Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I never really done candid street photography before - I'm always afraid of someone not really liking getting their picture taken.

How do you photographers who are more familiar, approach this? I know a way around this is to get a telephoto zoom. But right now that's expensive for me. At the moment I only have a trusty 24-70mm 2.4L for my Canon.

Real men don't use telephoto lenses for street photography. Not that there's anything wrong with a privacy invasion lens it's just not considered hard core street photography.

lol So then how do you do it? Do you ask permission or just snap away regardless until they say something

do just that.

Just keep shooting and do it deliberately. If someone sees you, smile at them.

I never really liked street photography until I followed along with another tpmger (thericyip) on several occassions. I quite like it now, and it's quite fun - I treat it almost like a hunt.
I would suggest getting out there with someone else at first as I find it helps with getting over any reservations you may have.

I'm still trying to get the hang of doing it with a lens below 50mm (full frame) and have had sporatic success. My favourite is using an 85 or 100. 200 feels like cheating to me and takes some of the challenge out of it, but I'm nit picking here really.

I'm often available for shooting around the downtown area after work and so feel free to hit me up if you need a partner I crime. Dundas sq is a great place to just stand around and shoot people going about their evening.

Yeah I will give it a shot sometime. I also have a 50mm 1.4 lol.

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An instructional video I did a while back.

People are hyper sensitive nowadays.
Some folks are not into getting their photos taken on the street. They'll hide their face or they'll mess the shot up by doing something that you probably didn't want to take a photo of in the first place.

Now.. if you're looking for classic "street photography" then I think you're going to have to look to some of the masters (all the usual names apply) but remember that we're living in different times now.

People are a lot more camera aware and camera averse than they may have been all those years ago.

In some parts of the world, the country, or maybe even this city, there are folks who may look upon you as a terrorist for raising your camera.

Street photography is not merely walking out into the street and shooting what-have-you - I believe it's about capturing the moment ("decisive" or otherwise).

It's about composition.

It's about being aware of your surroundings and events, stories, that are occurring right where you are.

Each person, thing, building, etc. has some story to tell. See if you can capture that story in your images.

Perhaps start out with the ubiquitous p&s camera. People will ignore you as a mere tourist taking photos and pay no attention to you. Move on to your DSLR once you feel more comfortable using a wide angle lens; 28mm, 35mm.. or normal 50mm lens.

Engage people but don't "steal" the photo.
Remember, everyone walking around (or standing around) is an individual. They should be given, at the very least, common human dignity.

Most of all, I think you need some luck along with a good eye and chutzpah and you'll do just fine.

Cheers,
Dave

Umm .. I was waiting for the instruction but it never came Ryan ..

Personally, asking for permission kills it for me. I like to to take the picture and if they catch me, I smile; if they catch me before I take the picture and they obviously don't want their picture taken I don't take the picture. If I have already taken their picture and they ask to erase it, I do. But I try to be polite and respectful at all times. I'm never "in your face" which some others like to do.

Watch it again you can either ask, implied ask or not ask. Asking works if you take the time for the person to forget you are taking their picture otherwise it's just a posed street portrait.

But in "asking" it takes away from the "candid-ness" (for the lack of a better word) of the photo.

It ceases to become a candid moment and moves into the realm of portraiture.

Just my take on it,
Dave

Sometimes I will "shoot from the hip" so that I don't lose that candidness but it takes some practice with a dslr, that's for sure. That's why I've been looking at the smaller mirror-less cameras - ep-1/2, gf1, nx10, etc. to use exclusively for street shooting.

I actually think those are probably the best bet now, save for the fact that you need an uber wide lens to even get close to 28mm (15mm voigtlander).

They combine the "Hold out your hands to use the camera" look of being a tourist with the "professional" look of interchangeable lenses. (not to mention that whole digital thing )

Cheers,
Dave

I think we all have to develop our own definitions. For me if I get a feeling of being there then I have captured the moment.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/12 ... otography/

Some references at the bottom.

If you don't want to ask crowded events are excellent places to get right into it.

Asking works when 2 people are talking to each other they soon forget you are there. Also if you engage in conversation a person will usually quickly forget the camera is there unless you are always holding your camera to your eye. Then again some of the best portrait work occurs when the subject is not posing so there is a similarity.

It like the Heisenberg uncertainty principle the camera always alters the perception of the scene.

There's some great advice on getting started in this Ways of Working article by Michael David Murphy.

http://2point8.whileseated.org/wow-footer/

Nice links Ryan and Burlap. Thanks for sharing.

Street photography applies to a wide range of different styles. Everyone has their own take on it. I go street shooting a lot and I've used lenses ranging from 20mm to 135mm. The focal range you use and how far your subject is will change how the photo will come out.

20mm f/2.8
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thericyip/4227973986/" title="The Setup by thericyip, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2684/4227973986_7e927a0af3.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="The Setup"></a>

35mm f/1.4
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thericyip/3925655816/" title="Bike Gang by thericyip, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2639/3925655816_824856246d.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Bike Gang"></a>

50mm f/1.2
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thericyip/3882085252/" title="Tired by thericyip, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2538/3882085252_0982628662.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="Tired"></a>

135mm f/2.0
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thericyip/3753718713/" title="Heart by thericyip, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2446/3753718713_b80e6a83b2.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Heart"></a>

85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thericyip/4280617770/" title="Smokin' by thericyip, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4280617770_22aefd5d99.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="Smokin'"></a>

Please don't restrict yourself to a particular lens when street shooting. The possibilities are endless. I find that 50% depends on your concentration (and a good eye) and the other 50% is luck. The best tip for anyone is to spend the time to go out and shoot.

And as for asking for a photo, to me it becomes unnatural and less candid. But in the end, that's a different style. You lose any sense of cinematic ness and candidness but a portrait of a stranger can tell many stories too.

For street photography you need a strong will, steely purpose and a sincere disarming smile. I do it with my 24-70 'Brick' lens.

It's all attitude. If you are thankfully for the photo oportunity arising then sincerely smile to the the subject. Transmit to them that you are sincerely thankful for the oportunity of having the pleasure of photographing them. If you try to be stealthy, it shows and when you are observed the subject sometimes feel there was a reason for your stealth and sneakiness.
Above all - if someone isn't happy being photographed then you need to apologise and understand their point of view.

My experience with candid (though admittedly not street) shooting is that you don't get a true candid unless you're using a long lens. Call it "modified observer phenomenon."

Here's a somewhat different take:

This book: Beyond Portraiture by Bryan Peterson
http://www.amazon.ca/Beyond-Portraiture ... 300&sr=8-4

(also well known for his Understanding Exposure book. I kinda like them all, really).

His take is to not be afraid to approach people, and to get a model release. That way, if for some reason some day you find yourself being able to commercially exploiot your shot, you are covered. After all, he makes his living as a stock photographer, and properly released people photos make up the most of his income. Without the model release, you are stuck with it for personal use.

Most likely no one here is intending to sell their nice street photos, but I bring it up since it's basically CYA. Considering the other active thread about copyright violations, it may be somewhat apropos.

Pointers from a site that I (and probably many others) enjoy every day:
http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/10/01/29/

Hopefully someone is still arranging for him to talk to us:
http://tpmg.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13832#126448

As i mentioned Sam's up for it, as long as the TPMG can organize an event, probably would have to wait until spring, so David can manage this one.

Great thread and thanks for all the links. I have been interested into trying street photography and a lot of good info in here. I would also love to attend a lecture series about this topic as well.

I just tried candids yesterday at the Eaton Centre.
Had some time to kill before my dinner date arrived so I took my 17-40mm and fisheye and tried to do candids (I brought only those lenses expecting to shoot the meal).

I was a bit shy at first, but then I got up the courage to ask people whether I can take pics of them. Had an interesting experience, here is a list of outcomes ranked from most frequent:

1. Shook their heads and kept walking
2. Ask what it is for then rejecting
3. Ask what it is for then (over) posing... these pics generally turned out bad.
4. Nod and try to feign a smile. Pretty much treated me like an eager tourist.
5. Flirt with me (I am a guy) and ask for email contact to get the pics.

I found that while disarming smile helps, my success rate of asking for permission increases if I pretend to take shots of the surrounding and making sure they're aware of my presence before asking for a picture.

Ideally, I'd like to just not ask for a permission, but given the lenses I was carrying, it is hard to get a truly candid shot if I am standing in front of them at point blank range.

Gonna try the 70-200mm with 1.4x extender next time and see what I get lol... this is gonna be fun.

Forget the telephoto with extender. Do it Bruce Gilden style:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRBARi09je8
Ok, maybe not so 'in your face' but you get the idea.

There's a recent thread on potn that I found interesting,
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/sho ... p?t=822121

I find that looking at peoples pictures, you can tell who asked for permission and which shots are truly candid. By asking permission, you tend to lose the candidness and get sort of a pose even if they try not to.

I'm hoping to get some time from my busy schedule to try street photography for my first time soon. Going to leave the telephoto at home and just use my 50mm 1.8

Bruce Gilden has quite the unigue style but I don't often see him shoot anyone that could beat him up.

The second link is a more typical thread where half the people make comments about what street photography is and isn't when they haven't really tried it more then once or twice. There's no right and wrong, even a fixed definition of a candid is open to interpretation. IMHO if it doesn't tell some sort of a story then it's just a street snapshot what ever the lens or the awareness of the subject.

Then I guess you haven't seen this stuff: http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/ ... tough-guys

Fantastic shots! Not the same as his flash in the face stuff.