How to cultivate keen observation in street photography

Lead: One of the joys of street photography is that we can see things that others can't see, not ghosts. It's some interesting details or moments in daily life. Street photographers need keen observation very much, sometimes they need to adjust their perspectives deliberately, and even use some imagination to predict what they may shoot. So how to train your observation?

How to cultivate keen observation in street photography

1. Don't take pictures with the camera.

Going out to take pictures without a camera means asking soldiers not to take guns to the battlefield. When we hold the camera in our hands, what is the preset position in our hearts? What must I shoot today? . Is it possible to get full of it? I want to take pictures. I want to take pictures. I want to take pictures? Instead of slowing down and observing the scene. When we have a camera in our hand and see a feeling picture, we will rush to pick it up and take a picture. This may produce a good picture, but it will not be a good photo. When you see an interesting scene, do you observe the subject, background, light, shadow, surrounding colors, moving lines, the relationship between subject and background, etc. Generally, there are many details when shooting in the city. The eyes will see a subject, but the camera will help you frame all the surrounding details that you didn't notice. Unless the photo is formed by a close-up subject, it is easy to ruin a good photo because of the interference of background things or colors when you shoot everything around you. That's why we suggest going to the streets as usual, but put away the camera and really use your eyes? Do you see it? You will find many details that you haven't noticed before.

r？ Gan Mathieu

2. Don't go

Most people's impression of street photography is that photographers keep walking around the city with cameras. Of course, constant walking can increase the chances of successful shooting, but it can easily become a cursory tour. Many people often walk around the street looking for pictures, but it is easy to miss many details. Because you are constantly moving, you will pay more attention to the street? The obvious situation, that is, what you will notice, may often be noticed by ordinary people, and some pictures without surprises are taken. If you want to thoroughly understand an environment, it is suggested to choose a range, find a crowded street corner, stand there for a while and observe the changes, patterns and pace around you. Just like waltzing, try to feel the rhythm of the environment and cultivate a tacit understanding. When you gradually get in tune with the rhythm of the environment, it will be particularly convenient to shoot.

Richard Koromami

3. Selective observation

For example, only red shoes, brown backpacks, black hats and people wearing sunglasses are photographed, and couples look down at their mobile phones. When you set such a goal, your brain will start to exclude all other things, and for a moment you can only see what is locked in your heart. It's like when I had children, I suddenly found out how more people in Taipei took their children to the streets. Just because I never paid attention to other children on the road before I had children. When we have a goal in mind to observe, the brain will pay attention selectively. This selective observation exercise is very useful in thematic photography.

Robert Adameck

4. Don't change the camera settings

Choose a set of established settings and shoot with the same aperture, shutter and focal length all day. My accustomed setting is 50mm/F8/ISO800, and I only use this setting to shoot all day (during the day). After shooting for a long time, this setting will become my intuitive response, so I can spend more time observing without worrying about the camera settings. You will probably know what results can be taken under what lighting conditions, what distance and what scene. You can react with the naked eye almost without looking at the camera settings, and you will know how successful it is by pressing the shutter. Nowadays, digital cameras are rich in functions and have many setting options, which gives photographers more different choices, but it also means that you have to spend more time on camera settings. Moreover, many people are used to looking down at the screen behind the camera immediately after shooting, and may miss some pictures, and the time you look down every time you shoot may accumulate to take more good photos. Control your camera, don't let its complicated functions control you.

Sandra Jones

5. Curious as a child

Stay curious. My children often use a spoon as a microphone, spread a yoga mat on the ground during picnics, ask a bunch of "why" that I sometimes can't answer, and look at the broccoli in the bowl when eating in a restaurant and say, "I'll show you a girl with long hair and a green straw hat. When we grow up, we will have an established understanding of many things. Spoons are spoons, yoga mats are used for yoga, and many things are printed by us? That should be it, right? Seals. Street photography requires a lot of imagination. Sometimes the shadow formed by a lamp is your best background, and a small gesture from passers-by is your next masterpiece. There are many things you take for granted every day on the road. If you can let go of your established impression and re-understand everything on the L side, it will provide you with endless inspiration.

Thomas Marr?

6. Look at all sides

There is an idiom called "keep an eye on all directions and listen to all directions". Street photography eyes are more important than ears. Don't forget up, down, front, back, left, left, front, right, left, back and right. Most people only look ahead and left and right when they walk. If you use the general walking mode when taking pictures in the street, most of the things you see will be the same as ordinary people. Try to walk for a while and then turn in a different direction, deliberately showing myself the angle I didn't pay much attention to in the past.

Sorin Suciu

7. Re-recognize what you think is already familiar.

Photographers always have to go out of their comfort zone and strengthen their observation acuity by going to a new place, but after such a long time, it's like taking painkillers. Eating too much will make you numb, and you need more and more painkillers. If nothing new stimulates your senses, your observation will become dull. Sometimes you need to go back to the environment you think you are no longer familiar with, such as the alley near your home, the coffee shop you often go to, the breakfast shop across the street, and the bookstore, and then deliberately re-examine this place from different angles in the past to see if you can find any details you have never seen before. Do you think you know your living room well? Do you want to take five minutes to review the details you didn't notice? Maybe we can find the money.

Stanislav Rico

8. Open-minded

I usually do my homework online before I plan to take photos in a new place. To know the local route, history, and photos taken by others, I will look at it quickly, and I won't study it too deeply, for fear of having a fixed impression on that place. I like to go to Simon to nail. I did a simple research on the internet before I went for the first time. After the MRT station came out, it was the Red House that attracted me. Because that place is so representative, I will find many photos of the Red Mansion when I look up Ximen Nail on the Internet. After going several times, I began to walk into some old alleys and saw some scenes that I could not see at ordinary times. Of course, I must pay attention to safety. Try to let go of the established impression, let yourself empty and explore.