What lens for street photography

[biggles1979]

Of course there will always be people who say it's only right if it's done this way or that way but it's safe to ignore them and get on with enjoying what you like in the way you like doing it, possibly being guided by what you see from others that appeals to you.

Well said that man!

 

[NeilMc]

Surely you could say the same about landscape photography or macro photography or wildlife photography ?

You wouldnt go out with a 50mm prime lens and expect to shoot wonderful nature shots for example. You might get a few by luck, but in general it wouldnt be the lens of choice for that application.

I would consider myself a street photographer, not because I take loads of pictures of people in streets but because I shoot whats there, there is no set up, no lighting, no posing and I dont know many of the people I shoot, I just shoot what I see.

For me what makes a good street photographer is the ability to capture a person(s) doing something interesting, that may be an action, it may be something as simple as a facial expression or the interaction between two people but the image has got to have something, just taking pictures of people in streets offers nothing.

The other 'rule' if you like is to be discreet so big zoom lenses are not advisable, people soon clock on to the fact that you are taking a picture of them when something resembling the barrel of tank gets pointed at them.

In the same way I never use flash, because nothing draws attention to yourself like a flash going off.

So I use fast prime lenses, Canon 35mm F2 and Canon 50mm F1.8

 

[boliston]

...

In the same way I never use flash, because nothing draws attention to yourself like a flash going off....

I've been using a flash recently and people don't seem to pay it that much attention really, I guess they just assume you have left it on accidentally (like a dumb tourist) or that you are taking a picture of something behind them.

 

[budgie2]

I'd go for a max of 50mm but if you feel brave I would go for a 35mm. You would get stunning result with a 35mm. Hope this helps.

 

[Finste]

Hi,

It depends how you see and what you want to capture. Long lenses may seem more voyeuristic but are useful for getting folks going about their lives in a natural way. Up close, people tend to react differently. Only you know what kind of images you want to capture.

As for size of camera, that may be irrelevant, Have a look on YouTube for Steve McCurry (D3 + 50mm) or Jay Maisel (D3 + 28-300). Both are masters of their art and neither seem impeded by the size of their cameras.

Regards

 

[boliston]

....

As for size of camera, that may be irrelevant, Have a look on YouTube for Steve McCurry (D3 + 50mm) or Jay Maisel (D3 + 28-300). Both are masters of their art and neither seem impeded by the size of their cameras.....

I think "stealth" is over rated in street photography - check this guy out who shoots with a large medium format camera - people don't really take as much notice as you would expect

[YOUTUBE]K32E2qmg6tE[/YOUTUBE]

 

[SteveF]

Surely you could say the same about landscape photography or macro photography or wildlife photography ?

You wouldnt go out with a 50mm prime lens and expect to shoot wonderful nature shots for example. You might get a few by luck, but in general it wouldnt be the lens of choice for that application.

I would consider myself a street photographer, not because I take loads of pictures of people in streets but because I shoot whats there, there is no set up, no lighting, no posing and I dont know many of the people I shoot, I just shoot what I see.

For me what makes a good street photographer is the ability to capture a person(s) doing something interesting, that may be an action, it may be something as simple as a facial expression or the interaction between two people but the image has got to have something, just taking pictures of people in streets offers nothing.

The other 'rule' if you like is to be discreet so big zoom lenses are not advisable, people soon clock on to the fact that you are taking a picture of them when something resembling the barrel of tank gets pointed at them.

In the same way I never use flash, because nothing draws attention to yourself like a flash going off.

So I use fast prime lenses, Canon 35mm F2 and Canon 50mm F1.8

+1

Welcome and great first post!!

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

35mm is the traditional focal length for street photography. But a large DSLR is hardly the animal for the Job,
A 24mm on an APS works quite well.

 

[BlackCloud]

I think "stealth" is over rated in street photography - check this guy out who shoots with a large medium format camera - people don't really take as much notice as you would expect

I've been doing 'street' for a few years and I can't be bothered about all these purist rules that certain people attempt to impose...use what blooming equipment you like but surely the resulting pictures have to have something to grab attention, maybe some rules of composition or whatever. That guy in the video just seems to photograph random folks on the street from any old angle. To be honest, in some of the cities of the UK he would get that camera shoved sideways up his backside, including by me, a supporter of street photography! I can't be doing with just any old random shot of someone on the street though, anyone can do that.

