Street photography - perspective

Having said quite a lot about photographing people and what a powerful device it can be to have your subjects making eye contact with the camera, here’s a photograph that goes entirely in a different direction.

The strength of this picture comes from a dynamic feeling of depth and movement going right into the heart of the composition. Every line of linear perspective and every human action leads the eye forward, and yet it has to come back to look again at the straining figure behind the cart.

It is another photograph from my visit to China some years ago. I suspect all those people cycling to work will not be driving cars.

Canon G9 vignetting

Canon G9 - shutter lag

I have a comment to one of my posts about the Canon G9 that is a bit disturbing…

“I have a G9 and I just got an inexpensive wide angle/macro lens and adapter. I’m not experienced with this type of camera yet but is it normal to see the outer edges of the lens adapter when camera is in widest angle position? Is it normal to have to zoom in to get past that?”

Well, without actually seeing the kit for myself, I doubt you can blame Canon for this one. I think the answer to your problem might lie in that word ‘inexpensive’. Sounds to me as though your inexpensive lens and adapter is not completely compatible with the camera (can it be a proper Canon one?). I can not imagine any situation when it would be normal. The problem you describe is called vignetting and with compatible lenses, mounts and lens hoods, this should not happen.

Please bear in mind that I am NOT an expert on the G9 and I own only the basic camera and no accessories – I’m still trying to find the time to get out there and use it. So far I still remain unimpressed – but we’ll see what happens when I put I to work.

Maybe there’s someone out there with more knowledge about this situation with the G9.

Photographing people in the street - eye contact

This picture was taken in China – one of the few places in the world to which I have no desire to return. As you can see, the street performing sword swallower is the main subject. He has his eye glued on me and is trying to draw me into his act. Maybe he wanted me to try swallowing a sword. Whatever it was he failed. Simply because I kept my eye to the viewfinder and just kept on taking photographs. Eventually, he gave up on me and got on with trying to impress his audience by stuffing an assortment of swords and knives down his throat. I just carried on taking photographs.

One of the strengths of this photograph is a composition that gives a strong sense of depth – this is partially due to the use of a wide-angle lens, but mostly because of the differing scale of the figures from foreground to background.

Another forceful aspect of this photograph is the eye contact of the main subject, and, if you look to the left, the eye contact of the man who is watching for my reactions. Eye contact is a powerful device and can give the viewer of your photographs a feeling of involvement with the scene and the subject. It confirms that the subject is aware of the camera’s presence – in this case the subject is actually responding to the camera – there is a shared interaction.

street portraiture

Cathy was asking in one of her comments whether I had shown any of the pictures I took while I was working with her on the harbour side here in Kirkcudbright. Cathy is one of my students and was here with me on a one-to-one photography course a few months back. I delighted to say she will be joining us in Menorca for the photography holiday in May this year

Well, as I have mentioned before, when I’m working with a student I don’t normally get much chance to take my own photographs, I’m far to busy concentrating on what the student is doing. When we spotted the chap in this photograph on the harbour, he was chatting to someone and just about to get back into his car – not the best place for good photographs. I explained to Cathy that the best thing to do was glance around, find the best spot to photograph him, then ask him to go there. The red bollard with the side of the boat and the nets as a background was an obvious make-shift studio.

I know Cathy was having problems with her auto focus at the time, but she did manage to get some successful photographs. I managed a couple of simple portraits on my little Canon Ixus.

The moral of this little yarn is that by all means, get your candid shots in first when it is feasible – and then don’t be afraid to make contact with your subject, it can lead to some good photographs – remember, once you have broken the ice you have a tame subject in front of you. Don’t was the opportunity – take lots of photographs.

Yes, I know the light was flat and undirectional, but the portraits are lifted by the extraordinarily bright colours of the subjects shirt, and the blue and green background. This background also helps tell the story of an old salt on the harbour – and I simply love the carpet slippers!

These are simple portraits – no great works of art, but they are fun to take, and this sort of photography is good practice for anyone wanting to learn and build their confidence when photographing people in the street. Meeting this chap has opened the opportunity to meet him again and take more photographs of his - perhaps with better light.

Photographing people - smile

Cathy has posted a comment about my post ‘Photographing people – TEN TIPS’. Part of her comment reads…

I've been reading more about street photography on various websites, and the range of advice and techniques on offer seems endless! One site offers advice on what to do when spotted which runs directly counter to your advice, Philip, and which makes me feel quite uncomfortable. http://candids.hervard.net/tips

Well, Cathy, I’ve just taken a look at that site and I have to say I am not in the least impressed by what I see. These pictures remind me of a list. They are mostly just visual records of people. Yes, there are a few interesting expressions – but then there would have to be when you consider how many pictures there are. What are these pictures of people for? I can see very little in the way of composition – most are simply cropped tightly around each subject. I might be missing something here, but, no, I don’t think so. These really are just records of what these people look like

It is not what I like to think of as street photography. I fail to see the visual appeal or merit. No story, no event or interesting moment captured – just records. Why?

