How to take a good street photo, and what are the skills of street shooting?

How to shoot a good street shot? Sometimes photography is also called photography, that is, the process of exposing the photosensitive medium by using the light reflected by the object. Someone once said an incisive language: the photographer's ability is to transform the fleeting ordinary things in daily life into immortal visual images. So, what are the street shooting skills?

1, the focal length is not longer than 50 mm

Let's talk about equipment first. When shooting the street, should I shoot the distant scenery with a telephoto lens, or is it more appropriate to shoot the close-up with a standard or wide-angle lens? In fact, there is no right or wrong lens, as long as you like to use a lens with any focal length. However, generally speaking, street shooting will not use a lens of more than 50 mm, although the longer the focal length, the harder it should be to be found by the subject. However, if the focal length is too long, the work will become like a sneak shot, lacking communication with the subject, thus lacking a sense of scene.

By using a lens with a wide focal length, you can keep the scenery near the theme or even the whole environment in the picture, so that the audience can feel the scene and atmosphere at that time as if they were there. Note that if you use APS-C camera, the focal length of the lens will change far!

2. Fixed focus or zoom lens?

Choose a lens of 50 mm or less. Next, you may think, should you choose a fixed-focus lens or a zoom lens? Theoretically, both fixed-focus lens and zoom lens can be used for street shooting. But many times we have to consider seeing emotional things in the street, and it may be too late to adjust the focus and slowly compose the composition. Street shooting is the most urgent and fastest. It is recommended to capture the street scene with a fixed focus lens, and it is most convenient to shoot with only one focal length and pay close attention to what is happening at that distance.

In addition, the zoom lens has another disadvantage, that is, its volume and weight are larger and heavier than those of the fixed-focus lens. Generally speaking, lenses with similar focal length and aperture will be heavier and larger, because zoom lenses contain more lenses for zooming than fixed-focus lenses. So when it comes to mobility, a fixed-focus lens will be the best choice.

Step 3 avoid being conspicuous

In fact, the choice of light and small equipment is also related to your interaction with strangers around you when shooting. If you take pictures of passers-by as a professional photographer with a big camera backpack, two cameras and several lenses on your back, do you think you will take pictures first, or do you think the materials are too aggressive to scare off passers-by first?

One of the keys to street shooting is to keep a low profile as much as possible. If you can, try to integrate yourself into the environment and hide yourself. The ideal way is to abandon the large camera backpack, only bring a camera and a mirror, and go into battle lightly on the streets of loaf about.

4, large depth of field, high ISO

Using the above method to shoot, you can also help improve the success rate of focusing by adjusting the aperture and controlling the depth of field. The smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field. Using small apertures such as f/8, f/ 1 1 and f/ 16 can increase the depth of field, which also expands the focus range. Then, it is easier to take a clear theme.

Of course, using a small aperture will also slow down the shutter, which is prone to hand shock. At this time, high ISO can come in handy! In the digital age, the photographic sensitivity of cameras is getting stronger and stronger. Even with ISO800, 1600 or even higher sensitivity, the quality of photos taken by many cameras has a certain level. Moreover, most cameras also have the function of self-defining the automatic ISO upper limit, which can adjust a certain shutter speed by fully automatic M-mode shooting, and then keep accurate exposure by setting the automatic ISO upper limit.

Using high ISO to keep the shutter speed and avoid hand shock is as simple as that.

5, preset focal length.

Many friends often feel distressed because the street view changes too fast. The scene in front of them has changed before the camera is properly focused. So many successful street photographers suggest that we adjust the focal length of the lens in advance in order to keep the picture. In other words, in order to shoot in the street faster, we should use the manual focus mode instead of the usual convenient autofocus function, and set a focus range in advance so as to shoot at any time.

For example, we set the pre-focus range of the camera at about 5 m. When we see that the scene we want to shoot is about this distance from us, we raise our camera and take a quick shot of that moment. I may not be used to this method when I first tried it, but most lenses will have focal length display on them, so that we can adjust the focal length when using autofocus mode. Get used to this method, and gradually you will find that this is the king of street shooting.

6. Don't sneak around.

Most successful street photographers know how to communicate and interact with people around them. Mastering these skills will naturally get twice the result with half the effort when shooting. Although it is said that the lower the profile, the better, but now don't be too secretive.

You know, SLR cameras are large equipment even if they are light. No matter how you hide the camera, others will see it easily. Your nervousness will only attract others' attention more easily, and even think that you have ulterior motives. So, shoot generously! On the contrary, it can reduce the wariness of others to you, and it is more worthwhile to be misunderstood that you are doing something that is not conducive to shooting!

