Street Photography

Street photography featuring people in candid situations in public places.

I will be the first to admit I know very little about street photography – so this has been a fun learning experience.

The first thing I learned was that most people mistakenly submit photos that they took in or around a street into the gallery. Which is probably what I would have done to be honest. Street photography is all about being aware of what’s around you and can be a mirror of society. People are normally involved in these photos, but as they are unaware they are being photographed they are at their most natural and show their true selves whether they want to or not.

Examples
A lot of good street photography is being at the right place at the right time – like this photo by ~WhiteStoneColors which captures a human emotion we are all aware of – vanity.

Positioning is also a useful tool – as are artist comments. by ~Treamus mentions how they saw the praying monk and imagined how the poster behind could be perceived as a thought bubble showing what was really on his mind. The added humour is that as a monk - there is a high chance he shouldn’t really be thinking of women – so it adds another level of interest.


Bits and bobs

City life is differentiated when the shot is simply portraying city life, and usually doesn’t single out one human element.
Urban and Rural > Misc: Lightposts, average little things that cant really be classified as:
Architecture
City Scapes
Statues
Portraits
Skateboarding photos should be in photojournalism > Sports

Do’s and Don’ts in street photography.

Obviously safety is everything. If the shot you are after might result in you ending up in some harm or injury then step away from the camera!
Don’t go venturing into places where you might not be wanted, alleys, buildings etc – you never know what lurks there and you may get arrested.
Go unnoticed. Don’t draw attention to yourself, merge into your surroundings. This will give you better opportunities.
Do some research – take a look at some rights and see what you can and cannot photograph.
In a public place you can take someone’s photo and there is very little they can do about it. _{Unless they run up to you and steal your camera but we wont go there.}
Seize the moment! If you see a tramp looking interesting go for it! Take a photo and then hot foot it out of there if you have to. Most tramps move surprisingly fast….
Try different angles – even try not to look through the viewfinder and see what happens.
If you are going to be all stealth like then spend some monies on some quieter cameras.

For any more information or questions you should go check out ^Obsidian-Fox the Street GD.