For the original poster, well what equipment is suitable will depend on what you want to achieve and where you are. I wouldn't really think such a large concspicuous piee of hardware like a D3s and pro zoom is the best choice although I have done it. I'm still yet to find the perfect street camera that I can afford, but a DSLR with 10.5, 12-24, 20mm, 35, 50 and 28-75 have all been good fun on both crop and full frame. I still find the DSLR too noisy at close range, and have tried a Canon G11, but that is too slow generally.

If that is the only equipment at hand, has to be the D3s and 50 to get started.

 

[Finste]

I've been doing 'street' for a few years and I can't be bothered about all these purist rules that certain people attempt to impose...use what blooming equipment you like but surely the resulting pictures have to have something to grab attention, maybe some rules of composition or whatever. That guy in the video just seems to photograph random folks on the street from any old angle. To be honest, in some of the cities of the UK he would get that camera shoved sideways up his backside, including by me, a supporter of street photography! I can't be doing with just any old random shot of someone on the street though, anyone can do that.

To be fair, that is Hong Kong. Was out there 3 months ago. No-one cares. The worst that can happen is that people turn away. I got the impression that it would be very difficult to upset people. It will of course be different here in the west.

Regards...

 

[mid_gen]

You do forfeit your personal space when you go on the street here, but it's really not that different to London in terms of how people react.

 

[edthesock]

I like street photography when I travel provided I am in a country where you can get away with it. I am also rather new to photography even though I have been travelling for years it wasn't till recently that I started thinking more about photos. How much of a difference is there between the Canon 35mm F2 and Canon 50mm F1.4 on a 500D or a 7D?

 

[bindex]

I’d say ideally somewhere between 28 and 35mm if we’re talking full frame.
Anywhere between 135mm and 200mm if you don’t have the wish to get closer.

Being a little more serious, street photography is perhaps more psychologically challenging than most other genres. But the most astounding shots I’ve seen have been invariably shot with wide lenses.

 

[NeilMc]

I like street photography when I travel provided I am in a country where you can get away with it. I am also rather new to photography even though I have been travelling for years it wasn't till recently that I started thinking more about photos. How much of a difference is there between the Canon 35mm F2 and Canon 50mm F1.4 on a 500D or a 7D?

I can show you an example as I was using a 50mm up until Xmas morning when the minister for domestic affairs presented me with a 35mm F2 lens for good behaviour.

As a simple test while lying in bed I shot the ceiling light with both lenses to compare the two. I'll upload the pics in the morning for you.

The 35mm on a 500d is almost the same as a 50mm on a full plate body so not particularly wide angle at all.

 

[Forbiddenbiker]

They say, I think, that the eye and brain see the world in a similar field of view as a 47-50mm lens on a full frame camera, and on a crop people have gone for the 35mm to match that same field of view. I've been doing street for a few years now and although Id rather get a shot than not by using a long lens I have also come to understand the need to get in close and personal is a near essentail tool.

Street came to be from candid photography didn't it, from family snaps, instamatics, early rangefinders and alike, basic equipment which was and still is the most common type of camera equipment for everyday snapping....Just like say the mobile phone camera of today, the field of view of the majority of these snaps is close and wide, this close and wide view point is part of the reason why street evolved with laws I think, more guidelines really, all indicating that a personal involved field of view is intrinsically more suitable.

Take this shot for instance. At 200mm ...cropped sensor and cropped in PS so effecivly say 350mm focal length.
The point Id like to make is if I wasn't shooting from my van widow, but rather had been standing on the pavement with my 47mm equivialnt field of view ...would this shot have been better ...more emotive and involving ?? I think it would.

 

[boliston]

To be fair, that is Hong Kong. Was out there 3 months ago. No-one cares. The worst that can happen is that people turn away. I got the impression that it would be very difficult to upset people. It will of course be different here in the west.

Regards...

What I have noticed is that quite often people think that street photography is more difficult in their own town/country in terms of people giving you trouble.

For example Bruce Gilden has a youtube video of his pretty "in your face" style (he works much closer than the guy in the above video!) and there are posts saying that he would "get his ass kicked/knifed" etc if he tried that in the UK. However He did recently make a film about shooting street in Derby and he did not appear to be getting any trouble.

 

[gramps]

if I wasn't shooting from my van widow, but rather had been standing on the pavement with my 47mm equivialnt field of view ...would this shot have been better ...more emotive and involving ??

Possibly, but by no means definitely - the shot tells its own story, a really great emotive story of boyhood that almost every man will relate to.
Add extra context with a more open shot and would you just add distraction?
Get in really close and the boy notices you and the whole story is lost.

