Street Photography Archives

Experience Saul Leiter

A note about a couple of opportunities to experience Saul Leiter:

‘In No Great Hurry’ A Documentary

I do like photographs when sometimes everything is lost and where in some corner something is going on you are not quite sure.
Saul Leiter

I have finally found where you can stream ‘In No Great Hurry,’ a documentary in which Leiter talks to Tomas Leach at his studio on the Lower East Side. It can be found at The Darkroom Rumour, and the film can be watched with an annual subscription or a 7-day free trial here. This documentary was shot in 2012, and covers not only his fabulous colour photography but also his life lessons, what he likes about photography and the effect he wishes to have on those who see his photographs

Saul Leiter ‘An Unfinished World’

Photographs are often treated as important moments, but really they are fragments and souvenirs of an unfinished world.”
Saul Leiter

A major retrospective exhibition of his work. ‘An Unfinished World’ is at Foam, Amsterdam in the New Year: 24th Jan to 23rd April. To quote the blurb. ‘this exhibition brings together over 200 works, consisting of black-and-white and colour photography and his abstract paintings. His unique style reveals a practice using shadow, light, and reflections to craft layered compositions.

Another Saul Leiter Project

by John Gough

Tony Bramley FRPS has also been on a Saul Leiter journey. This brief video shows some of his ‘Leiter’ images compared with the Leiter original.

I love the Saul Leiter quote that Tony has found:

A window covered with raindrops interests me more than a photograph of a famous person
Saul Leiter

An Update on My Saul Leiter Journey

I am enjoying studying one photographer in depth. We can all appreciate Leiter’s work, the layers. the seasons, the blur, the abstract composition etc. However. reproducing the Leiter colour palette has been a trial. I know it is early Kodachrome but getting that look has been impossible. Then I think that I am recreating the Saul Leiter style, rather than copying directly, the look of his images. It is the feel I am after, and then incorporating that quality into my own street style.

It is an amazing thing but researching Saul Leiter has made me fall in love with street photography all over again. Especially, the excitement of getting out there not knowing what you will photograph.

Street photography will never win you any prizes, the very randomness of taking pictures in the instant means that judges will inevitably fail it. There is bound to be something that does not meet their photographic algorithm. However remember, when you are out there alone on the street with your camera, you are living your best photography

Street Photography Quick Tips.

by John Gough

This guide is full of street photography quick tips for the photographer who wants to go out and hunt for urban images.

Get Started

Street Photography Tips — Skeleton Smoking / John Gough

Remember 99% of street photography is about failure. Just accept that the majority of shots will be rubbish. The joy of getting just one image will make up for all the footslogging.

“Every once in a while at the end of the day, when I am most exhausted and hungry, something – a shaft of light, an unexpected gesture, an odd juxtaposition- suddenly reveals a photograph”. Alex Webb

It is easiest to start street photography with a theme or a project. People smoking or vaping. Reflections in shop windows. Conversations. Arguments. Eating and drinking. All human life is there for the taking.

Quick Tip: Get Close

Get close by using use a 35mm or 28mm prime lens. The advantage of a wide angle lens is that it gives the viewer a sense of being there and in the moment.

It is better to blend in with the crowd and be part of the urban scene. By shooting from across the street with a long lens, you are more like a sniper than a street photographer

‘If your photos aren’t good enough, then you’re not close enough.’ Robert Capa

Cameras for Street Photography

Compact cameras with a prime wide angle lens are best for street photography. A zoom lens is not necessary and could slow down picture taking.

Shoot from the hip. Raising a camera to your eye just says “Look at me”

Be prepared to crop, there is often no time to compose the frame. Get the picture and do the work in post processing.

Use a smartphone. It’s ideal for street photography.

Settings for Street Photography

The experts say use aperture priority, but that advice comes from an earlier time when depth of field was required to ensure the subject was sharp.

Modern cameras with auto focus don’t require zone focusing. So to ensure a sharp image use shutter priority with a high ISO. This will freeze the action and capture that decisive moment.

