{"id":32894,"date":"2016-10-24T09:50:58","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T16:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?page_id=32894"},"modified":"2016-10-25T00:44:15","modified_gmt":"2016-10-25T07:44:15","slug":"candid","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/candid\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Tips for Candid Street Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"London,
London, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think in street photography, there are many different \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sub-genres.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For example, you have the traditional candid street photography, you have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street portraits\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (taking photos of strangers, primarily of their faces), you have photos of urban landscapes, and of just random stuff you might find on the streets.<\/p>\n

For this article, I will give some practical tips I have in shooting candid street photography:<\/p>\n

1. No sudden movements<\/h2>\n
\"Mumbai,
Mumbai, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The biggest thing that gives us away in street photography when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shooting candidly is that we make sudden movements.<\/p>\n

For example, if you want to take a photograph of someone, by moving your camera too quickly to your face, you will give yourself away.<\/p>\n

Assignment: Keep your camera close to your eye<\/h3>\n

A solution: try to have your camera really close to your face. This way, when you want to make a photograph, the distance between moving your camera to your eye will be very short.<\/p>\n

If you have a camera neck strap, tighten it very close to your chin. Then you can quickly bring up your camera to take a photograph, without attracting too much attention.<\/p>\n

If you use a wrist-strap, walk with your camera close to your face. Then when you want to take a photograph, you can just move your camera very subtly to your eye, and click a photo.<\/p>\n

2. Use your LCD screen<\/h2>\n
\"Downtown
Downtown LA, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If your camera has an LCD screen, it can be less obvious that you are taking photos.<\/p>\n

It is more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stealthy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to shoot with an LCD screen instead of a viewfinder. Because with an LCD screen, we look more like a tourist. Not only that, but it is less obvious who we are taking a photo of.<\/p>\n

Assignment: Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use your viewfinder<\/h3>\n

I am not a big fan of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153shooting from the hip\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d taking photos with your camera at waist-level (without looking at the LCD screen). I used to do it a lot, but the problem if you can never frame accurately.<\/p>\n

Rather, try to shoot without your viewfinder, but just use the LCD screen (if you have one).<\/p>\n

3. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make eye contact<\/h2>\n

Another practical tip: when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shooting candid street photography, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make eye contact. When you make eye contact, that is when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re automatically given away that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking a photo of someone.<\/p>\n

The funny thing is that you can stand really close to someone, and still take candid photos of them not really noticing. Just look at your subject through your viewfinder or LCD screen\u00e2\u20ac\u201d avoid making eye contact.<\/p>\n

Assignment: Look behind someone while you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking a photo of them<\/h3>\n

Get close to your subject, and pretend like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking a photo of something behind<\/em> them. See their reaction.<\/p>\n

4. Shoot in a crowded area<\/h2>\n
\"Hollywood,
Hollywood, 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you shoot candid street photography in a very quiet area of town, with few people walking, it will be a lot more awkward and obvious that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re making photos of them.<\/p>\n

Rather\u00e2\u20ac\u201d try to go to the most crowded area of town. That might be in the downtown area. Or perhaps at a mall. Or maybe at the city next-door.<\/p>\n

The benefit of shooting in a crowded or touristy area is that you disappear into the crowd. People pay less attention to you \u00e2\u20ac\u201d because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just a part of the mob.<\/p>\n

Assignment: Look like a tourist<\/h3>\n

Another assignment you can do is to look as much of a tourist as possible. Buy a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I love [name of your city]\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shirt. Wear a bright-yellow fanny-pack. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look like a local. Generally I find more people will ignore you, or not really give you any flak for shooting in the streets.<\/p>\n

5. The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153video camera\u00e2\u20ac\u009d technique<\/h2>\n
\"Downtown
Downtown LA, 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A good technique you can try to be more candid when shooting street photography is the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153video camera\u00e2\u20ac\u009d technique.<\/p>\n

The concept is that you walk around the streets with your camera glued to your eye, or your eyes glued to your LCD screen. You walk around slowly, and point your camera all around you, like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shooting a video. Except while you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing this, make photos.<\/p>\n

Assignment: 360 degree video<\/h3>\n

Try to go to a busy area, and stand in the center. Then hold your camera to your eye or LCD screen up, and turn around (360 degrees) and slowly take photos all around you. Do this while you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re close to others, and pretend like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just shooting a panoramic video. See how others react to you.<\/p>\n

6. The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fishing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d technique<\/h2>\n
\"New
New Orleans, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you look at a lot of photographs by the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In-Public\u00e2\u20ac\u009d collective\u00e2\u20ac\u201d you can see many of them have employed the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fishing technique\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d looking for a good background, and waiting for the right person to enter into the scene.<\/p>\n

This is often how Henri Cartier-Bresson got a lot of his famous shots (the bicycle shot comes to mind). He would pre-visualize his composition, setup his framing and camera, then just wait for someone to enter the scene, to complete the image.<\/p>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever been fishing \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you know the secret to the game is patience<\/strong>. The more patient you are, the more likely you are to catch a good fish.<\/p>\n

But at the same time, there are days you will catch no fish (no matter how good of a fisherman you are). Therefore I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found that the biggest benefit of fishing is just enjoying the peace, solitude, and having the chance to relax.<\/p>\n

