Episode 393: Street Photography on Steroids

Show Notes

Greetings everybody, you’re listening to the Liam Photography Podcast, I’m your host Liam Douglas and this is Episode 393 for Thursday March 7th, 2024. In today’s Episode I want to share my latest quest which I call Street Photography on Steroids.

So, if you’ve listened to the show for some time now, you know that one of my all time favorite genres of photography is Street Photography and I have always admired the wonderful work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and his work has always inspired me to go out and do Street Photography anytime I have the free time to do so.

Around ten days ago Fujifilm North America was nice enough to send me a GF 45mm F/2.8 lens for my GFX 50R to try it out and do a review on it for my Youtube channel. The GF 45mm is the same field of view as 35mm on a full frame camera, which makes it perfect for Street Photography since 35mm is a King of focal lengths for his type of work. With the F/2.8 aperture you can also do Street in fairly low light either early in the morning or late into the afternoon and early evening.

Generally when I do Street Photography I want to be discreet and not draw attention to the fact that I am taking photos so I can get more candid shots of people on the street and with the GFX 50R being so large in comparison to my normal x100v that I use for Street you are probably thinking, “You cannot possibly be discreet with that huge camera!” In reality is is fairly easy to be discreet with this camera as I generally will keep the 50R hanging low on a neck strap closer to my waist and then use the flip screen to get my shots more discreetly. Basically I treat the 50R like it was an old Roliflex Twin reflex camera that had the viewfinder on the top and you had to look down into it to shoot.

You’d be surprised how easy you can be discreet when you are using this method to do Street Photography and most people won’t pay you any mind at all as they have no idea they are being photographed. By using a smaller aperture you can easily get the entire scene and people in sharp focus and not worry about that at all. I mean generally you want to shoot wide street shots the same way you would landscapes, you set your aperture between F/4 and F/8 and just capture what you see. Sure you can do Street using wider apertures as well if you want some separation between your subject and the background but then you are venturing more into the portrait realm which I am not trying to do.

My goal is to capture candid shots of what is going on around me just like Bresson did. I want the people on the Street to be relaxed and just going about their day and it is much easier to do that when shooting discreet and using a smaller aperture to have everything in sharp focus. If I come upon say a Street Musician then I might opt for a wider aperture and get more of a portrait of them, but then again those people generally are totally cool with you shooting them while they play anyways.

I have found that by using the method that I do even with a larger camera like my 50R I can still be discreet enough that most people don’t realize that I am photographing them anyways and I’ve never run into any issues with people being upset that I am out shooting them on the street as they never know if I am shooting them or not. Yes I do also sometimes raise the camera to my eye for a specific shot but I have been doing Street Photography for a few decades now so I know when to raise the camera to my eye and when not to.

For my first foray into Street with the GF 45mm F/2.8 I decided to visit the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, which is a bit of a drive from my home but worth it as they have lots of nice outdoor sculptures and walking paths to get around the outdoor portion of the museum. There are always a lot of people milling around especially on the weekends when they are off from work so you have plenty of subjects to pick and choose from when shooting and I am posting some of the images in the show notes so you can check them out for yourself.

When shooting Street I tend to use Aperture Priority so I set the Aperture I want and then let the camera choose the ISO and Shutter Speed as it just makes things easier that way. If I need a little more or less for the exposure then I can quickly adjust using my Exposure Compensation dial on the top of the camera to balance things out even more when necessary. Aside from the camera settings, I just mill about like everyone else and see what I can shoot. This past weekend I not only got some good photos of the other guests walking around the Museum grounds but I also managed to capture a young man who stopped at one of the metal sculptures of Cartoon Chat Bubbles and he laid down in one of them to rest for a bit and I got a good shot of him without him even noticing.

One thing I do try and limit when I shoot Street is photographing other people’s kids on the Street as I don’t want to anger any parents or make them think I am some creepy dude with a camera so if I can get the shot ultra discreet I take the shot but if not I don’t worry about it as much as there are always plenty of teens and adults to capture in my images.

After my visit to the Museum I also took a little bit of time and went into downtown Raleigh to capture the famous Monster Wall which is a beautiful mural of cartoon monsters painted on the side of a building around the corner from the Trophy Brewing Company and Pizza shop. If you ever make it to Raleigh I highly recommend visiting the Monster Wall just because the artwork is beautiful and so colorful, but if you want an open shot of it you need to get there super early in the AM on a weekend as a lot of cars tend to park there as well. I had to just bite the bullet and capture as much of the wall as I could along with the cars but that is the nature of things when you live so far from Raleigh.

The Trophy Brewing company offers some great photo opportunities as well as they have a very large outdoor dining area so you can usually get some candids of people eating, drinking beers and just having a good time. I also captured a couple of shots of their large wooden barrels through the windows on the building and although I didn’t have my Circular Polarizer Filter with me at the time I think they turned out decent anyway.

When shooting Street you need to mix it up a bit and not just shoot people on the Street going about their lives. I love to also capture the cars driving by and the various street signs and other items that catch my eye such as business signs, mailboxes and anything else that I feel looks interesting. You really need to think things out a bit when shooting Street and the GFX 50R lends itself well to this style of shooting as the camera is not built for speed. Medium Format cameras are made for slow, well planned out shots and render insane detail and Dynamic Range with their high resolution sensors. 