‘Sharpness is a bourgeois concept’ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Street Photography by Walking Around

Dilemma! Is it better to walk around and search for street images or is it better to find a good location and let the picture come to you?

Walking around is more active and interesting, however standing and waiting means that the dynamic is easier. As people will be entering your personal space instead of you entering their space.

Avoiding Confrontation: Quick Tips

Street Photographt Tips — The Preachers / John Gough

Learn the law about street photography.

If there is confrontation, be open & friendly. Apologise profusely even though you are not in the wrong and be prepared to delete images on request

Business cards are useful to show that you are a real photographer, maybe even a professional photographer.

Street Photography: Capturing Emotion and Telling a Story

Street Photography Quick Tips — Trouble Brewing / John Gough

Like no other genre street photography gives the opportunity to capture emotion.

‘You fill up the frame with feelings energy, discovery and risk, and leave room for someone else to get in there’ Joel Meyerowitz •

Most of all street photography can tell a story.

“The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.” Elliott Erwitt

Street Photography Quick Tips

These street photography quick tips are just a guide. Learning by doing and experience will fill in the gaps

Best Camera for Street Photography 2022

by John Gough

Which is the best camera for street photography 2022?

I have been using my mirrorless Canon EOS R with a 35mm lens for street photography for a couple of years. It is quite discreet and certainly smaller than most DSLRs. However, I want a camera that is even less intrusive to document this phase in our lives of lockdowns and pandemics.

These notes document my personal search for the best street camera available now. Hopefully, they will be of value to other street photographers

What Type of Camera for Street Photography 2022

To start I am dismissing DSLR’s because they are too big and bulky. They also make you look like a professional photographer. Those people who notice you wonder if you are from the press, or maybe you are someone in authority. You are not going to fade into the background with a camera and lens that is worth thousands of pounds.

I don’t want a big camera but I don’t want a very small camera. So small that the settings are fiddly to find. Again this just draws attention to yourself.

There is a lot of discussion as to whether a telephoto lens works in street photography. My view would be definitely not. If you are using a long lens to photograph people in an urban setting you are a sniper not a street photographer.

Furthermore, a telephoto means that it takes longer to compose the shot and then it’s gone. Much better to use a wide angle lens and then crop during post. That means a big sensor! It also means preferably a full frame sensor to take advantage of the increased dynamic range required to draw out detail especially in low light.

A tilting LCD screen is also useful, but preferably it is handy to learn how to shoot without looking through the viewfinder or down at the screen. Another reason for cropping in post.

Wide angle lenses also add so much more emotion and drama as shown in the image above. This picture was taken during the Covid lockdown in the UK, close up with a 35mm lens.

Phone cameras are ideal for street work, but the small 12MP sensor restricts how the image can be cropped. I also want the control of RAW. Especially when converting an image to monochrome.

Conclusion

The camera should be small and unobtrusive but not too small. It should have a big full frame sensor and a fixed prime 35 or 28mm lens.

Which Cameras Are in the Frame for Street Photography

It is surprising that there are only three cameras

Leica Q2

Leica Q2 Street Photography Camera Choice

Obviously, Leica is in the frame. It has been the street camera of choice since Cartier Bresson and is the camera chosen by the master street photographer Joel Meyerowitz

The Leica Q2 is a compact camera with a fixed 28mm lens and a whopping 47.3 MP full-frame sensor. The full spec’ is here.

In a review, the DPReview gave the camera a gold award.

The Leica Q2 is nearly as competent as a fixed-lens digital camera can be. It’s built very well, it handles very well, it’s capable of excellent image quality and it’s a joy to use. We wish Leica would address the lackluster JPEGs, but the Raw files are excellent. It all comes at a price, of course, but the Q2 really is a wonderfully engaging photographic tool that will appeal to photographers of all kinds.
DPReview

However, the Leica Q is priced at an amount that I just could not justify: £4500 / $5695. I also feel that I would be being a tiny bit showy offy, buying a camera with that red dot.

