{"id":1179,"date":"2010-10-29T17:50:51","date_gmt":"2010-10-29T21:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=1179"},"modified":"2010-10-30T14:16:27","modified_gmt":"2010-10-30T18:16:27","slug":"street-photography-what-differentiates-a-good-photo-from-a-bad-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/29\/street-photography-what-differentiates-a-good-photo-from-a-bad-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Street Photography: What differentiates a good photo from a bad one?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2009, \u00c2\u00a0street photographer Blake Andrews famously wrote a blog post stating that \u00e2\u20ac\u015399.98% of street photographs are crap<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in response to Nick Turpin on street photography<\/a>. You can read more on the subject here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This got me wondering, what exactly differentiates a good street photograph from a bad one?<\/em> People say that art is subjective, but when it comes to st reet photography (and other forms of photography), I find it uncanny that there is a general consensus in the street photography public what constitutes a good<\/em> and bad<\/em> street photograph.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a>
"Man with bread pillow at The Golden Mile, South Africa" - Michelle Sank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently in the news, the British Journal of Photography recently awarded\u00c2\u00a0this image<\/a>, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Man asleep on the Golden Mile, Durban, South Africa.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d,\u00c2\u00a0by South African photographer Michelle Sank as\u00c2\u00a0the best single image category of its International Photography Award.There was a ton of unrest on the internet with some people calling the piece \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a joke\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and others calling it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rubbish.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Honestly when I saw the image, I was a bit turned off too. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the strong merit of the image, when there were tons of other great photographs that were submitted.<\/p>\n

In searching for the truth of what makes a good street photograph, I will chronicle some of the aspects that I have noticed of all award-winning and inspiring street photographs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. They capture \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Decisive Moment\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/h2>\n
\""kickingstatue"<\/a>
"kickingstatue" - Nils Jorgensen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This has to be one of the most common-sensical points, however still an important one to note. What differentiates a great street photograph from a mere snapshot is the timing that the photographer has. If you look at the most famous street photographs from Henri-Cartier Bresson, they all exhibit a characteristic of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Decisive Moment.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In other words, the timing made the image memorable. If the images were taken half a second too early or late, it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been nearly effective.<\/p>\n

2. They tell a story<\/h2>\n
\""Wandering"<\/a>
"Wandering" - Eric Kim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is commonly said that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a photo is worth a thousand words.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Great street photographs tell stories. These images beckon the viewer to think more about the story behind the photographs and think questions like: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wonder what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on in the image? I wonder who the people are in this image? What was going on in the photographers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 mind when he or she took it? I often even think that street photographers are not out there to take good photos, but to tell great stories.<\/p>\n

3. They make the viewer feel like a participant<\/h2>\n
\"Matt<\/a>
Matt Stuart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When shooting with a wide-angle lens and getting really close to the action, you make the viewer feel part of the scene. Too often many aspiring street photographers only stick to telephoto lenses which prevent them from getting this perspective. Furthermore in using a wide-angle lens, the perspective is in such a way that the viewer feels as if they are not just looking into the image, but actively participating in it. When a photographer uses a telephoto lens, the viewer feels much more of a voyeur.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These are just three of the points I noticed which make great street photographs (although there are tons more). So why not contribute some of your thoughts and leave a comment below?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2009, \u00c2\u00a0street photographer Blake Andrews famously wrote a blog post stating that \u00e2\u20ac\u015399.98% of street photographs are crap\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in response to Nick Turpin on street photography. You can read more on the subject here. This got me wondering, what exactly differentiates a good street photograph from a bad one? People say that art is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[443,442,445,446,447,444,448,265,301],"class_list":["post-1179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts","tag-british-journal-of-photography","tag-henri-cartier","tag-international-photography","tag-matt-stuart","tag-nils-jorgenson","tag-photography-award","tag-storytelling","tag-street-photographer","tag-street-photographs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/man-asleep-on-the-golden-mile.jpg?fit=1000%2C664&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=1179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}