Three tips for better street photos
1. Frame without the camera
I got rid of my zoom lens and use typically a 35mm or a 50mm lens on my camera. Looking through one focal length all the time really trains your eye to see that box around everything you look at. Not only does it help you to spot good shots, but it also makes you less conspicuous if you don’t have a gigantic lens glued to your face at all times. I often frame something in my mind before I even bring the camera to my eye. This is just not very easy to do with a zoom lens, but if you know your favorite focal length by heart, you can do much of the thinking ahead of time, so you don’t miss the moment. Even better is to get a rangefinder camera, or maybe just a standalone viewfinder that you can look through.
2. Manual focus can be faster
Autofocus has several disadvantages. First, many cameras, including my Pentax K20D will not fire the shot in AF mode unless the AF has locked. This means you may miss the decisive moment. The second disadvantage of AF is that when it misses, it misses big. So instead of focusing on your subject you might focus on the background, completely ruining the shot. With manual focus you might the focus a little bit, but the shot may be plenty useable, just soft. Especially when shooting at small apertures like f8 and up, and with wider lenses, MF becomes quite useable, especially if you take advantage of hyperfocal focusing. Third, AF is a bit noisy, and often nearly useless in dim light.
3. Meter ahead of time
When an interesting scenario presents itself, you don’t want to miss it because your camera settings are wrong. Sure on gray days with low contrast scenes your camera’s meter might get the exposure right. But if you find yourself in a complex lighting scenario, I find it’s better to prepare ahead of time by setting your camera to manual exposure and figuring out the right exposure as the light changes. For this, it’s best to take a test shot and look at the histogram and make sure nothing is over or underexposed, or just use your eyes if you don’t have a histogram. You can use the camera’s suggested metering as a starting point and adjust from there. Keep your eyes on the light around you and make sure that when it changes you have updated your camera settings in preparation for the next shot. And don’t forget to adjust the ISO appropriate to the light around you - typically 100-200 for bright days, 400 for overcast conditions, 800 and 1600 for indoor lighting. For a fun bonus, learn the sunny f16 rule and try using your eyes as a meter.
Shameless plug: check out my photography on flickr.
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