tips street candid

SUMMARY
- Choose an easy locale with lots of tourists when you are first starting out.
- Turn off any beeping your camera does.
- If you photographing individuals in a crowd, don’t remove the camera from your eye after you take a shot, but keep scanning the crowd with it.
- Turn off the instant playback on the digital LCD
- Use a wide to normal lens. Don’t rely on telephoto lenses
- Make sure that you are focused and know how you are going to frame the image before the camera goes to your eye.
- Only shoot from the hip, or without looking through the viewfinder as a last resort.
- Practice looking for specific literal ideas: irony, juxtaposition, design elements, joy, sadness, emotional moments, things that you find unusual, surprises.
- Be prepared to take a hundred shots for every good one. And try and understand what a good shot means. (This is outside the scope of this article).
- Always have a camera with you. You’ll take some of your best pictures during your normal daily routines.
- Know the laws. You don’t need to get into a big hassle with the police when they stop you from taking pictures in a place where you know it’s legal to take pictures; but it’s important to know your rights.
- Do not ask for permission or a model release, unless you are doing “portrait” work on the streets. Do not expect that you’re images will be usable for print ads unless the subject is not recognizable (profile, shot from the back etc.)
- If you are afraid to put the camera to your eye – try to imagine that this is your last day on earth, and that the shot you see before you will be great. In other words, you may need to psych yourself into taking the shot. But there is a balance and if it really is too scary – then don’t force yourself. Your own fear will come across to the subject. When to shoot, and when not to push it, is something you’ll learn with time.
- Never use a lens cap (have an UV filter on the lens instead)
- Remember that no matter how many of these techniques you use, you are still invading someone’s privacy. There is no way around that. So you must feel that what you are photographing is worth the effort.
And finally, give yourself time to get used to the experience. Expect to be nervous in the beginning. Also expect that after you’ve been at it for a few years these techniques will become second nature. I think that being nervous is actually a good sign. Anyone with some degree of sensitivity will be uncomfortable doing street photography in the beginning. If you are the type of photographer that begins by sticking your camera in the faces of strangers, it is doubtful whether you are empathetic enough to be a good street photographer.