Streetscapes... hints and tips?

[alsocass]

I had so much fun doing a 'still life' for last weeks competition (and despite having my acceptance speech written I didn't get passed round 1 :D ). I spent the week learning a fair bit about the style of photography.. youTube was a huge help.

However I am struggling to find anything to point me in the right direction with regards to 'streetscapes'. I found lots of different pictures on google, but I feel like they are all well out of my league. With the 'still life' I ended the week with a picture I was really proud of, but so far every attempt at a 'streetscape' has been ordinary. I don't know what I should be looking for, what lens to use. I am hoping for some advice or pointers.

[alsocass]

I meant to add. I have negotiated half a day to myself on Sunday morning. I want to go out and take a good photo. I went out last week but was overwhelmed by what to look for.

Do I take a big wide angle photo or zoom in on a padlock. The town is boring with no extraordinary visuals.

[ricktas]

Ok. the theme is not streetscapes, but street photography. Two different things

Streetscapes are photographs of streets, show the trees, buildings, etc

Street photography is about capturing human activity on the street. Your focus should be the interactions or isolations of people as they go about their daily lives. People should generally be the subject, but you can have shot of animals, like a dog peeing on a car tyre on a street etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_photography

Some examples of street photography (https://www.google.com.au/search?q=wiki+street+photography&hl=en&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=JZIBUeCWL-yyiQetjoG4BQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1366&bih=651#hl=en&tbo=d&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=street+photography&oq=street+photography&gs_l=img.12..0l10.1031.1031.0.2225.1.1.0.0.0.0.221.221.2-1.1.0...0.0...1c.1.vT5_QN9D1Gg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41248874,d.aGc&fp=3d280dbb30e7b87a&biw=1366&bih=651)(note use of mono is not a requirement)

Examples of streetscapes (https://www.google.com.au/search?q=wiki+street+photography&hl=en&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=JZIBUeCWL-yyiQetjoG4BQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1366&bih=651#hl=en&tbo=d&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=streetscapes&oq=streetscapes&gs_l=img.3..0l2j0i5j0i24l7.77272.77802.2.78189.6.6.0.0.0.0.283.760.4j1j1.6.0...0.0...1c.1.coUpLju-plA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41248874,d.aGc&fp=3d280dbb30e7b87a&biw=1366&bih=651) (an entirely different genre) and not what this competition is about

[AdamR]

Go for a walk and play. There's always something worth while. It can be intimidating or daunting, but give it a go. Or walk around without the camera and ask take photos with your imagination, what would you shoot? What do you see thats interesting? Come back with the camera and attempt to get the same shots. Or use a fixed focal length and aperture and look for things that will suit that set up.

[Rattus79]

A wise man once gave me the advice to pre plan your street shot, pre-frame your shot, pre meter and wait for your subject to enter your frame.

That way all you have to do is bring your camera to your eye and click.

Personally, I'm not so great at the whole waiting thing though. I usually just wander around looking for a subject.

the 35mm lens is considered the be all to end all for street stuff, but I generally use a 50mm 1.4 or dare I say it my 70 - 200

[Analog6]

Tomorrow is Australia Day. Surely there will be at least on event in Cessnopck where people will be gathering to do things?

Here's one (http://www.aroundyou.com.au/events/australia-day-2013-breakfast-and-ceremony-east-ces#.UQG9OY6ccvk); and then there are the official awards (http://www.cessnock.nsw.gov.au/lga/australiaday) by the Council; and there may well be other AD events.

[alsocass]

Ok. the theme is not streetscapes, but street photography. Two different things

Streetscapes are photographs of streets, show the trees, buildings, etc

Street photography is about capturing human activity on the street. Your focus should be the interactions or isolations of people as they go about their daily lives. People should generally be the subject, but you can have shot of animals, like a dog peeing on a car tyre on a street etc.


