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Newbie to the street
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Hi folks,
Had to go to Dublin the other day so grabbed my 450d and stuck on a nifty 50 (just bought it) and took a few pics.
This is the first time I ever brought my camera into town like that. A bit nervous. Taking a few steps back while trying to take pictures with the 50mm 1.8 II nearly got me killed by traffic on one occasion! Found that rather annoying. Town was busy as hell and I didnt take as many as I wanted :(
Next time : different lens and very early in the morning :wink:
I want to take photos of some of Masers work whenever I get the chance http://www.maserart.com/recent.php?index=4
I currently have an 18-55 kit lens, a Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 :D and a nifty 50.
Here are the pictures I took on my Flickr :D :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55198193N06/sets/72157625262030735/I have payed the yearly subscription to Flickr this morning. I have a load of self teach books. Gotten a load of advice regarding ‘general photography’, software, lenses on other threads and forums. On my next list of stuff to purchase I have a Tamron af 70-300mm F/4-5.6 DI (a cheap 1 off a mate) and maybe a fish eye/macro converter lens.
- – Anybody recommend some ‘Street’ books, artists, photographers, gear to get or techniques :?:
- – I am also intending on buying online a good Polariser and ND8 filter? Any use for ‘street :?:
Welcome to the street.
The f/1.8 50mm is a great lens for the price. But on a cropped sensor camera like the 450D it acts as like a 80mm telephoto hence you having to step out onto the street to get your subject in the frame. Otherwise you have to shoot the walls from a angle which doesn’t always work.
I don’t take normally the same sort of photographs but I use 50mm and 35m lenses on a 35mm film camera when I am out on the street which would equate to around 20mm and 30mm on a cropped sensor digital body. So your kit lens may be a better bet starting off.
I am not sure a polarizer or ND8 would be useful for you. The polarizer would be good for reducing reflections in windows if that is something you want but I prefer to see the reflections in the photos I take for the “double exposure” effect.
Thanks for the welcome Dave
I know. Someone said the same thing before I bought the 50mm to be careful that it acts like a 80m. Just didn’t understand it at the time. It did take some nice pics all the same I thought. I did notice that I needed to shoot from an angle to get some pics to work.
What type of pictures you normally take Dave? Should I be buying the same sort of lenses as you then and what do you think of the lenses I have so far?
Thanks. I was just going to buy a polarizer on Ebay. Glad I didn’t! Cheers
Hey Pedro, welcome to the street as davedunne commented above.
So, I don’t think that 50mm lens good starting in the street style, better will work with your KIT lens (18-55) on 18mm, cause as Dave already mentioned about cropping factor on digital cameras. It is possible use 50mm, but only in certain distance of taken object and be more focused on what do you want to take.For street I would recommend to keep it simple, but it’s really up to you to find equipment to suit your preferred style. A small camera with a 50mm lens or less, and nothing else, works best for me when I go out. The small camera will not look very conspicuous in the street, while a lens of 50mm of less will allow you to work close to people. Again, its up to you. Do what ever gives you the images you want.
For a starter book I highly recommend “Bystander: A history of Street Photography” by Colin Westerbeck & Joel Meyerowitz, published by Bulfinch Press – I think, my copy is quite dog-eared and the inside page is missing. It is simply the best book on street photography around, and if you are serious about doing street stuff, you should source a copy. Its crammed with examples of street masterpieces, by all the masters, and has excellent commentary and discussion. When you get through that, you can decide who you want to check out further. I seen a copy somewhere recently, I think it might have been in the bookshop in the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar, Dublin. Or Amazon surely will have it.
Good luckpilipoff: Cheers for the welcome. I had also brought along with me that day the kit lense but found that too bulky when my jacket was zipped up hiding the camera so switched back to the 50mm. The 50mm can take some nice shots all the same.
steveb: To be honest, I knew not to expect too much from having my first try at it as im still new to photography. Certainly didn’t help matters that I was in a mega rush for an appointment. I would have loved to take a few more.
You are right about that I should try and keep it simple Steve and it makes sense. Black and white pics I will do next. I defo don’t want to be very conspicuous in the street. I lived in the Dublin’s Inner city and I know that its not a wise thing to do.
Do you reckon the 450d is too big of a camera to permit me to work close to people Steve and stay out of sight out of mind? Any recommendations of a good lense that’s cheap and cheerful and does the job? What type of camera do you use?
I was going to buy the book straight away but seen the price of it on amazon.co.uk and its out of my Paypal budget right now. Would you sell me your dog-eared copy? :lol: if you want to pm me
Thanks for the advice lads :wink:
So Ive done a bit of research into this from advice from Steve. Looks like I need a different camera to do the street photography that I want to do.
There are a good few nice spots that I might start to photograph anyways with the 450d in the meantime while I save up for a ‘Leica style camera’.
I shoot street and landscape and only ever use filters for landscape. I use a 10-20mm and a 55-200mm on the street mostly. I often shoot from the hip using the wide angle. You should try and pick a spot with sunlight and shadows so as to create a canvas in your view finder. Prefocus your lens and wait for people to walk into your frame. Take loads and be critical. There’s lots of good street photographers on flickr. Look at their streams and see how they use light. Here’s a link to my stream. http://www.flickr.com/photos/35946535N07/” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Ger.
Hi Ger hope all is well this cold day.
Do you have a Canon 450d too? Your setup with the 10-20, 55-200 interests me. I wouldnt mind a Sigma 10-20.
Sorry for a stupid question but what does shooting from the hip mean ?
Thanks very much for the tips and for sharing your Flickr stream :wink: Some very nice pics !
Welcome to the forum.
If I were you, I’d get a couple of books by some of the masters of the art;
Henri Cartier Bresson
Robert Doiseneau
Josef Koudelka
Helen Levitt
Eugene AtgetOr indeed our own Fergus Bourke if you can find one.
Any of those should give you a good start. Phaidon do cheap ones for sure.
Here are some sites with multiple street photographers;
http://www.in-public.com/” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.seconds2real.com/” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet/” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
And here are some street photographers of various hues !
Matt Stuart (UK) – http://www.mattstuart.com/” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Kevin Balance (IRE) – http://www.kevinballance.co.uk/” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Ara Güler (Turkey) – http://www.araguler.com.tr/index_en.html” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false; (more documentary maybe!)
Tony Ray Jones (UK) – http://www.ssplprints.com/category.php?nameTree=photography/tony_ray-jones” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Philip-Lorca diCorcia (US) – http://www.thecollectiveshift.com/show/portfolio/diCorcia” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Aleksander Nowak (IRE) – http://alkos.info/wp/blog-archives” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Viktor Kolář (CZE) – http://www.viktorkolar.com/kolar.htm” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Nasser Kalaji (Jordan) – http://www.immortal-ent.com/” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Cristóbal Hara (Spain) – http://www.horvatland.com/pages/guests/hara/index_en.htm” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;And I could go on and on ….
And not a homeless person on any of those sites either 8)
Regarding your camera, you don’t need to change. The good thing about street photography is that any camera will be fine from a point and shoot to a Leica. Try and get a reasonably fast prime lens, for a crop camera 20mm or 24mm would be ideal. They are cheapish! Don’t buy a sigma 10-20mm !
Street is about approach not equipment. I work with a 5D2 including a grip (Big) and a 35mm prime (Huge) and I can honestly say I’ve never missed a shot due to the equipment.
Get reading and looking around and most of all practice. It’s not a difficult as it might appear at first.
Pedro wrote:
What type of pictures you normally take Dave?
I go through different phases and take all sorts but for street photos I have starting posting them here http://davedunneonline.com/
Pedro wrote:
Should I be buying the same sort of lenses as you then and what do you think of the lenses I have so far?
I don’t think you need to buy any more lenses just yet. Buying gear is a fun hobby in itself completely distinct from using gear but for now I would use the kit lens and find out what focal length you usually use. Then you can use that information to make a more informed decision about what lens you really want later.
I am not familiar with the Tamron by the way so cannot comment on it.
Here more good websites for Street Photography inspiration
http://streetreverbmagazine.com/
http://blog.yanidel.com/
http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/
http://mattweberphotos.wordpress.com/Agree with all above, dont go throwing money on more gear. Take your time. I dont know what a 450d is (I’ll google it later, im in a rush right now) so cant comment on it. But I’m sure it can be used. As said above, its about approach not equipment. If your into equipment then join a camera club (that sounds familiar, might have nicked that quote from somebody famous).
And another thing, I work largely in Dublin inner city and its quite safe, so far anyway.Covey
Wow! Thanks for all the links mate! Must have taken you ages to do that, appreciate it. Some wealth of knowledge there. I have already begun browsing the links and there is some very cool stuff in them. I will check out Easons during the week and try and pick up one of those books. I’ll look at more of their pics to decide which one I should invest in. My heart is telling me to buy one of the French ones as have spotted some great pics from them and also have lived there for a bit. I’ll start looking at prime lenses too. I’ll practice and read/study like mad. Cheers thanks for all the tips and advice I sure hope it’s not as difficult as it first appears loldaviddunne
Some great photos Dave. Really good work! Like your style. The website is very well done compared to some ive seen lately.
Thanks for those links and the advice Dave.steveb
I really don’t want to throw away any more money on gear! It is a bit of a hobby as Dave said earlier buying gear but its coming into an addiction lol Well that’s a very good thing that you haven’t had any bad experiences while working in Dublin’s inner city and hope you never will god bless. But ive seen things happen to mates and other people before… not the nicest thing getting mugged for your belongings. Id be like you, nothing has ever happened to me and want it kept that way but get where you’re coming from.Hi again, shooting from the hip means literally shooting from the hip ! You point your camera without looking thru the viewfinder. It gives you an interesting angle, but takes a lot of practice.
As for cameras, I shoot Nikon, but don’t get hung up on them. They’re only tools. Learn the basics about aperture and shutter speed and then concentrate on seeing the light and composing your image.
Above all, have fun !Ger.
Covey wrote:
Regarding your camera, you don’t need to change. The good thing about street photography is that any camera will be fine from a point and shoot to a Leica. Try and get a reasonably fast prime lens, for a crop camera 20mm or 24mm would be ideal. They are cheapish! Don’t buy a sigma 10-20mm !
Street is about approach not equipment. I work with a 5D2 including a grip (Big) and a 35mm prime (Huge) and I can honestly say I’ve never missed a shot due to the equipment.
Will a Canon 28mm f2.8 prime do the job :?: The Canon 450d has a crop factor of 1.6 so a 28mm prime would give me about 45mm..
Have after spotting one for ok money. Should I go ahead and buy it or is there any other options open for me?
I have tried out 28mm f.8 on my Tamron lens and would be happy with the results.
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