The secret of street shooting skills

Lead: Street shooting is not easy, you need to test your courage, your hand-eye coordination and your intuition. I missed more shooting opportunities than the moments I took, but the satisfaction of capturing those fleeting moments in a messy environment made it all worthwhile. Let's take a look at these street shooting techniques!

1. How to get a camera?

In street shooting, speed is the key, and the way you hold the camera will produce completely different results. I like to wrap the camera shoulder strap around my wrist instead of hanging it around my neck. This makes it easier and faster to operate the camera, and it is also convenient to shoot from the waist when necessary. When walking in the street, I usually put the camera at a 45-degree angle in front of me, halfway between the vertical and horizontal directions, and put my finger on the shutter. In this way, I can quickly put the camera in place in an emergency and start shooting before others react.

Shoot from the waist

Unless you have a small paraxial camera, you won't be noticed only when you don't have to lift the camera to take pictures.

The advantage of shooting from the waist with a camera belt wrapped around your wrist is that you can shoot the side or even the back without shooting the scene in front. No one will notice your lens if you do this. When shooting from the waist, you can hold the camera with both hands or one hand, but one-handed operation can give you more freedom in shooting direction. Just hang your arm naturally beside you, and then lift the camera at an appropriate angle in the direction you want to shoot. You can also raise your arm or bend your elbow to shoot, but be careful when doing so.

3. Use a wide-angle fixed-focus lens

I like 35mm (20mm in APS-C format) lens. When you shoot from the waist, you can't get an accurate view through the viewfinder. The fixed-focus lens can make you anticipate the photos you take, and you can master them with a little practice. A wide-angle lens can get you close enough to shoot enough scenes for the audience to see what is happening at the scene.

4. Low and slightly inclined angle

Another advantage of shooting from the waist is that you can shoot people from a lower position. I often like to shoot from a lower position, because it will make people look tall and fill the whole picture. Of course, this is not the best choice, but in most cases, it is my preference.

This slightly inclined angle is also very pleasing, especially when taking portraits vertically. This angle increases the strength of the photo and can absorb more scenes. Such photos can attract the attention of the audience.

5. Be an actor (don't make eye contact)

As a street photographer, acting will bring you many benefits. You can play the role of a traveler, watching what is happening in the street, or a lost person, who must stop to find the direction, but can't be seen looking for a photo opportunity at a glance.

I like to be a dreamer, isolate myself from the environment and pay attention to what I want to shoot opposite. I will walk back and forth where I want to shoot, and then stop and pretend to be thinking or seeing something interesting. When I'm ready to shoot, I'll lean towards each other, aim the camera at each other at the same time, then press the shutter to take some photos, and then walk away casually.

Most importantly, don't look directly at the person you want to shoot. God forbid eye contact! Eye contact will make others notice you immediately. Even for a moment, it will ruin your disguise.

6. Fake action (sudden change of speed or direction in basketball)

Sometimes you can't stop completely because it's too obvious. But in the meantime, you have to stop filming. No matter how fast the shutter speed is, a slight movement during shooting will ruin a photo.

There is a kind called. Fake action or something. Basically, this means adding a quick pause between strides, just like a sudden stop in a series of actions. If someone is paying attention to you, it may seem a little funny, but in fact, this pause is very short and no one will notice it. As long as you go out and try, you will understand what I mean, and you can master it with a little practice.

7. Get ready to quickly change camera settings.

I usually use manual mode because I like to set the exposure before taking pictures. When you are close to shooting, you can't accurately estimate what kind of metering results the camera will have, and the results of automatic exposure are often not good. Manual shooting sometimes makes mistakes, because if you suddenly go from the sun to the shadow, you must remember to change the settings. I will remember two sets of settings in sunshine and shadow, and switch between them quickly.

But what if there is an emergency? For example, you walk in the sun and set a perfect exposure, and then you suddenly find a pair of locksmiths sitting in a dark car on your right. One person is asleep and the other is lighting a cigarette (above). What should I do? It all happened in a flash! I quickly switched the camera to aperture priority mode, and I had set a large aperture beforehand. Although some depth of field may be lost, a large aperture can meet the needs of more scenes and provide sufficient shutter speed. In addition, shutter priority is equally effective.

8. Wear dark clothes

Dark clothes are good for concealment.

9. Establish the background in advance

This topic is a bit beyond the scope of today's discussion, but there are countless ways to shoot in the street. Find an interesting background and wait for the right person to enter your scene. Be patient, it may take a long time.

This illustration was not taken close, but I waited for several hours until the man stood in the right position. Everything is worth it.

This method can make you reach the correct shooting position in advance and make you fully prepared for taking pictures. At this time, consider yourself taking this background picture. Some of the best street photographers use this method to find a good location and wait.

10. Blurred, grainy and black-and-white photos

In this photo, I want to see that? Nuts? (Nut) Street stall focusing, with? Nuts? Words to imply these controversial tourists, which means it is impossible to keep the crowd in the foreground clear enough. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. For this photo, I think OK is black and white.

As a street photographer, I'm not worried about blurring and graininess. The fact is that many scenes are not bright enough, but you need enough shutter speed and you can't use a tripod in luxury. Noise caused by blur, slight defocus and high sensitivity is very common.

This is just personal advice, but I think this situation is actually better for black and white photos. It would be great to convert some bad color photos into black and white photos. In short, black and white photos are often more suitable for street photographers to capture moments.

1 1. Let the subject fill the screen (don't be afraid of cropping)

What I am most dissatisfied with street photographers is that sometimes it is interesting to see the main body of a photo, but the photographer chooses to take the whole street, and as a result, what should occupy the main picture becomes a small part. Let the important things fill the picture, cut the others, and leave the audience room for imagination.

Of course, with a fixed-focus lens, the subject moves quickly, and often the perfect shooting position cannot be found. Don't be afraid to cut photos in the future. This is not landscape photography, and you are not allowed to plan all aspects of the photo in advance. You should get used to using cutting tools, even if it's only for minor corrections.

Remember, the hardest thing about street shooting is getting out of the house. Shooting opportunities are everywhere, you just need to be there and take them with your camera. Now go out and shoot at close range!