Just casually been reading about street photography and Bruce Davidson.
1.) Do I need a certain camera for this style? e.g. small?
2.) Is it hard to get photographs published in a book?
I've moved to a new area and I'm seeing it with inquisitive eyes. I'd like to photograph the essence of the area and try and get the pics published.
1. Literally anyone can publish a book in CURRENT_YEAR.
2. You can use literally any camera for street photography. You typically wanna use something smaller as to not draw attention to yourself, though.
3. Learn how to use Google. sage.
1. If you look beyond Bruce Davidson, you'll see that there are a variety of types of "street photography", with different gear involved. It all depends on what you want, how you view photography itself, and especially how you view what it is you're photographing. Some people think large format cameras do the best at capturing "essences". Some think otherwise. What is an essence anyway?
2. If by published you also mean famous, yes. It takes work.
There's no guarantee you'll get published by doing passionate work. Just do it and see what happens.
>>2836764
>Also are there any privacy laws with street photography?
Depends on what country/area you live in.
In the USA, if you are out in public, you have no expectation of privacy.
If you plan to sell the photo later commercially, however, you will need a signature for a "model release."
>>2836769
I'm in the UK.
>>2836787
I don't know what the law says in the UK, but there's lots of street photography going on in London, I know that.
Maybe someone else can clue you in or else you'll just have to check the law yourself.
>>2836790
Thank you. I'm in a small coastal town with unusual people (one-legged drug dealer, tramp with facial tattoos) and I'd like to be a cut above the rest.
Any tips?
>>2836794
>Any tips?
http://erickimphotography.com/blog/the-ultimate-beginners-guide-for-street-photography/
>>2836810
Thank you, very much.
>>2836787
http://pseudosticky.wikia.com/#Legal-United_Kingdom
Your authoritarian state likes to word everything from a terrorism-paranoid-policing perspective, and there is also the aspect of 'personality rights' laws that do exist in neighbouring countries to complicate things.
But essentially it is just as legal to photograph UK people in public without their permission as it is in Australia. You just have a much higher chance of being harassed because public/officials are largely ignorant and judgemental.
I've read that for rapidly changing subjects like in street photography you should manually focus or lock the focus at the hyperfocal distance or a distance allowing most of your potential subjects to be in focus without relying on autofocus to keep up with them.
Is this advice relevant today or is it a holdover from days which AF was slower/worse ?
>>2836824
A lot of places will tell you just shoot in P (auto) mode and just worry about adjusting your ISO when needed.
>>2836824
It's a holdover, but also really good advice. Even excellent AF is better left off if hyperfocal is useable.
Why focus if you don't need to?
Of course this is really only useful on shorter focallenghts where DOF is enormous.
If you are shooting a (for example) 70-200mm then you need good AF and a button separate from the shutter button to control it.
>>2836846
>If you are shooting a (for example) 70-200mm
Not a great choice of lens for street, but okay.
>>2836877
ikr, but what people mean when they say 'street' varies a lot.
<~30mm : use hyperfocal
~50mm-ish : wait for people to walk into prefocused zones, or continuously try to use some semblance of hyperfocal with actual focusing.
>50mm : good autofocus and an itchy trigger finger.
>>2836887
What is the best focal length for street, then?
>use pancake
>look for something/ someone interesting
>take a second to compose
>snap snap snap
>>2836890
There is no best. You pick your lens depending on what exactly you want to shoot. Often people recommend wider angle lens because it forces you to get closer to your subject. It can change the feel, mood, ect. especially since it changes the way you interact with the subject. I think the Eric Kim guide someone posted discusses this.
Forget the shitty advice.
Just focus on taking pictures. Worry about technical stuf later.
Any camera will do. Setting it in full tard mode is fine too. All you should worry about is:
1. What you put in the frame
2. Where you put them in the frame in relation to eachother
3. What you leave out of the frame
>>2836890
Traditionally it's around the 28mm mark
Mostly because those were the lenses people (press) used on 35mm film when the term was coined.
Whatever works for you and the shots you want to fit in the frame for the sensor (crop) you are using.
A 28mm lens focused to 3m and set at f/8 has hyperfocal from 1m out to infinity....see how that's conducive to shooting 'street'?...and nighttime flash...and just generally being able to hipshoot...
>>2836961
>A 28mm lens focused to 3m and set at f/8 has hyperfocal from 1m out to infinity
Apologies for being a bit pedantic, but that depends on the actual lens. My 28mm is more like 2m to infinity if set to f8.
>>2836794
UK Laws are basically the same as Yank laws.
If you're on public ground you can take a picture of anything you see.
The only limitations are airports and military bases where you may be stopped.
>>2836734
Mate, just focus on taking photographs and critiquing your own work really hard. Keep looking at other photographers and identify what you like about their work.
When you have enough work start to edit down really savagely and share the best of the best online.
Shooting to be published is a strange idea, focus on making good work first. What can you do differently with street photography?
>>2836887
That's a good idea, wait for people to walk into prefocussed zones. Nice tip.
I have another question - is black and white the more popular choice?
>>2837658
Yes (unfortunately). The popular choice is not always the right choice.
>>2837065
>depends on the lens
It depends on the circle of confusion size.
Ok so it's been 20 years since I did it....and it's not exactly hyperfocal, but this was the setting I'd use for flash way back when I shot film.
Point being: setting the camera so focusing is moot, allows you to concentrate on taking photos quickly and more easily.
>>2837658
B&W is part tonal aesthetic nostalgia, part cop-out.
Tonal aesthetic nostalgia: thats how Time/Life magazine and newspapers did pictorials, and what became classified as 'street'. Or back then: 'Life'. Even after the advent of color film, becasue B&W was cheaper and more forgiving. Therefore newfags seeking that look automatically adopt B&W.
Cop-out: becasue it allows for really shit whitebalance and bad exposures to be relatively easily overlooked because it's much easier to just contrast the bejesus out of B&W than it is to fix in color. You don't always get it right in-camera when shooting reflexively in the real world.
>Do I need a certain camera for this style? e.g. small?
Something you can easily set at a particular focus distance is nice. On a recent trip I decided to try randomly shooting people on the street. A lot came out blurry because the auto focus struggled. If I tried to pre-focus on something first, the exposure would be set to that instead of my final shot; plus some of the spontaneity for me was lost.
>>2837658
Color is a tool. If it's important to the image, leave it. If color is a distraction and shapes/forms and chiaroscuro is more important, get rid of it.
>>2837796
Yeah man, all those magnum photgraphers were copping out so hard KEK