Thanks for setting me straight. I can relate a bit easier to street photography rather than streetscapes (I thought they were the same!) now that you have explained it.

I following the other links now.

[alsocass]

A wise man once gave me the advice to pre plan your street shot, pre-frame your shot, pre meter and wait for your subject to enter your frame.

That way all you have to do is bring your camera to your eye and click.

Personally, I'm not so great at the whole waiting thing though. I usually just wander around looking for a subject.

the 35mm lens is considered the be all to end all for street stuff, but I generally use a 50mm 1.4 or dare I say it my 70 - 200

Thanks for this idea. There are a couple of coffee shops with tables on the street. I might order a coffee and point my camera across the street... see what I come up with.

I really like these competitions, I like having something to focus on for the week.

[AVALANCHE]

I love street photography.

Some ideas from me...and personally what I like to do. They are not necessarily new ideas, but nonetheless;

1.) You don't want to muck around with settings a great deal while out shooting. Moments are gone in a second so you want to be ready for when 'that moment' happens. If you need to, choose Program mode (or Ap priority) for now and set the ISO accordingly if you end up in a shady spot. It is best however to get as comfortable with manual settings, spot metering exposure as soon as you possibly can as well as manual focusing. Attend a short course at TAFE if you need to or even use the library on this site for help with manual shooting. If you are 'shooting from the hip' (which is, shooting literally from the waist to avoid attention instead of looking through the viewfinder) you will be almost certain to be playing roulette with capturing it correctly. Shooting from the hip also provides a great point of view too. If you can get away though with shooting from the viewfinder and do have the time, go for it. You'll want to shoot at a fairly wide angle for hip shooting too (35mm and under I think is good).

2.) Street shooting is also a great chance to try panning. Try panning cars at first, then move onto cyclists and even people/animals...they make for some compelling images and will have you appreciate what your DSLR can do for you in terms of creative shooting. Check out this thread for panning: http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?107968-New-to-Photography-Challenge-Shutter-speeds&highlight=panning+practice

3.) Street Photography requires patience. Do you have it? Sometimes walking around aimlessly works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I'll take my camera out for a day and not take one shot...other times you'll get a few beauties in the space of an hour. That's how it is. I actually now walk from work into the CBD (takes about 30 minutes) and I bring my camera with me. I try to stick to the same route and occasionally go down different directions. If you can manage a similar scenario, try to pick a few points along the way where you feel make great backdrops for the image and then wait around awhile for 'something' to come into that frame, then shoot and move on.

4.) As for subject matter, try to avoid shooting the homeless I think. I did when I first started out and now I kind of regret it. As for why...well, it is cliched and overdone I feel. Also, looking back it is almost a sense of invading 'their home' (the space they occupy on the street). That is just my opinion though! Shooting buskers and street performers is always interesting, again if you can pan them it makes for some great pics. I usually throw a coin into their bucket for taking the pic after and watching them perform.

5.) Have a go at deliberate slow shutter speeds and deliberate movement of the camera, it makes for some abstract-esque images and looks especially great at dusk/night with neon/building lights in the background.

6.) Learn about the elements of design too and composition. Be considerate of colours too. Warm colours like reds and yellows really pop out and make great foreground subject matter and cooler colours like blues and greens make great background colours.

7.) Think about depth of field. Have a go at shooting wide open, even in broad daylight to isolate subject matter and go small (like...f/16 maybe) especially when shooting from the hip. Try different things.

8.) Read things about camera technique in general, the points I have made mention above...and then apply them into practice for the best learning experience!

9.) Play with PP after. Makes things black and white, try sepia, try gradients, muck around with crop etc. Shoot in raw if you want heaps of control. I'd advise getting into raw as soon as you can...I never use to understand the big deal about it, but when it comes to PP...it rules.

10.) Think before you shoot...and have fun!

[alsocass]

Wow. Thanks for all of that. It was very detailed. I am going out tomorrow morning to try and put as much of it as possible into action.