 

[DemiLion]

They say, I think, that the eye and brain see the world in a similar field of view as a 47-50mm lens on a full frame camera, and on a crop people have gone for the 35mm to match that same field of view.

Pretty close. It's approx 42mm for Western/Eurasian eyes and 48mm for Oriental - yup, there is a difference!

Cracking shot btw!

 

[Forbiddenbiker]

Possibly, but by no means definitely - the shot tells its own story, a really great emotive story of boyhood that almost every man will relate to.
Add extra context with a more open shot and would you just add distraction?
Get in really close and the boy notices you and the whole story is lost.

Your right Im sure, I could have messed the whole thing up either way, but hypothetically for the sake of the comparison, lets say I did manage it.

Its a funny one I know but Possibly sin't such a bad reason for a guide rule in my book. Certainly its not a 'definitely not'. ..IF the shot had been accomplished well with a more involved composition it could have been far sweeter, not definitely no, but the possibility is an important factor.

Just pondering here, but there is something about being close and involved that provides opportunities beyond seeing an event at a distance from say the more fixed view point of a longer lens, great potential Street does happen all around close up if you can get on par with it, like being level with it focally brings it and you together somehow. ..Street is about seeing and thinking, with a camera in-between. You can't think about stuff if your not their in the distance looking at it yet.

Some rules are meant for breaking though... the difference between getting the shot or missing it.

Pretty close. It's approx 42mm for Western/Eurasian eyes and 48mm for Oriental - yup, there is a difference!

Cracking shot btw!

Ah ok,... and now I so want to know why. Ta Mark.

 

[joxby]

It has a story but its watered down by distance, its a shot in the street, that's not to say it doesn't have merit in its own right, it does, but it isn't street.
A shorter lens would put you right there almost in the frame, almost part of the picture, if the boy notices you, you don't get the shot, ces't la vie.

This is what defines "street".

 

[gramps]

Your right Im sure, I could have messed the whole thing up either way, but hypothetically for the sake of the comparison, lets say I did manage it.

Its a funny one I know but Possibly sin't such a bad reason for a guide rule in my book. Certainly its not a 'definitely not'. ..IF the shot had been accomplished well with a more involved composition it could have been far sweeter, not definitely no, but the possibility is an important factor.

Possibly
I guess this pic isn't the best example to judge because IMO it is such a great picture on its own standing, it is the story and it doesn't need anything else - to have missed it would have been criminal, to have watered it down would have been careless.

It has a story but its watered down by distance, its a shot in the street, that's not to say it doesn't have merit in its own right, it does, but it isn't street.
A shorter lens would put you right there almost in the frame, almost part of the picture, if the boy notices you, you don't get the shot, ces't la vie.

This is what defines "street".

See above, for those reasons I suggest that you are wrong in this instance. It definitely isn't watered down, it is just as it should be, in isolation, just as the boy is with his thoughts and desires.

 

[DemiLion]

Ah ok,... and now I so want to know why. Ta Mark.

Shape of the skull & eye socket, plus shape & pressure of the eyeball!

I refer you to HRH Prince Philip for the non PC answer!

 

[Forbiddenbiker]

It had to be a good shot to make the comparison work I felt, whether its Street or not is largely, I suppose, an irrelevance, but if its had to be fitted into a genre it would have to be street I feel.
I do agree with Joxby's sentiments about being deeply involved with a short lens is important, its use does translate back by taking the viewer into the same street level view kinda thing...only a short lens can do this, Its a necessary closer intimacy that secures the viewer that essential one to one level view with the Street scene, as the focal length increases the viewers separation from the street become apparent.

Possibly.

 

[Forbiddenbiker]

Shape of the skull & eye socket, plus shape & pressure of the eyeball!

I refer you to HRH Prince Philip for the non PC answer!

Oh no you ddn't did you!

 

[joxby]

See above, for those reasons I suggest that you are wrong in this instance. It definitely isn't watered down, it is just as it should be, in isolation, just as the boy is with his thoughts and desires.

In this instance, to say it is watered down is a compared opinion on a photo that does not exist, in that respect, I am wrong

However, whilst pointing out my wrongness you have evaded the true thrust of my comment.

But is it street ? or a fine picture shot in the street, or are we refusing to pigeon hole a picture as one or the other.

 

[mid_gen]

I agree that picture would be improved by being shot with a shorter focal length.

There's no way around it. Shooting at long focal lengths removes the viewer from the scene. You look at the picture and you feel like you're stood the other side of the road peering through a lens.