Assignment: Fish for 30 minutes<\/h3>\n

Find an interesting scene, background, or wall, and wait there for 30 minutes. Try to wait for the right person to walk by the wall, to create some sort of interesting juxtaposition or scene.<\/p>\n

Take a lot of photos, and then when you go home, choose the best one.<\/p>\n

Also as a tip, if you take photos of people walking by a wall, try to get their legs in a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153V\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shape (which is much more engaging, and dynamic).<\/p>\n

7. Capture hand-gestures<\/h2>\n
\"Tokyo,
Tokyo, 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shooting candid street photos, the biggest problem we make is that we take photos of people, just walking \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and these photos are boring.<\/p>\n

Rather, try to capture hand-gestures. When you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re walking on the streets, look for people sneezing, stretching their arm to hail a cab, itching their head, or trying to shield the sun from their eyes.<\/p>\n

By capturing hand-gestures, you will have more dynamic images. Not only that, but your photos will have more emotion.<\/p>\n

Assignment: Hand-gestures<\/h3>\n

Simple: only photograph hand gestures for an entire day. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take any photos of people not<\/em> making any hand gestures. See how many different hand gestures you can observe and capture.<\/p>\n

8. Zone focus<\/h2>\n
\"Istanbul,
Istanbul, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the problems of candid street photography (especially when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re moving quickly, and our subjects are moving quickly) is that it is hard to capture the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153decisive moment\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of subjects (without having blurry photos).<\/p>\n

The solution (especially if your camera has slow autofocus) is this: use zone-focusing.<\/p>\n

The concept of zone-focusing is this: you manually pre-focus your lens to a certain distance (I like 1.2 meters) and keep it on manual, you set your ISO relatively high to have a fast shutter speed (I recommend at least ISO 1600), you set your camera to aperture-priority mode (A\/Av mode), you set your aperture to f\/8-f\/16 (to have a deep depth-of-field), and you have a relatively wide-angle lens (to get more things in focus, I recommend a 28mm or 35mm lens).<\/p>\n

Then when you go out and shoot, only take photos of people 1.2 meters away (about 2-arm lengths away). By having a high ISO (1600) your shutter-speed will be relatively fast. If you want sharp photos of your subjects, try to have your shutter-speed at least 1\/250th of a second, or better yet, 1\/500th of a second (and faster).<\/p>\n

The reason they call it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153zone focusing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is that when you pre-focus to a certain \u00e2\u20ac\u0153zone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or distance \u00e2\u20ac\u201d your subjects will be in-focus (a little further and closer to that zone). For example, with a 35mm lens, if you pre-focus to 1.2 meters, at f8, everything between around .9 meters to 1.5 meters will be in focus.<\/p>\n

So if your camera\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s autofocus sucks, try out zone focusing.<\/p>\n

Assignment: Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use autofocus<\/h3>\n

For a week, try out zone-focusing. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use autofocus. See if you can capture more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153decisive moments\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in your candid street photography. If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like zone-focusing, just go back to using autofocus.<\/p>\n

9. Focus on the subject furthest-away from you<\/h2>\n
\"Lansing,
Lansing, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you want to add more depth and layers to your candid street photos, focus on the subject furthest away from you in the frame.<\/p>\n

When we start off in photography, the beginner technique is to always focus on what is closest to us. But by focusing on what is furthest away from us (and having a subject in the foreground), you will have more depth, layers, and intrigue in the frame.<\/p>\n

Assignment: Pre-focus to 5 meters<\/h3>\n

For a day, pre-focus your lens to 5 meters, and try to add more elements in your foreground, to add more layers and depth.<\/p>\n

10. When in doubt, click<\/h2>\n
\"Tokyo,
Tokyo, 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whenever you see a street scene that you think might be a good photo, just click. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think too much. Just take the photo. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hesitate.<\/p>\n

I always wonder, if we always took a photo of a scene that interested us, and never \u00e2\u20ac\u0153chickened out\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (because of some nervousness or fear) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d how many more good photos might we have made?<\/p>\n

Personally, I have hesitated too much in my street photography, and as a result, have missed thousands of potentially good shots.<\/p>\n

Assignment: When in doubt, click<\/h3>\n

Keep this mantra in your mind when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shooting:<\/p>\n

\n When in doubt, click.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not only that, but if you see a good scene, take many photos. Learn how to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153work the scene\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doubt yourself. Make many different versions of a potentially good scene, and the more likely you are to get a good shot.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n
\"London,
London, 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These are 10 brief tips for candid street photography.<\/p>\n

I feel the best thing about candid street photography is the sense of thrill, excitement, and spontaneity that comes around. Not only that, but candid street photos tend to look less \u00e2\u20ac\u0153posey\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in a way.<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily think that candid street photos are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153better\u00e2\u20ac\u009d than street photos shot with permission. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just different. Shooting without permission is just another tool you can add to your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photography toolbox.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

To\u00c2\u00a0learn more about street photography, check out\u00c2\u00a0Street Photography 101 ><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think in street photography, there are many different \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sub-genres.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For example, you have the traditional candid street photography, you have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street portraits\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (taking photos of strangers, primarily of their faces), you have photos of urban landscapes, and of just random stuff you might find on the streets. For this article, I will give some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32806,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-32894","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}