7. Black and white? Color?

Many photographers like to take black and white photos. On the one hand, there are all kinds of messy scenery when walking on the street, and too many colors may disturb the vision. Black-and-white shooting helps to highlight the main body in the chaos and express a clear story. Secondly, many friends who love street shooting like their works to have a feeling of no time limit, and black and white photos are more likely to achieve this effect.

However, some people are obsessed with black and white, while others are obsessed with the rich colors in the street. If you think the color of the picture is the most interesting part of the picture, why not keep it? We might as well try both black and white and color, maybe it will have unexpected effects!

Step 8 get involved

If you want to shoot a good street shot, you can further participate in it. The biggest difficulty and challenge of street shooting comes from the fear of strangers. Because we don't know how the subject will react, before shooting, we might as well chat with the subject and say hello with a smile. Try not to suddenly raise your camera to take pictures of others.

Even, we can participate in the activities of the subjects. For example, if you meet a friend of Class One dancing in a foreign street and having a good time, you can also come closer, participate in it and ask him if he can shoot. Of course, this is just an example, but it is usually easier to shoot wonderful works after communicating with others!

9. Avoid using flash.

Usually, we don't take street shots with flashlights, but only use natural light. However, some photographers use flash when shooting in the street. They deliberately pursued the effect of surprising the subjects. These photographers will get close to strangers and take big pictures of people with flash lights, and people will be very surprised. But there is a flash on the camera, which will definitely make you more likely to attract the attention of others, whether it is day or night, so pay more attention according to the effect you want.

10, smile and praise the subject.

If others don't want you to take pictures, we should also respect their wishes. If the subject really doesn't want to leave the photo after taking the photo, he can choose to delete the photo or explain the reason for taking the photo to him. For example, sir, I think your tattoo is so cool. Can I take a picture? Miss, your hat is really nice. Do you mind if I take a picture? When explaining, you can praise others appropriately, so that others will be more affected and relax the tension when facing strangers. Although this method doesn't sound easy, if you try it, you will find it is not difficult to communicate with others. As long as you show goodwill, if you find the subject after taking pictures, you can smile at him or her, show goodwill and express your gratitude. Few people will completely refuse to take pictures.

1 1. Use a tripod for a good reason.

Have you ever thought about using a tripod for street shooting? Although putting a camera on a tripod will make you stand out, there are actually a few photographers who shoot street works in this way!

Tripod In addition to fixing the camera when the shutter is slow, some photographers use tripods to cover up the moment of shooting! They put the camera on a tripod, adjusted the focal length and composition in advance, and then slowly waited for passers-by to pass by. Although others will see your camera and tripod, they don't know you are shooting, so they are less aggressive to the people around them. When you feel that the decisive moment has come, you can just press the shutter!

12, don't watch the audience shoot blindly.

Of course, we can also find another way. Blind shot doesn't put the camera on his face. He doesn't look at the viewfinder through his eyes at all. He just takes the camera and shoots directly.

This is a common street shooting technique. Some people say that this is a blind shot, of course not, because the photographer is still watching, just not looking at the viewer. I just said that street shooting is not a bad thing, and the attitude should be aboveboard, but sometimes putting professional photographic equipment on your face is always aggressive, which will let the subject know clearly that you are shooting yourself.

Many photographers will use this method to follow the camera or press the shutter when waiting for others to come. Although the success rate will not be too high, in many failed works, you may shoot a wonderful work, which is enough to make you feel that shooting all day is meaningful! However, it is difficult to shoot blindly, and it takes a lot of practice to be handy. Because you don't have to look at the picture with your eyes, you need to master the angle. Interested friends should practice this skill more to be proficient!

13, optional shooting in tourist area.

If you are a novice in street shooting, you can actually choose to shoot in some places where there will be more photographers. It may be some tourist areas, and it will be a good start to find some people who are not the only ones with cameras in this area. Besides, you can also take a friend with you. Just call your friend, find the person you want to shoot and pretend to shoot him. When focusing, move the camera and turn to someone else to take pictures. Of course, this is not a aboveboard practice, but it is a good way to shoot in the street.

14, decisive moment

In addition to using the above equipment and skills, we should also shoot a good street shot. Of course, we should always remember the decisive moment once said by Bresson, the master of documentary photography. Because photography is the image of fixed the picture, street photography should press the shutter at the most wonderful moment and freeze the dynamic climax into history, not the moment before or after. Therefore, before taking pictures, we should all think clearly, is this second the best picture? Or stay for one more second and wait for the person being photographed to step forward, so that the picture will be more exciting? Pay more attention to the scenery around us, and we will gradually notice this decisive moment, which is likely to happen at that moment. Observe more and try more. I hope you and I can find this important moment!