Street photography with a wide lens puts you right there, IN the shot, rather than being a spectator.

 

[Ed Sutton]

But is it street ? or a fine picture shot in the street, or are we refusing to pigeon hole a picture as one or the other.

I think refusing to pigeon-hole any picture is the correct attitude to take. Photographs are photographs. Some are good, most are less good.

 

[jon ryan]

I think refusing to pigeon-hole any picture is the correct attitude to take. Photographs are photographs. Some are good, most are less good.

Saying `this is street` or `this isn't street` is opinion. You could frame a competition with shooting parameters, and anything outside these become ineligible, and that would be fine. But to try to say that you can rigidly define any genre is as wrong as saying that using a make of camera is correct, or using a uv is definitively incorrect.

 

[jaketrask12]

50mm without a doubt! unless you can afford a leica then grab yourself a 50mm prime with a large aperture of 1.8

 

[Starastin]

28 or 35mm on a small FF body . BUT ! if you plan on shooting peoples backs or someone staring in the window, the epic - person walks by a huge poster etc etc - might as well be 8x10 large format camera.

 

[joxby]

Saying `this is street` or `this isn't street` is opinion. You could frame a competition with shooting parameters, and anything outside these become ineligible, and that would be fine. But to try to say that you can rigidly define any genre is as wrong as saying that using a make of camera is correct, or using a uv is definitively incorrect.

Its no more rigid than suggesting architectural photography contain at least a bit of a building.
Whilst that analogy relies on a specific element to qualify for its title, street requires a look rather than one particular element.
That look can't be created with long lenses, I think its fairly obvious it has nothing to do with what camera/filter/mode/focus you use.
Photography is constantly evolving, that doesn't mean we should forget everything, that we shouldn't research the genre we are contemplating shooting or at least try and learn something about it other than the stuff posted at Flickr.
But peeps don't want to RTFM, I make no apology for giving the same advice to anyone who makes a thread about it, whether they get the hump or not, take it, use it or dump it, but don't treat it like its a thread troll.

 

[farrance]

50mm prime.

That's my 2 cents

 

[Laudrup]

50mm prime.

That's my 2 cents

Agreed. A fast 50mm, you can't really go wrong.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Photography is constantly evolving, that doesn't mean we should forget everything, that we shouldn't research the genre we are contemplating shooting...

Genres are about tribalism - "I'm a street photographer because I use X, you're not because you use Y", and as such are both divisive and restrictive (that can't be street, it's new).

Of course it is human nature to try to classify things, but I reckon we should forget all about genres and concentrate on trying to make good pictures of anything, anywhere, anyhow we like.

 

[BlackCloud]

Although I do a lot of 'street' photography I tend to prefer to see it in a broader context in my head as 'street and urban, social documentary and recording'. Some people defining 'street' are also arguing their point over not cropping, no post productioon etc. etc. My view is just get out their and get the shots and enjoy your photography. I do hold a view that in general being in there with a shorter focal length generally tends to be more interesting and engaging but it depends on the image.

For me although I don't try and define myself what is 'street' I guess it does matter. If there is a competition be it in a club or a website or wherever, there do have to be some rules. I was looking at some camera club 'street' entries a few weeks ago and was a bit disappointed that many images were not engaging and not very urban, but seemed more 'holiday captures in the streets of meditterean towns'. Quite hard to define sometimes.

 

[DemiLion]

A lot of people spouting the rather clichéd rules of street photography seem to forget where it came from.

It really started as a form of photojournalism in the 1920's-30's (yes there are examples before that, but the genre was imposed retrospectively) in an attempt to break away from the dull, stilted posed photographs that had been the norm up until that point. Specifically it was a reaction to culture in Europe following the First World War - "Crush tradition! Photograph things as they are!".

The lens 'restriction' was born out of necessity in that telephotos were rare or non existent in the new 35mm format, and shorter focal lengths were deem better for reportage.

Basically it was a break from the strictures of formal photography into a fresher, freestyle movement.

And now you want to place rules and restrictions onto that concept???????

Street photography is about capturing action and real life, there are no rules!

 

[jon ryan]

Perhaps `candid portraiture` would define it reasonably?

 

[DemiLion]

Perhaps `candid portraiture` would define it reasonably?

That's got a distinct 'Fiesta Readers Wives' ring to it!!!!!

 

[kelack]

Only if you have that sort of mind

 

[jon ryan]

Only to a photogra...

Ah.

As you were.