Similar to nvitalephotography's posted image, my first foray was this shot:
From my vantage point 7 floors up I felt a bit more confident snapping strangers, but since then I've been happier getting closer. The 15-85mm is fine if I use a silicon wrist-band as a rudimentary zoom lock, but it's quite intrusive being a medium sized lens on a medium sized SLR. I think I'll have much more confidence with the 35mm f/2.0
Other than that I find shooting from the hip is surprisingly easy. Anywhere shorter than 35mm and you can afford to be a bit lax with your aim.
Some people say they find it easier with a 200m lens, but tbh I think I'd find the thing attracting far too much attention.
The other thing that really helped me was going on a photowalk with some more accomplished street photographers, you have a lot more confidence when in a group wandering around, especially when it's clear you're photographers snapping away at everything. I also learnt to just worry about getting the shot, the story of the image matters a hell of a lot more than the technical accuracy, like this one:
Photographers being photographed while photographing each other - would have been too good if there had been another photographer taking a picture of you.
Nice shots, I really like the first one. Interesting framing.
Second, and now this is where it gets bizarre, we have the horse, a prom couple getting their picture in front of the horse, a cowboy eating a banana, and all of the street traffic. Strange.
I like the first one, would've been tempted to go with a tighter crop on the cowboy and the horse's head, because I think the red around each draws them together quite nicely.
The second, I love the street sign pointing at the cowboy and his banana, please tell me he drew it from a holster?
Image quality is definitely not great, but I still like it. It makes me wonder what was on her mind on the commute home. IMG_2534 by ahab1372, on Flickr
taken with iPhone 4 through the train window, cropped to 1.1MP - Should I even post this or is it useless?
When it comes to street shots, as long as the image works I don't think quality matters much if at all.
I mean, focus has to be in the right place to attract the eye to the appropriate part of the image, and it needs to be sharp enough for the eye to work out what it is, but other than that it matters little.
I'll add this shot to the argument:
Really high ISO, loads of noise. Whole shot is blurry EXCEPT for the one important part.
Originally Posted by ham
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