{"id":37722,"date":"2017-01-30T03:52:22","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T11:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?page_id=37722"},"modified":"2017-01-30T22:31:26","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T06:31:26","slug":"28mm","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/28mm\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Shoot Street Photography with a 28mm Lens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hanoi,
Hanoi, 2017 \/ Shot on Ricoh GR II at 28mm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

As of early 2017, my only camera is the Ricoh GR II, which has a fixed-focal 28mm lens.<\/p>\n

I wanted to share my personal experiences shooting with a 28mm lens, after shooting with a 35mm lens for almost 6 years.<\/p>\n

1. I still recommend 35mm for most street photographers<\/h2>\n
\"\"
Lansing, 2013 (shot on Leica MP + 35mm f\/2 + Kodak Portra 400 film)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First of all, I still think that a 35mm “full-frame equivalent\u00e2\u20ac\u009d focal length is ideal for most street photographers. Why? Apparently the human eye sees around a 40mm perspective. Shooting 35mm gives us a little more wideness than our natural perspective. I started off shooting street photography on a 50mm \u00e2\u20ac\u0153full-frame equivalent\u00e2\u20ac\u009d focal length (copying Henri Cartier-Bresson<\/a>), but I found that in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world, 50mm is just too tight and restrictive.<\/p>\n

My theory is that the world and streets were less crowded back in the days of Henri Cartier-Bresson, so a 50mm suited him for most of his needs. And also when Henri Cartier-Bresson traveled to India (very crowded place) he shot almost everything on a 35mm lens.<\/p>\n

Shooting with a 28mm lens on a point-and-shoot camera is practically the same as shooting 35mm on a camera with a viewfinder.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Well, when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m shooting with a point and shoot camera, I extend my arms closer to my subject. Therefore I can get closer to my subject with a 28mm lens, simply by extending my arm.<\/p>\n

However when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m shooting with a camera with a viewfinder, I need to bring up the camera directly to my face. Therefore, I need to stand much closer to my subject when shooting street photography with a 35mm lens.<\/p>\n

2. Why did I start shooting 28mm?<\/h2>\n
\"Hanoi,
Hanoi, 2016 (Shot on Ricoh GR II at 28mm)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a long time, I kept my Ricoh GR II\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s function 2 button (fn2) to 28mm\/35mm crop mode. Which means, every time I clicked the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfn2\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 button, the camera would crop into a 35mm point-of-view.<\/p>\n

I did this because I was so used to the 35mm focal length, and found it a lot more natural than shooting 28mm (the native focal length for the Ricoh GR II).<\/p>\n

However I started to notice that the 35mm cropped focal length was too close<\/em> for most of my photos. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite sure why this was the case. And once again I figured it out\u00e2\u20ac\u201d it is because I extended my arm when shooting street photography.<\/p>\n

Therefore I started to embrace the normal 28mm focal length, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been having a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

3. The challenge of shooting 28mm in street photography<\/h2>\n
\"eric
Tokyo, 2016 (Ricoh GR II + 28mm)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To start off, the 28mm is more challenging in street photography. Because you need to get closer to your subject, in order to fill the frame, and in order for you to have less clutter on the edges of the frame.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I know for myself, I love a lot of the street photos from history shot on a wide-angle lens (around a 28mm lens). I love the wide-angle photos shot by Josef Koudelka<\/a> in his \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGypsies<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 book (shot on a film SLR and a 25mm lens), as well as the edgy dynamic street photos of Garry Winogrand<\/a> (who shot on a 28mm lens). I am also a big fan of Charlie Kirk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s photos, who shot all his work on a film rangefinder and 28mm lens.<\/p>\n

I think one of the best ways to avoid<\/em> boredom in your photography is to constantly challenge yourself.<\/p>\n

When I first started to shoot 28mm \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it was very unnatural. I got a lot of distortion on the edges of the frame, which I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t used to.<\/p>\n

\"eric-kim-street-photography-portrait-ricohgr-2015-nyc-laughing-lady-5thave
NYC, 2015 \/ Ricoh GR II<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not only that, but 28mm forced me to shoot really close to my subjects. I mean, really close. All of my street portraits as of late have been shot at 28mm, in macro mode on the Ricoh GR II, in P mode, with the flash. The camera was probably 20 centimeters away from the subjects when I shot those photos.<\/p>\n

For typical \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccandid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 street photography, I recommend shooting at least one arm length away from your subject, to have a dynamic, edgy, and interesting street photograph (at 28mm). That is usually .7 meters (also happens to be the minimum-focusing distance of the Leica and many rangefinders).<\/p>\n

4. 28mm gives you more depth in your street photography<\/h2>\n
\"\"
Tokyo, 2016 (Ricoh GR II)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the biggest benefits of shooting with a 28mm lens is that you get more depth of field. Meaning, more of your photos are sharp and in-focus.<\/p>\n

I think bokeh (shooting wide-open, having the blurry background) is one of the most overrated things in photography. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take skill to take a photograph at f\/1.4 and to simply blur out the background. I think a great street photograph should have an interesting subject and an interesting background. Often (myself included) over-emphasize the subject in street photography, and disregard the background. Shooting at f\/8-f\/16 allows us to have both the subject and background in-focus.<\/p>\n

Shooting at f\/8 with a 28mm lens means almost everything is in focus. Which is more challenging and difficult. Because if you have a cluttered or distracting background, your photos won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work.<\/p>\n

Therefore it is a constant dance between having a clear foreground, subject, while having an interesting (yet not over-cluttered) background.<\/p>\n

5. Shoot head-on with a 28mm lens in street photography<\/h2>\n
\"\"
NYC, 2016 (Ricoh GR II)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Furthermore, shooting with a 28mm lens means that you have to shoot quite head-on to your subjects. If you shoot at 28mm from the side, the photos lack intimacy, and a dynamic energy. Therefore if you are shooting candid street photography (without permission) with a 28mm lens\u00e2\u20ac\u201d essentially you need to almost bump into people (head on) if you want to make dynamic images.<\/p>\n

6. Pre-focus to 1.2 meters<\/h2>\n
\"\"
Tokyo, 2016 (Ricoh GR II)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you are going to pre-focus and shoot street photography with a 28mm lens, I recommend 1.2 meters (about 2 arm lengths away) being a good default distance. And if you shoot in aperture-priority mode at f\/8, at ISO 1600, you are pretty much guaranteed to get most of your frame sharp and in-focus.<\/p>\n