21 Tips for Street Photographers

'Please don't show me any more perfectly exposed, perfectly sharp, colour saturated photoshopped landscapes. Show me photographs of real people enjoying life and having fun.' 

1. Dress down
2. Avoid hunting in packs – alone or with 1 friend is best
3. Use a small, quiet camera (eg Fujifilm X100S)
4. Select a wide-angle, prime lens
5. The ‘2 sec’ rule – camera ready to shoot in less than 2 secs
6. Pre-set manual focus to 3m when zoning
7. Look for an interesting background
8. Check the lighting on people's clothes and faces
9. Separate subject from background using colour, focus and tone
10. Moving subjects – more space in front of subject
11. Camouflage 101 - fix gaze beyond subject – use a ‘screen’
12. Befriend your subject
13. Smile lots
14. Camouflage 102 - drink coffee, read the newspaper
15. Street performances – buskers and crowds
16. Major events – festivals and parades
17. Avoid looking at LCD until you have left location
18. Carry a pocket release (brief model release)
19. Be working on a ‘project’ in order to answer ‘why’
20. Vary camera height – from worm's to bird's eye view
21. Use cine approach – establishing shot, medium, close-up, macro.
    
    
    Note: All images shot in Fremantle, WA using a Fuji X100

'I don't know where I'm going from here but I promise it won't be boring'

David Bowie

On the Move: Travel and Street Photography Workshop 15/16 November 2014

Is the X100 the world's best small travel camera?

Depending on the destination and mode of travel I choose a different combination of cameras, lenses and accessories. A Nikon D700 with 70-400mm zoom may be right for shooting sand dunes in Siwa while the same camera with a 50mm f1.4 prime lens is ideal for aerial landscapes in Cappadoccia, Turkey.

However, the one travel camera I NEVER leave home without is the Fujifilm X100 (now superseded by the X100S). If you compare image quality to size and weight it probably ranks as the world's best small travel camera.

Here are five of my favourite photograhic travel locations:

X100: Brandenberg Gate: 1/1250@f2.8, 800ISO

1.     Terraced padi fields, Ubud, Bali
Just a  four hour flight from Australia, Bali has been a favourite holiday destination for Aussies for more than thirty years. Ubud is an hour's drive into the mountains where the air is cleaner and cooler. On the back roads between Ubud and Candi Desa the narrow roads wind between lush green padi fields which are best shot at sunset or sunrise.

2.     Boranup Forest, Margaret River, Western Australia
Ancient. towering Tuart trees, winding roads, quiet unsealed bush tracks make for idyllic forest landscapes. Here is one place where you have a chance of being the only person for miles. Tripods, overcast skies and maximum depth of field promise extraordinary forestscapes.  

3.     Sand dunes, Siwa, Great Sea of Sand, Egypt
Siwa is one of the most impressive dune locations in the world. Siwa is a small oasis on the edge of the Great Sea of Sand near the Libyan border. Its best to travel by 4WD into the dunes an hour before sunsrise and set-up. Tripods are essential and warm clothing recommended as it can be down to sub-zero temperatures.

The Bundestag, Berlin. Fuji X100 23mm fixed prime, 1/800s@f8, 1000ISO

4.     Aerial landscapes from hot air balloon, Cappadoccia, Turkey
The landforms and geomorphology of Cappadoccia are breathtaking and unique. The giant fairy chimneys are home to dwellings, boutique hotels as well as ancient hospitals and churches. This magnificent landscape is best viewed from a hot air balloon at sunrise. It is difficult not to get a stunning photograph. (Tip: Make sure you squeeze your body into one of the four corners of teh basket to ensure a 270 degree view).

5.     Architecture, Bundestag, Berlin, Germany
The Bundestag is the House of Parliament for the German Government. An impressive illustration of modern artistic architecture the building is home to an innovative sytem of rotating and cascading lenses which redirect light into the parliamentry chamber.
No visit to Berlin wouldn't be complete without a walk to the historic Brandenberg Gate which has become a symbol for a united Germany.

Check out my Travel and Street Photography workshop at UWA Extension.