ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

Yesterday many of you were kind enough to give me pointers for "street photography". It is something I know very little about; but do have an interest in. So, today I went to the boardwalk where I knew there would be a lot of people. I kept in mind that street should include the person's environment to give context to the photo. I also tried to keep in mind that I should try to have a preconception of what I want to shoot. That conception turned out to be "people working". There are lots of rides and games and vendors at the boardwalk. I figured if I tried to capture these people earning a living, I would have a workable theme. I also tried to be open minded and flexible enough to take advantage of scenes other than my preconceived theme. I don't think any of my photos are going to win awards; but I'm hoping that they are not embarrassingly awful either. Please feel free to criticize these photos. I'm trying to learn and, if I'm making mistakes, I need to know about it. Thanks. So it turns out that 60 percent are people working. I had a backpack full of lenses; but ended up sticking with the one I had put on the camera at home which was an 85mm prime. Shot with Shutter priority because I wanted sharp photos but was not too concerned with dof. Did not put on manual because I wanted composition and selection of subject to be my primary concern.

no. 1Every Game a Winner

(Download)

no. 2 I got the bird in our selfie!

(Download)

no. 3. I Just Love My Job

(Download)

no. 4 I Wanna Be Just Like You!

(Download)

no. 5 Man in A Window

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no. 6 Sushi Anyone?

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no. 7 We Come Here Every Year

(Download)

no. 8 What are You Taking A Picture Of?

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no. 9 Yep! Keepin all You Folks Safe

(Download)

No. 10 A Helping Hand

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RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Good set.
Re the security guy: that's a different way to carry your cap.
:-)

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

I don't think the guy was all that enthused...which is why I took his picture. Thanks for taking a look.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

#3 is priceless - so many of us have "been there, done that." Love it!

#4 - so cute!

#9 - great caption

You are a natural at this genre, Erich!

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

Don't know about that; but thank you for your comments. It was fun.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Wow!

I've posted a link to this in the Street Photography section. That thread is at,

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-408486-1.html

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Ebrunner - One fine set of theme-based street photos! No question that you clearly understand the concept, the medium and the photographic tool you are working with. You did an admirable job. Maybe I can be like you when I grow up (spoken with the deepest respect possible). Kudos!

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

I really don't know what to say. I like the photos; but I did not think they were really all that good. In fact I thought they needed some help in the form of snappy titles. I'm flattered that you posted a link in the street section. Thank you.

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

Thank you. You are too kind. I'm very flattered by your compliment.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

You are off to a solid start Erich. You're looking for and finding people you can isolate reasonably well, who have interesting expressions. I like the ones where people are interacting best but that is my bias, a lone person who is doing something unusual (or is just an interesting character) in the environment can be very effective too.

I often shoot street in shutter priority too, though I use M and A priorities when things are moving more slowly and I can set up in a stationary position and let them come to me.

In this series, the bright contrasty light was not your best friend. Early or late, cloudy days, overcast skies work better for me. It is so hard to deal with the contrasty shadows on faces. I sometimes overexpose a little to help me fight that off, and always fight it with processing.

Don't be afraid to crop. My greatest compositional weakness is cramming too much in the frame so I speak from experience. Be careful about blurred objects and parts of objects (or parts of people) that come between you and the subject. There is no easy cure, but it is something you want to get better at understanding and dealing with.

I look forward to more. I'm impressed with your beginning!

And BTW great minds may think alike, because I started yesterday on a set of Working Folk from New Orleans.

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

Thank you for your considered response. You made several good points. DOF, I'm noticing, is a bigger issue in this type of photography than I had thought. I was shooting with the subject in mind and not worried if the camera was choosing an f/stop that would blur foreground objects. I can see where that can present a problem. Several of the posted photos were cropped. The girl bored with her job is one. The man in the window is another. In both of these photos the original has way too much "stuff" in it that does not help convey the message I was getting at. So, yes, cropping can be a big help. Id did, however, crop carefully so as to preserve some context. I also agree that the harsh sun was not my best friend. I'm thinking very seriously of going back early in the morning and photographing folks opening up in the morning. The light is always great in the early morning at the beach.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I get my best results watching the city wake up and watching the night crawlers come out. My routine varies between prowling (hunting) and locating a promising place and waiting for them to come (gathering). Have fun!

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

Hya Erich I am not a great fan of candid street simply because I think its too easy. The human race is the most interesting species on earth so finding interesting candid poses is a piece of cake. As you do more wandering around snapping strangers from a distance and unseen you will realise how easy it is. You want a full memory card go snapping strangers going about their normal lives. Its like taking a camera to the zoo, you can take 100's of shots of animals just being animals.
Apaflo would consider these a slice of life and quote some supposedly famous snappers who legitimize this type of shot. You may well agree with Floyd and continue to shoot in this way and Im sure will post the odd snap I really like.
Your set is no worse and in fact contains some much better than shots posted in young Apaflo's section I can only express a personal opinion which leaves me looking at shots like this and saying Yea and?

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

You accomplished the goal rather well too!

Use caution when people speak about isolating or separating the subject. That works very well when they actually know what the subject is, and it's downright horrible when they don't. When shooting Street Photography the people are rarely the subject and isolation them is not beneficial!

People are objects, indeed symbols, used in composing Street Photography. The subject is not a tangible object. Street Photography is photographing life. It's the intangible relationships between people and their surroundings. If the people are thought of as a subject it misses the point. If they are isolated... it becomes a portrait of the object(s) isolated.

Isolate the relationships, not the people.

It happens that DOF generally is only very weakly useful for isolation in Street Photograph. That is one of the main reasons that wide angle lenses have always been very popular for Street Photography. It's more difficult with a longer lens! The slightly sharper focus on the men in images 8 and 9 are examples. Instead of using DOF the typical mechanism that works best for isolation is framing. And virtually every single one of your images is framed for great effect!

A pretty good example is your #10 image. There is a lot of "surroundings", and every bit of it is necessary to that image. The objects to the right and left in the lower part would be just in the way if it is anything other than Street. But it's not, and they add balance and context. The background is also essential to what the people are doing, why they are doing it, who they are, and what it all means. It is cropped fairly tight as it is, and a little wider may or may not have helped with the balance. But any closer and composition suffers.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

"Weegee" Fellig was famous for saying "f/8 and be there". The 35mm lens he used would have had nearly infinite DOF at f/8; apparently he set that aperture and then set the appropriate shutter speed, so all he had to do was to aim and fire {he had no time to fiddle with settings, since the situation might last only seconds}. In some sense this is just "snap shooting", but selecting the right subjects from the right angle is the primary concern, as indicated by his "be there".