Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Photography and portraiture - Can I use a telephoto lens for street shooting?

Can I use a telephoto lens for street shooting?

Can I use a telephoto lens for street shooting?

On this issue, I was often confused when I first came into contact with street photography. From the first day of sweeping the street, an old-timer patiently told me: Young man, sweeping the street should be wide-angle, and then some photographers' names came to me, such as Daido Moriyama sweeping the street with a focal length of 28mm, Elliot Erwitt sweeping the street with a focal length of 35mm, and Bresson sweeping the street with a focal length of 50 mm. So for a long time to come, anyone who wants to ask me what focal length is better for sweeping the street will only have these three numbers floating in his mind. Until one day I saw the following set of photos on the Internet.

? The photographer of the photo is street photographer Nick Turpin. These photos are from one of his photography projects? Through the dark glass? . Nick was born in England. He studied art design and photography at the university. He used to work as a professional photographer in a newspaper, and later he took many different kinds of photos, including portraits, advertisements, fashion and so on. His interest falls on street photography.

Most street sweepers may not be familiar with such a photographer, but I am very familiar with his contribution to street photography, because we are doing similar things in different countries, and he is now using his own strength to spread the charm of street photography internationally. We'll talk about this later, and then we'll talk about this group of photos of Nick. Using telephoto lens, he chose to take photos of various passengers in the bus from a distance. After a long period of shooting, he formed a series. This group of photos received great response after being published on the Internet, and many large domestic photography websites also reprinted them. This group of street shooting works has inspired me a lot, and I will share them with you one by one.

1, holding a telephoto, sweeping the street calmly.

Nick used his works to prove to us that telephoto lens is not only a paparazzi's capture weapon. He didn't use a tripod to take this group of photos, but used his hands. The shutter speed was kept at 1/40S, which was far lower than the safe shutter speed of the telephoto lens, so he must pay attention to the stability of the camera. This is also the key point that we should pay attention to when sweeping the street with telephoto, especially at night. Compared with wide angle, telephoto is less accommodating in space, but because of its sense of spatial compression, it is very conducive to shooting street portraits and helpful to some emotional details.

2,? Street? Not just on the street.

Nick, the subjects of this group of photos are all in the carriages of the bus. Some people may say that this is not street shooting, but if it is not street shooting, what is it? In Wikipedia's definition of street photography, street does not mean street, and any photo taken in public space can be called street photography. So next time you are in exhibition halls, shopping malls, beaches, trains and other public places, don't forget to bring your camera, and you are likely to shoot satisfactory works there.

In fact, I am very interested in choosing a bus as a public place, because it is open at first, but because every passenger enjoys private space, I think this is a relatively private public space, and it is easy for photographers to shoot extremely natural street portraits in this specific space. It is particularly emphasized here that we should pay great attention to respecting the privacy of the subject when shooting, and never infringe on the privacy of the subject because of art.

3. Add a mysterious artistic sense to the works.

Careful analysis of the success of this group of photos is not only the application of telephoto in close-up street portraits. There are two other important points: one is to shoot in winter, and the other is to shoot at night. In winter, a lot of water mist condenses on the windows. Some windows cover everything in the car like gauze, and some windows give people a feeling similar to oil painting because the fog is wiped away by passengers. In addition, shooting at night, the lighting in the car as the background light, adds a bit of atmosphere to the work. The mysterious texture of the water mist on the window, all kinds of passengers and soft lighting all constitute a looming picture, which can not help but remind people of the story of the passengers on the bus at that moment.

People in the street don't have to make eye contact.

I have read some foreign articles about street portraits before, including chatting with other street photographers. They all say that when taking street portraits, it is best to wait until people's eyes directly touch the camera before pressing the shutter, saying that it is easier to produce stories and emotions. I have always had reservations about this statement for two reasons: First, I think street photographers without eye contact can tell a good story. For example, Nick's photos have no eye contact at all, but the story is far better than some ordinary street shooting works. Second, I think it is decided by the domestic situation. If you often shoot street shots in China, you will find that domestic photographers are often shy to face the camera, and they often show an embarrassed, flustered or somewhat contradictory expression when they see the camera. So try to change your mind and shoot some street shots without eye contact.

5. Complete a photography project for a long time.

About this series of photos, Nick's personal website shows 30 photos. He has been working on this project for three years in a row. Although I don't know how many such photos he has taken in the past three years, I don't think it will be a small number. Photography project, a seemingly lofty word, is now used by many photographers, but some so-called projects are lacking in shooting time span and work integrity. I say this because I went through this stage when I first came into contact with photography. My suggestion is that we should take a serious attitude towards the photography project, and after a long period of shooting, we should constantly understand and correct it and finally complete it.

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