because it was (and still is) fun, but most of those films are still undeveloped because I'm lazy and a cheapskate.

My advice on equipment is pretty much use a prime and try shooting film, it'll help as you'll have to learn to zone focus, guesstimate the light and compose, and through that you'll become a lot quicker and miss less shots.

But as I said I'm just a beginner, so grain of salt and all that.