I have no doubt that this photographer gets a great deal of pleasure from his photography, good luck to him. But it is definitely not a style I would want to copy. I am convinced that this method of sideways glances and detachment would have got me into a lot of trouble in many of the sensitive situations in which I have been involved around the world.

I am always telling my students that the camera belongs to the eye when they are photographing people in the street – and to press the button again when they are spotted. Then damned well smile!!! Look happy. Talk to people. Make contact. Be human, Do it all from behind the camera if you wish – it can lead to some great photographs and open all sorts of doors.

To illustrate just one situation like this, I have posted a couple of photographs. In the top picture, the main subject had no idea he was being photographed – yet almost everyone else around him could see what was happening. I even mimed to them, by smiling and putting my finger over my lips, to keep quiet and not let him know I was taking his photograph – they shared the joke. Of course it was not long before the man heard my shutter behind him – I was using a 24mm lens so I was very close. When he turned round his face bloke into a big smile – and everyone else joined the fun. I pressed the button again. That for me made a worthwhile photograph with a visual story to tell.

I’ll give you a few more examples of this technique soon.

Reducing camera shake - simply

Now you can laugh it this is you like, but the embedded video below demonstrates a method of keeping your camera steady - by using a piece of string. I have used this method for many years - and I promise you it can work. The video shows quite a refined version. I just make a loop at one end through which I put my foot, and the other end I simply wrap around the camera a couple of times. The idea of using the tripod screw at on the camera's base is a good one.

The truth is, this really can work - not in all circumstances, I admit, but it costs nothing, weighs nothing and you can stuff it into your pocket. If you lose it, you simply find another piece of string.
Thanks to Jon for this



$1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera - Lose The Tripod - video powered by Metacafe

Photography forums and links

JP has posted the following comment. He says...

"I have learned an amazing amount from the Photo.net forum, a site I stumbled upon, literally, late one night. That forum is how I learned of the photoactive blog. Thank you very much Philip, I really enjoy it! And I'm excited to dive in to talkphotography.jp"

My reply is...

Thanks JP, I'm delighted to hear you are finding my blog interesting. Comments like yours help make it worthwhile.

Some of those forums out there are bursting with information and help. I wonder why people bother with expensive paper magazines any more. While you are doing your 'stumbling', I would ask you to spread the word about THIS blog, which will only florish if the number of visitors continues to increase - so please spread the word, leave links and use the feed. That's how the system will work and the blog will grow. Thanks Jon, this bit edited!!!!

Oh, and I can recommend http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/photoactive_photographers
A small group started by some of my former students. They are serious about two things - taking better photographs and getting more fun from their photography.
Thanks again.

Canon G9 and Olympus XA

My criticism of the Canon G9’s poor optical viewfinder prompted happy recollections of one of my old cameras from the late 1970s. I still have it – a tiny Olympus XA. What a joy that little camera was to use. Without its detachable A11 flash, it fits beautifully into the palm of my hand – and it’s viewfinder, well… bright, wide and clear. This Olympus was revolutionary in its time. It has Aperture Priority only, with the shutter speed the camera selected displayed in the viewfinder by a lovely big analogue pointer.

Of course, unlike the modern digital compacts, you are able to stop the f2.8 lens right down to f22 if you wish. However, the fastest shutter speed was 1/500sec.

None of your fancy auto focus, either. Split-image focusing is by a silken-smooth sliding tab or knurled ring beneath the lens. Long before ‘ergonomics’ was a selling point, the focusing lever fell perfectly to hand. The slide-to-close casing was all but bullet-proof and the optics were wonderfully sharp. Oh, and the shutter was fired by a feather-light touch.

That little camera travelled countless thousands of miles in my pocket and it produced thousands of pictures that were published in newspapers and magazines all over the world. But one of my favourites was taken much closer to home. In Blackpool, Lancashire here in UK. This shot appeared in my first book way back in 1986. The original negative has had a pretty hard time over the years and the scan needs a lot of cleaning up now – so don’t look too closely - it is, though, needle sharp.

Know I know I’m getting all nostagic, but I reckon if Canon really want to produce a compact camera that is useable for street photography – they should take a very close look at that old Olympus XA – in particlular they should put their eyes – and I don’t mean the blind ones – to that wonderful optical viewfinder.

There is a fascinating original review of the Olympus XA here… Canon people please take a look.

http://www.urban75.org/photos/olympus-xa.html

Pictures show the Olympus XA with and without its detachable A11 flash gun

And in case you are wondering, no, I do not want to go back to the days of film - I love digital and all it can do... but I would like a small compact digital camera that I can put to my eye and see through properly. I want to be able to see what's going on through there, compose a photograph and time the action perfectly. Is that a lot to ask?