{"id":92043,"date":"2018-06-02T18:57:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-03T01:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=92043"},"modified":"2018-06-02T19:29:35","modified_gmt":"2018-06-03T02:29:35","slug":"how-did-they-take-that-photo-behind-the-scenes-contact-sheets-of-famous-street-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/02\/how-did-they-take-that-photo-behind-the-scenes-contact-sheets-of-famous-street-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did They Take that Photo? Behind-the-Scenes Contact Sheets of Famous Street Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you ever see a great street photograph, and wonder– “How did that street photographer make that photo?” If you’re curious like me — study CONTACT SHEETS (the behind-the-scenes of how a photographer made an image):<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One of the benefits of shooting film<\/a>: you can create ‘contact sheets<\/a>‘, which is essentially a behind-the-scenes look into the mind of another photographer.<\/p>\n

The best book for education is ‘Magnum Contact Sheets<\/a>‘; which has given me a phenomenal master-class in street photography. I learned how the masters made the shots they did.<\/p>\n

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Lessons<\/h2>\n

\"henri-cartier-bresson-contact-sheets-magnum\"<\/p>\n

When you study contact sheets, here are practical lessons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Never take just 1 photo of a scene. “Work the scene<\/a>” to increase your chance fo making a good photo. Download PDF on Working the Scene ><\/a><\/li>\n
  2. You never know when you will make a good photo. Take LOTS of photos of the same scene, to increase your chance of making a good photo.<\/li>\n
  3. Vary your angles, distances, perspectives, and compositions\/camera orientation (horizontal\/vertical) when you’re shooting. When you go home, choose your favorite photos.<\/li>\n
  4. Sometimes the best shot is in the beginning, sometimes in the middle, sometimes at the very last shot! So don’t give up; when you think you got a good shot, shoot 25% more than you think you should!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Related Articles:<\/h2>\n

    \"Jean<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Debunking the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Myth of the Decisive Moment\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/a><\/li>\n
    2. How Studying Contact Sheets Can Make You a Better Street Photographer<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n

      Below is a further analysis of some of the famous master photographers<\/a>:<\/p>\n

      \n

      Robert Frank<\/a><\/h2>\n

      Bored elevator girl:<\/p>\n

      \"0<\/p>\n

      \"elevator<\/p>\n

      Henri Cartier-Bresson<\/a><\/h2>\n

      Children playing at broken wall, Seville.<\/p>\n

      Note, Cartier-Bressson didn’t just capture 1 ‘decisive moment’. He caught 2 moments, but chose the initial shot.<\/p>\n

      \"henri_cartier-bresson_seville_espagne_1933_d5494202g\"\"henri-cartier-bresson-contact-sheets-magnum\"<\/p>\n

      \n

      Rene Burri<\/a><\/h2>\n

      High angle shots of women walking by, with men looking at them:<\/p>\n

      \"rene\"rene<\/p>\n

      \n

      Eve Arnold<\/h2>\n

      Malcom X:<\/p>\n

      \"eve<\/p>\n

      \n

      Richard Kalvar<\/a><\/h2>\n

      Woman looking at herself in mirror:<\/p>\n

      \"Richard<\/p>\n

      \"richard\"richard\"richard\"richard\"richard\"richard\"richard<\/p>\n

      Another by Kalvar: Boy with funny glasses in Italy:<\/p>\n

      \"Richard<\/p>\n

      Martine Franck<\/a><\/h2>\n

      Boy by pool:<\/p>\n

      \"MARTINE\"MARTINE\"MARTINE\"MARTINE<\/p>\n

      Playful monk, dove totally falling on the monk’s head by chance!<\/p>\n

      \"martine\"martine\"martine\"martine<\/p>\n

      \n

      Steve McCurry<\/h2>\n

      Women huddled around in sandstorm (shot on Kodachrome slide film):<\/p>\n

      \"steve\"steve<\/p>\n

      \n

      Bruce Gilden<\/a><\/h2>\n

      Bruce Gilden gets 3 ‘keepers’ in one roll of film!<\/p>\n

      \"bruce\"bruce\"bruce\"bruce<\/p>\n

      Bruce Gilden and Yakuza: he saw an interesting scene of a “lesser” yakuza lighting the cigarette of a higher-ranking yakuza member, and he asked them: “Light his cigarette again!”. Note in the photo, the cigarette is already partly burned:<\/p>\n

      \"bruce\"bruce\"bruce<\/p>\n

      \n

      Martin Parr<\/a><\/h2>\n

      Parr actually was so poor when he shot his project, ‘The Last Resort’, that he initially saw this contact sheet in black and white.<\/p>\n

      Parr shot the project with flash, medium-format film, on a medium-format 6×7 rangefinder:<\/p>\n

      \"martin\"martin<\/p>\n

      \n

      Jean Gaumy<\/h2>\n

      Women in burkas in Iran, 1986, practicing shooting guns:<\/p>\n

      \"Jean\"Jean\"Jean<\/p>\n

      \n

      Eli Reed<\/h2>\n

      Kids playing soccer in Africa, note how intense they look in the shot that Eli chose, yet the other photos the kids are smiling!<\/p>\n

      Lesson: A photographer will always ‘edit’ reality, by choosing a photo which suits his\/her artistic\/philosophical vision:<\/p>\n

      \"eli\"eli\"eli\"eli\"eli\"eli<\/p>\n

      \n

      Jacob Aue Sobol<\/a><\/h2>\n

      When he shot his ‘Sabine’ project– a personal documentary of his love:<\/p>\n

      \"Jacob<\/p>\n

      \n

      Chien-Chi Chang<\/a><\/h2>\n

      He often will sketch his photographs from memory, before looking at the photos themselves:<\/p>\n

      \"Chien-Chi\"Chien-Chi<\/p>\n

      \n

      ERIC KIM<\/h2>\n

      \"R0003340\"R0003341\"\"R0001531\"0-one\"R0000449\"1-contact-braids-nyc\"\"R0001496\"0-bart-hat\"<\/p>\n

      Asking this woman to turn around to face me, reminds me like Vermeer’s “Girl with Pearl Earring”. Shot with flash:<\/p>\n

      \"R0003670<\/p>\n

      \"contact<\/p>\n

      Mikie with one eye: asking him to move around, and getting him in the corridor. Lesson: Don’t be shy, he looked ‘scary’ but he was super friendly! I ended up checking out his soundcloud (he raps on the side), and now he has a dope profile picture:<\/p>\n

      \"R0001531<\/p>\n

      \"0-one<\/p>\n

      \n

      ERIC KIM CONTACT SHEETS<\/a><\/h1>\n
      \"LAUGHING
      LAUGHING LADY by Eric Kim Contact Sheet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

      If you’re curious more about how to “work the scene” in street photography, download my full-resolution contact sheets for your own self-education and learning with the links below:<\/p>\n

      DOWNLOAD<\/h2>\n

      For your convenience, I have a selection of my contact sheets as a .ZIP file (very big at 2.5GB) available for you to download via Google Drive or Dropbox below:<\/p>\n