Fujifilm X100V

The Fujifilm X100V is a real contender for Best Camera for Street Photography. If you hold the camera in your hands it just has the feel of real quality.

It is quite heavy. All the vintage looking dials are sturdy and beautifully machined. The grip is sure and secure without being oversized, and you feel that you could easily spend several hours walking the streets with this camera.

This is the spec’ for the Fujifilm X100V:

26.1 МР Ѕеnѕоr
Х-Тrаnѕ СМОЅ APS-C sensor
Fіхеd 23mm lеnѕ (35mm еquіvаlеnt)
Аdvаnсеd Нуbrіd Vіеwfіndеr (ОVF & ЕVF)
Тwо-wау 3″ tіltіng LСD tоuсh ѕсrееn
Vеrѕаtіlе аnd соmрасt
17 Сlаѕѕіс Fuјіfіlm fіlm ѕіmulаtіоn mоdеѕ
Вluеtооth аnd Wі-Fі соnnесtіvіtу

Price: £1299 / $1399

DPReview also award this camera gold.

The X100V is an engaging, well-built camera that produces beautiful images, has best-in-class video, excellent autofocus and optional weather-sealing. Meaningful updates like a tilting touchscreen, updated viewfinder and redesigned lens have us largely looking past its imperfections. Assuming you like the 35mm-equivalent focal length, it makes a strong case as a photographer’s carry-everywhere compact that’s good for all kinds of photography.
DPReview

The APS-C sensor does not fit the ideal profile, but reviewers assure us of beautiful RAW images

This may be unfair but there are still doubts about whether Fujifilm RAW files can be processed successfully in Lightroom and Photoshop. I have come up against this problem before albeit on older Fujifilm cameras.

Fujifilm camera owners recommend that RAW files are processed in Capture 1 but you may not want to change your workflow.

Ricoh GRIII

This camera has cult status. It is small, it does not have a viewfinder, but it has a zen like quality and is built for street photography. There is even a street photography version of the camera.

There is a front rubberised grip and the magnesium body feels sturdy and purposeful. The matt black look is very discreet.

There is autofocus but to make focussing even more instant for street photographers there is a version of zone focusing. This allows you to pre-set a focusing distance to which the camera automatically ‘snaps’ at a full shutter button press. It can also be set up to work at the touch of the rear screen.

Recently Ricoh have launched the GRIIIx which has a 40mm lens. This is better for street portraits whilst the 28mm remains better for urban scenes

This is the spec for the Ricoh GRIII

8.3mm f2.8 lеnѕ (28mm іn thе 35mm fоrmаt)
APS-C 24.24 МP Ѕеnѕоr
Ніgh-ѕрееd аutоfосuѕ ореrаtіоn uѕіng а hуbrіd АF ѕуѕtеm
3-Ахіѕ shаkе rеduсtіоn sуѕtеm
Соmрасt аnd ruggеd dеѕіgn. Ѕuреrb іmаgе quаlіtу аnd роrtаbіlіtу
Fast ѕtаrt-uр tіmе оf аррrох. 0.8 ѕесѕ
3.0″ LСD mоnіtоr wіth quick tоuсh-ѕсrееn ореrаtіоn
Price £799 / $936

DPReview gave this camera a silver award.

If you shoot street, documentary, or just want a genuinely pocketable travel camera with excellent image quality, and if you can afford the admission price, just buy one!
Fred Abery Petapixel

The downsides are no viewfinder, no flippy screen and the battery life is only around 200 shots.

However, it is the minimal aesthetic and the quality of the images that make this camera so special. Special enough to have a fanatical following including the renown Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama and German freelance photographer Samuel Lintaro Hopf, who has used Ricoh since 2013.

Then there are the GRists. Go over to their community webpage and suck up the vibes, and dont tell me you dont want one.

The Best Street Camera for 2022

So where does that leave us with fixed lens compact cameras which are so right for street photography?

