Train keen observation in street photography

One of the joys of street photography is that we can see things that other people can't see, canvas prints not see ghosts. It's an interesting detail or moment in everyday life. Street photographer very need keen observation, sometimes need to deliberately adjust their own Angle to see things, and even play some imagination to envision what they may take. So how can you train your powers of observation?

1. Don't bring a camera to take pictures

Going out without a camera is to tell soldiers to go into battle without guns. When we hold the camera in our hands, canvas photos online the preset position in our mind is "I must take something today". It's easy to become preoccupied with "I'm going to take a picture, I'm going to take a picture," instead of slowing down and looking at the scene. When we hold the camera in our hands and see something that feels like it, we rush to pick it up and take a picture. This may get us a good picture, but it won't be a good picture. When you see an interesting scene, is there any observation of the subject you want to shoot, the background, the light, the shadow, the surrounding tone, the movement, the relationship between the subject and the background, etc., usually shooting in the city has a lot of details. The eye will see the subject, but the camera will help frame the details around you that you didn't notice. Unless the image is taken from a close subject, it's easy to ruin a good picture with background or color interference when you're taking a picture of everything around you. Therefore, it is recommended to go to the street as usual, but put away the camera and really "see" with your eyes, you will find that there are many details that you have not paid attention to before.

2. Don't go

Most people's impression of street photography is that the photographer is walking around the city with a camera. Sure, large canvas prints cheap moving around can increase the chances of success, but it can also be easy to become a casual observer. A lot of people tend to walk around the streets looking for pictures to shoot, but it's easy to miss a lot of details. Because of the continuous movement, it is more likely to notice the "obvious" situation in the street, which means that what you will notice is often what the average person will notice, while taking some pictures with no surprises. For a thorough understanding of an environment, it is advisable to select a certain area, find a street corner with many people, and stand there for a while to observe the changes, patterns and pace of the surroundings. Like waltz, try to feel the rhythm of the environment, develop a tacit understanding, when you are gradually in tune with the rhythm of the environment, it will be very easy to beat.

3. Selective observation

For example, only red shoes, coffee-colored backpacks, black hats, people wearing sunglasses, and couples looking down at their mobile phones were photographed. When you set a goal like this, your brain starts to exclude everything else, and suddenly you only see what's locked in your mind. It's like when I had a kid, I suddenly realized that more people in Taipei are taking kids out on the streets, because I never paid attention to other kids on the street before I had a kid myself. Our brains focus selectively when we have a target in mind to observe. This selective observation exercise is useful in thematic photography.

4. Do not change the camera Settings

Choose a set of habitual Settings and shoot with the same aperture, shutter speed, and focal length throughout the day. My usual setting is 50mm/F8 / ISO800, which is only used for shooting all day (daytime). This set of Settings becomes an intuitive response for me after taking a long shot, and I can spend more time looking at it without worrying about the camera Settings. I have a general idea of what lighting conditions, what distances, what scenes can produce what results. You barely have to look at the camera Settings, you can react with the naked eye, and you know how successful you are when you press the shutter. Now digital camera function is very rich, set a lot of choice, giving the photographer more different choices, but also on behalf of you to spend more time on the camera Settings, and many habits made immediately looked down at the back of a camera, it is likely to miss some picture, and you each photo is bend time accumulated may take a few more good pictures. Control your camera, not its complexity.

5. Be curious as a child

Be curious. My kids often use spoons as mics, set yoga MATS on the floor for picnics, ask me a bunch of "why?" questions I sometimes can't answer, and look at bowls of noodles and cauliflower at a restaurant and say, "take a look at a girl with long hair with a green straw hat on her head." We grow up with a set understanding of many things. A spoon is a spoon, a yoga mat is for doing yoga, and a lot of things get stamped "this is how it should be." Street photography needs a lot of imagination, sometimes a shadow formed by a light is your best background, and a little action by a passerby is your next masterpiece, a lot of everyday things on the road, if you can put down the established impression, to re-understand all L side things, will provide you with a steady stream of inspiration.

6. Keep your eyes on the horizon

There is an old saying that one's eyes are everywhere and one's ears are everywhere. Eyes are more important than ears in street photography. Front, back, left, right, left front, right front, left back, right back, don't forget to go up and down. The average person only looks at the front, the left and the right when they walk. In street photography, if you use the normal walking mode, you will see the same things as the average person. Try to take a walk and turn around, deliberately looking at angles that you didn't pay attention to in the past.

7. Reconnect with places you think you know well

Photographers often step out of their comfort zone to sharpen their visual acuity by going to a new place, but doing so for a long time is like taking painkillers. Too much of it will numb you, and you'll need more and more painkillers. Sometimes you need to go back to an environment that you think you are too familiar with, such as the alley near your home, the coffee shop you often go to, the breakfast shop across the street, the bookstore, and then deliberately re-examine the place from a different perspective to see if you can find any details that you have not seen before. You think you know your living room? Do you want to spend five minutes revisiting details you didn't notice? Maybe I can find the money.

8 Be openminded

I usually do my homework online before planning to go to a new location to take photos. To learn about the local route, the history, aluminum prints the photos I've taken with other people, I'll go through them very quickly, without going into too much depth, because I'm afraid I'll get an impression of the place. Simon nails, I like to go for the first time before you go to the Internet to do a simple research after the MRT station come out to attract me is red chamber, because the place is so iconic, Simon nail query on the Internet will also have some photos of the red chamber, went to a few times I entered some old alley, also seen some usually can't see the picture, of course, must pay attention to safety. Try to let go of the impression, cheap canvas frames let yourself empty, explore.