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ejw07

ejw07

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Toronto, CA
Looking to get more in-depth at street Photography, I have the d600 sigma 35 1.4 70-200 f4... I hear ppl saying its better with 85mm 1.8 Also the 70-200's are a bit long for street. I want the gist on this. I see ppl shooting with a 70-200 2.8 for street just to stay away from ppl's faces. Any truth to this..Shorter focal length lens Are Smaller cameras such as the Fuji xpro1's the in thing for street

Thanks

Eddy
 
ejw07 said:
ejw07 wrote:

Looking to get more in-depth at street Photography, I have the d600 sigma 35 1.4 70-200 f4... I hear ppl saying its better with 85mm 1.8 Also the 70-200's are a bit long for street. I want the gist on this. I see ppl shooting with a 70-200 2.8 for street just to stay away from ppl's faces. Any truth to this..Shorter focal length lens Are Smaller cameras such as the Fuji xpro1's the in thing for street

Thanks

Eddy
Click to expand...
Hang out in the leica forums and you'll hear the same kind of talk, they'll tell you that a black leica is better for street than silver ...and on it goes. Now the talk is about mirrorless but they dont talk about the drop in iq or the loss of fast glass. Its more important not to get hung up on hardware, you are the photographer and we can't change that so thats where the work is.

Your D600 is perfect and the 35/1.4 and 70-200 is plenty. I use 21/28/35/50/100/135 for street and they are manual focus on a D700 and film bodies. The longer lenses dont have to be at distance and often I'm at MFD. Withe a wide lens ...get in close. With a long lens ...get in close.

The biggest thing ...find out what street photography is, it can take a while to find out what it is to you and thats all part of it ....make every mistake you can, cut off heads and feet and miss the shot altogether ...thats how you learn. You like a bit of 'art' photography too I see, know that you can do lots of this, its not all just pics of strangers.
Understand that street photography is about the photographer moreso than the street, that the content is not as important as the whole photograph. A bit cryptic but it will come to you.

Learn to shoot in manual at night and get used to watching your histogram and play with exp+/-. We mostly shoot in Aperture mode. Lastly you might (I do) turn off auto-iso and learn to control it yourself and understand that you will get it all wrong some days but that those days will get fewer. Try to replace as much of the camera with you, which is also why the gear is not so important.

You don't have to jump in at the deep end, there are tricks for beginners that you are always welcome to ask for in this forum, some terrific street photographers here

I hope I helped put you at ease ...visit my gallery to see what a Nikon dslr can do. (am working on my site, is a bit slow ...let it load before clicking menus and it will be fast in a couple of mins.

And be safe, dont take pics of kids so as not to upset mothers and dont talk to anyone that wants to challenge you, just say sorry or something and walk, and dont stop and dont get into a conversation (practice this in your mind). You might also find others on a forum that might be local to you in Toronto, go join a photo walk and watch some others or just join in here.

Ant.
ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ
oneant.com.au
 
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ejw07 said:
ejw07 wrote:

Looking to get more in-depth at street Photography, I have the d600 sigma 35 1.4 70-200 f4... I hear ppl saying its better with 85mm 1.8 Also the 70-200's are a bit long for street. I want the gist on this. I see ppl shooting with a 70-200 2.8 for street just to stay away from ppl's faces. Any truth to this..Shorter focal length lens Are Smaller cameras such as the Fuji xpro1's the in thing for street

Thanks

Eddy
Click to expand...
 
ikwak01 said:
ikwak01 wrote:
ikwak01 said:
ejw07 wrote:

Looking to get more in-depth at street Photography, I have the d600 sigma 35 1.4 70-200 f4... I hear ppl saying its better with 85mm 1.8 Also the 70-200's are a bit long for street. I want the gist on this. I see ppl shooting with a 70-200 2.8 for street just to stay away from ppl's faces. Any truth to this..Shorter focal length lens Are Smaller cameras such as the Fuji xpro1's the in thing for street

Thanks

Eddy
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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Member said:
oneANT wrote:

Dont scare Eddie off, this doesn't reflect anything like it is. He is beginning and won't be jumping out of any trees in Toronto. I would say his experience is going to be much like mine, no trouble at all and a lot of photos.

And the other thing, NEVER DELETE A PHOTO ...not ever, you can say you will to lessen the tension and push the preview button off but they have no right to ask, no reason to even talk to you. If it was film, he couldn't and has to deal with the situation the same way.

No you have me talking about all this confrontational stuff ...buts its not like this. If it is for you then buy a funny hat or something.

Good luck Eddie, thats for the pics and not that you will have any troubles, because you wont if you just get into the groove of it.

Ant.
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Haha, not trying to scare anyone and I never said confrontations were the norm; in fact, I specifically said that confrontations are very rare. I just gave some tips from my experience on how one should approach street photography that would make an unlikely confrontation even more unlikely (thus eliminating the myth of confrontation on the streets which is the primary fear most have when starting out in street photography... at least it was for me). But then again, it also depends a lot on the subjects you shoot and the locations you shoot in.

And never say "NEVER DELETE A PHOTO" -- sometimes it just isn't worth the hassle to stand up for your "legal rights". Like we both acknowledge, confrontations are rare, but I have been in a handful of highly unusual situations... where the subject will become extremely hostile to the point of psychotic and insist on personally viewing your camera preview to "make sure" you deleted their photo... where the subject happens to be an uneducated cop who, along with his half-dozen cop buddies surround you and threaten to arrest you... where the subject verbally threatens to assault and/or kill you... and my personal favorite, where the subject demands that you delete their photo and when I respond that I was shooting film, holds you at knifepoint and demands you hand over the film immediately. No these are not made up, and yes in each case I deleted their photo/handed over the film.
 
One way I avoid confrontation, is to take pictures of people when it's a "photo op". The type of "photo op" I mean is something you feel is special and normally they wouldn't be upset if you took their picture. These would be like if they are outside dancing or play-fighting or doing something photo worthy (it's a judgment call what you feel is photo worthy). I've taken pictures of people jumping into waves at the beach or getting ready to jump off the side of a hill into the river...those kinds of things. Of course a lot of this "street photography" action I find is not on a street. But that's an entirely different topic. :)

The last set of pictures I showed of people on the street on this forum was another example. There people were jumping up and down around a rope. In my mind, it was a "photo op", something that I didn't want to miss.
 
You are right, when it comes to safety. Each place in the world is different, our cultures and what people expect. Some people don't know the law and some people don't care. We have to do what is safe.
 
Digirame said:
Digirame wrote:

One way I avoid confrontation, is to take pictures of people when it's a "photo op". The type of "photo op" I mean is something you feel is special and normally they wouldn't be upset if you took their picture. These would be like if they are outside dancing or play-fighting or doing something photo worthy (it's a judgment call what you feel is photo worthy). I've taken pictures of people jumping into waves at the beach or getting ready to jump off the side of a hill into the river...those kinds of things. Of course a lot of this "street photography" action I find is not on a street. But that's an entirely different topic. :)
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Digi you worry me some days. Come for a walk.

Street photography is not being in a street, its not buskers and dancers ..its not photo op as you describe either, they are to be left for the tourists. Street, is the way the light cuts someone in half, the intersection of their arms or the turn of a foot, they are walking past a sign that says dont smoke and they are on fire.

You object to people thinking its not street because its not in a street when it might be in the country or at the beach ...but these are exactly street if is the way the light cuts someone in half, the intersection of their arms or the turn of a foot, they are walking past a sign that says dont smoke and the cow is on fire.
Digirame said:
The last set of pictures I showed of people on the street on this forum was another example. There people were jumping up and down around a rope. In my mind, it was a "photo op", something that I didn't want to miss.
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Thats an opportunistic photo, it doesn't mean its street and I'll repeat ...it doesn't have to be in a street. Those opportunistic photos are usually the worst subjects ...unless the cow really is on fire.

Ant.
 
It's just one way to avoid confrontation; that's what I was saying. I thought it might help for anyone. What you are talking about...whether it is or is not street photography could be a very long topic...that wasn't my main point. :)
 
That sounds good. So that you know, for my street photography (and other photography too), I use both the wide angle and telephoto lenses. My style is that I like to show the surroundings clearly along with the people, so I often have a deep depth of field. Sometimes having a little extra focal length can help at times, so that the camera isn't "in their face". Enjoy your equipment. :)
 
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