Well, for most camera makers their attention is elsewhere, concentrating on mirrorless cameras. Compact cameras have largely been replaced by mobile phones. The compact cameras that remain are aimed at the travel market with catch-all mega zoom lenses.

So well done to Leica, Fujifilm and Ricoh who have stuck with the tradition of the street camera. This stretches back to the 1930s and Brassai, Cartier-Bresson, and Helen Levitt and now thanks to them, proudly continues into 2022.

Life in Lockdown

by John Gough

Like many other photographers, the coronavirus pandemic was an opportunity to document what will hopefully be a unique time in our lives.

This was the third lockdown in the UK, it started in January 2021, but it is estimated that life will not be fully ‘back to normal’ until the end of June when some travel restrictions to other countries are still likely to remain.

The series of images, Life in Lockdown are here.

Street Photography Close Up

by John Gough

I am reinventing the way I approach street photography. I want to do more street photography close up. So this is how I have changed my street photography technique and adapted my kit to make this happen.

If you are a visitor to these pages you will be aware of my love of the photography of the great New York street photographer Joel Meyerowitz and Scottish photographer Dougie Wallace. The immediacy and spontaneity they bring to street photography is so much more refreshing than the easy urban shot taken with a long lens.

So if you are going in for street photography close up. How do you adopt an in your face attitude, without getting your face slapped?

Street Photography Advice from Dave Mason

I was watching a Zoom presentation by Dave Mason. He is the master of juxtaposition as you will see if you visit his website. He talked about how he gets in close for street photography.

This is his advice:

Walk slowly so as not to draw attention.
Stand or sit and wait to become part of the scene
There is no time to adjust a zoom lens and doing so would draw attention
Use a prime lens and zoom with your feet.
Do not lift the camera to your eye
Hold the camera in front of your chest
Frame the shot through the rear screen

Setting your Camera for Getting in Close on the Street

I use a Canon EOS R, and I have set a custom button to switch the camera into street photography mode.

I use a 35mm prime lens, a 28mm may be better. Cartier-Bresson used a 50mm lens.

These are the settings I use:

Prioritise shutter speed over aperture and depth of field. You are going to be working up close. Movement is exaggerated the closer you are. So ramp up the shutter speed to capture that action.
Set to shutter priority fast enough to capture movement without blur i.e +400th sec.
Use a high ISO 1000 – 1600 or higher depending on your camera to achieve as wide an aperture as possible.
Set to continuous shooting so that by holding down the shutter release you fire off as many shots as possible to increase your chance of that ‘decisive moment’.
Set your AF to servo and tracking, if your camera can hack this. Don’t worry if not. Cartier-Bresson’s 35mm Leica rangefinder camera was little more than point and shoot compared with today’s technology.
Set your shutter to silent release. A traditional DSLR with a noisy mirror lifting mechanism may be too much in a close environment.

Actioning Street Photography Close Up

Putting all this together I now walk slowly, without drawing attention to myself with my camera unobtrusively in my left hand, tethered to my arm with a wrist strap. When I see a picture I raise the camera to my chest, steady it with my right hand and shoot.

Try it for yourself. Street photography close up, can be thrilling, you are in with the action and could lead to some spontaneous and unique photographs.

Bedford Pipe Band

by John Gough

Earlier this month at the Remembrance Day Service on Bedford’s Embankment, it was a privilege to watch the Bedford Pipe Band.

They were magnificent to look at in their colourful Scottish Highland regalia, and the sound of their pipes and drums was both haunting and uplifting.

These are some pictures I managed to grab on the day

Bedford Pipe Band 02 / John Gough / Canon EOS R

Bedford Pipe Band 03 / John Gough / Canon EOS R

Bedford Pipe Band 04 / John Gough / Canon EOS R

Bedford Pipe Band 05 / John Gough / Canon EOS R

Bedford Pipe Band 06 / John Gough / Canon EOS R

Bedford Pipe Band 07 / John Gough / Canon EOS R

Bedford Pipe Band 08 / John Gough / Canon EOS R

Bedford Pipe Band 09 / John Gough / Canon EOS R

Canon EOS R Street Photography Set Up

by John Gough

New Baby / John Gough / Canon EOS R

I like street photography because you can walk out of your front door and start taking pictures. Well, that’s not true because where I live in a village in the UK, there are not that many people about. Unless it is the day of the village fete or harvest festival. Anyway a short drive away, there are streets, people and loads of photo opportunities. On the face of it, the Canon EOS R is not an obvious choice as a street camera, but on closer examination, it is right on the button. So what are the Canon EOS R street credentials?

Canon EOS R Street: Lens

Prime lenses are ideal for street photography, they are generally smaller and lighter than zoom lenses and usually have wider apertures. As a result, there is no need to ramp up the ISO to avoid a blurry shot or too narrow depth of field.

Zoom lenses also make you feel furtive and more like a sniper than a photographer. So a 35mm lens is ideal. It is probably the most used street lens there is. Wide enough to capture detail from the right distance, and so as long as you have the nerve to shoot close up it is ideal. Otherwise, try a 50mm lens.

It just so happens that Canon has a lovely 35mm lens designed especially for this camera. It is the Canon RF 35mm f1.8 Macro STM Lens.

I waxed lyrically about this lens here. The EOS R and this lens make a consummate camera combination. Small enough so that finding the shutter button does not involve keyhole surgery, and compact and light enough to carry all day.

Remember mixing it in the street can easily knock the camera from your hands, so take my advice and use a wrist strap. This is what I use:

Canon EOS R Street: View

Canon EOS R Flippy Screen

An articulated screen is now almost a must for street photography. OK, Cartier Bresson did not have one, but we no longer use film either. An articulated screen has two advantages. Firstly, you can shoot from the hip, which is a far more hip vantage point than eye level. Secondly, lifting the camera to your eye is like shouting your intent to take a photograph. Using a discrete flip out screen is far more incognito.

The Canon flippy screen is especially good for this. It opens outward so that the screen is just left of the camera. A picture can be taken by just touching the screen, and using the electronic shutter rather than the mechanical one makes this camera completely silent. Your finger does not even have to go near the shutter release, and there is no sound.

Canon EOS R Street: Set Up

Most street photographers would normally recommend P or Programmed Automatic for street photography. You can set the ISO and then the camera will calculate the best combination of aperture and shutter speed. This works well most of the time, but there is a Perito Principle at work here. Usually, 80% of images are passable and around 20% result in some motion blur or lack depth of field. Fortunately, on the Canon EOS R there is Fv mode, which is a customisable P mode.

Fv Mode

Fv mode is like Programmed Automation but it is possible to switch between the shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance, in the viewfinder, using just the top mode dial. Change any one value, and the others change automatically. This is massively quicker than manually changing the mode from Av, Tv, P, etc. Just do it in camera. This is ideal for street shots, where there is no time to fiddle with the camera, and any fiddling would just draw attention to yourself.

Touch Screen Shooting

To enable a touch screen shutter release. CAMERA 5> Touch Shutter> Enable> Use the icon on the screen to toggle between ON / OFF (the camera will focus on the area touched)

Silent Shooting

To silent beeps when focussing etc: WRENCH 3> Beep> Disable

To enable the electronic shutter: CAMERA 6> Silent Shutter> Enable

Focus Beam

To disable the focus beam that assists focus in low light: AF 4>AF assist beam firing> OFF

Save Settings

To save these settings WRENCH 6> Custom Shooting Mode (C1-C3)> Register Settings> Custom shooting mode> Register camera settings to Custom shooting mode> OK.

Not the Obvious Choice

So this camera is not a Leica M10 which many purists would see as de rigeur for this type of work. No, this camera is better than that.

Where I Buy

I buy my equipment from Wex because of their exceptional customer service. I once returned a camera after 30 days, and the next day they called to return my money to my account. Their prices are always competitive and they offer good prices on the trade in of your used gear