It always kills me when people whine on photography forums or Facebook groups about how slow Medium Format cameras are, apparently they don’t have the brains to realize that Medium Format is made for landscapes, and studio work and in my case Street as well. If you want to shoot fast action then buy a camera made for that. If you are in the Fujifilm world like I am then get the flagship X-H2 or X-H2S which are hybrid shooters and built for high end video and super fast action stills photography. If you are in the world of Canon, get the R5 or R6 or even the R3 if you need insane speed. For Nikon’s part they have the Z9 and Z8 which can do all of that sports shooting and Sony has the A1 and the A9 III which are made for that.

Be realistic about photography and what each tool is made for instead of crying because you want to use Medium Format but it’s not fast enough to shoot NFL football. Look realistically at all the Medium Format cameras on the market. You have the Fujifilm GFX line, you have the Pentax 645 in DSLR, you have Hasselblad and PhaseOne as well and what do they all have in common? High Resolution sensors with wide Dynamic Range for maximum detail and what do they all not have? High frames per second as that is not what they are made for.

If you want to shoot Medium or even Large format you have to realize that whether digital or film these cameras are built for the slow methodical approach to photography. They are not made to capture thousands of photos per minute, but rather they are made to capture photos that matter. It never hurts to spend some time shooting in a more purposeful and meaningful way so if you are someone who shoots sports and you want to practice a slower approach to photography, which is something I recommend everyone try, then just rent a Medium Format system from any of the number of companies that rent them out. Shooting “Spray & Pray” all the time is not a very good way to develop your skills as a photographer, instead go back to the basics and use a slower system like Medium Format and practice your fundamentals and you’ll be a much better photographer in the long run.

I also recommend that everyone using a camera use Manual Mode and work on your skills as often as you can. There’s nothing wrong with using Aperture or Shutter Priority if you are shooting your “bread and butter” photography to make a living, but it’s also good to take time during your free time and practice using and becoming proficient with Manual Mode. Manual Mode will help you become more familiar with your Exposure Triangle and how to balance ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed to get the best results every time you press that shutter button. I know there are lots of photographers out there making good money that have no clue how to use Manual Mode, but as a professional, shouldn’t you learn your tools inside and out? The key to mastering your craft is mastering your tools for that craft and you will only become a better and better photographer by spending the time to learn your camera inside and out and learn your Exposure Triangle.

I would also challenge you to master your lighting as light is the primary ingredient in photography and you don’t want to limit yourself to only shooting outdoors when the light is good. You want to learn how to use artificial lighting as well so that when the light outside is not good or you need to shoot indoors such as in the studio you have the knowledge and expertise to handle any situation and with today’s modern LED lighting technology you no longer need to use lights with incandescent bulbs that get hot and make your subject uncomfortable due to the heat output. Now you can not only use LED mono lights but also LED continuous lights so get some and practice your lighting skills as well. If you have a limited budget as you are a student or just getting started in photography, there are plenty of ways you can get inexpensive lights. For continuous lights, go to your local hardware store and get some basic inexpensive fixtures like heat lamp fixtures and put some 5600K LED bulbs in them. They might not have the mounts for light stands but they do offer high strength clamp mounts on them that you can use to make due. For inexpensive mono lights, look to Godox or Flashpoint which are Godox lights sold under Adorama. Godox makes some wonderful lights for a lot less money that many of the other brands on the market today. LED panel lights are also a good option for low cost lighting to practice your lighting skills.

Check out all the awesome stuff at Moment for your photography/videography needs!

https://partner.shopmoment.com/4PDeVG

Save on your orders for SmallRig gear

https://smallrig.com/r/TP7FQU

If you'd like to pick up your own HOVERAIR XR Drone use the following link

https://thehover.com/products/hoverair-x1-self-flying-camera-combo

and code XMHOVER to save $20

Get your own discount on VITURE XR One glasses, Neckband, Switch Dock and more!

https://shop.viture.com/?ref=LiamPhoto

Check out the latest deals at OWC (Other World Computing) for all your Apple/Mac needs.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/specials/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cj

Get low cost SSLs for your sites here.

https://ssls.sjv.io/eKgZQr 

Sign up for VidIQ using the following link:

https://vidiq.com/liamphotoatl

Check out my ThinkTank Affiliate link. When you buy using this link you help the channel, pay nothing extra and can even get a free item!

https://bit.ly/3ZmKqju

I now have my own discount code for my Subscribers and Podcast audience at http://www.platypod.com use my code WD20 to get 20% off on any Platypod branded items, excluding bundles which are already discounted by 20% or more. One user per customer.

I also have an affiliate code for Dehancer Film profiles at http://www.dehancer.com and use code LDPHOTO

Check out the awesome gear Ulanzi has for photographers and Content Creators!

https://www.ulanzi.com?aff=1002

You can buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/liamphotoaf

Also be sure to join the Liam Photography Podcast Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/liamphotographypodcast/ You can reach the show by call or text @ 470-294-8191 to leave a comment or request a topic or guest for the show. