Interesting to compare film and digital from the same shoot (well for photography fanatics like me).
Do these digital images add or lose anything from photos linked to the previous post?
I’d be interested to hear your opinions…
A shoot with art student Mia Giacone.
Cameras used: Leica M3, Hasselblad 500cm and a Rolleiflex
Films used – Kodak Tri-X and Ilford Delta 400
More pictures here
Took my Rollei to my favourite street in London on a Saturday morning at the end of winter.
You can see some more shots here
1/ Approach
Walk slow.
Look behind you.
Don’t feel furtive. Don’t feel you are doing anything wrong and mustn’t get caught. You will give off bad vibes if you feel uneasy.
Hide in plain sight – make no secret that your photographing, but also don’t draw subject’s attention.
Don’t catch subject’s eye, or take a pic, look at LED screen, then look at subject again, flagging the fact that you’ve just photographed them. Instead, take the shot, keep camera to eye and point it elsewhere to disguise you photographed them.
If close with a wide enough lens, shoot subject off centre so they don’t know they are the subject.
If spotted by subject, smile. Wonderfully disarming.
If you do get challenged, smile and be open. You have nothing to hide. You’re photographing people because you find them interesting.
Carry some calling cards to verify your credentials. Also useful if you want to send people copies of their picture.
When you are moving, shoot and walk away before subject reacts.
Anticipate. See someone interesting coming down the street, get in good position for good backdrop.
Track subject if you don’t get the shot (not for too long!)
Get close.
Find photographers to inspire you (Saul Leiter, Willy Ronis, Vivian Maier.)
2. Technique/gear
Discreet, small fixed lens good. Less intimidating than big zoom.
Rangefinder good for looking around with left eye.
Tilting screen useful for discretion.
Avoid cliché – check out Flickr street photo forums and you’ll soon see what to avoid repeating.
Be ready to shoot – camera held at chest height, already set.
Shutter speed min 1/250, whack up ISO to give max DOF.
Shoot from chest if you have to.
Shoot first, think about why later.
Shoot less frames in general, but shoot more than you think you need when there is something worth photographing.
If light is good, try presetting MF to 2m, with a decent DOF. (good light is not exactly the norm here in UK!)
28-50mm good focal lengths. I like 35mm eq.
1. Final notes
Don’t expect great pics. They are rare. But street photography really opens up your eyes and sharpens your vision. You start seeing potential pics everywhere.
You can see some of my street pics here https://www.onsightphotographic.co.uk/Portfolios/London-street-colour/
And here
https://www.onsightphotographic.co.uk/Portfolios/London-Street-bw/
Happy hunting!
A few frames taken on rainy days in the two cities with a Leica M3.
The Ilford Delta 3200 film is probably grainier than it should be due to me being less than careful with the developer concentration during processing.
There are some more images here
People ask me why I shoot film (I ask myself sometimes) – well, here are some digital images shot at the same time for comparison:
A stroll from the South Bank to Soho on a rainy Sunday afternoon…
A belated Happy New Year.
Just developed some film from a short trip to France over the break to add to some digital shots I took.
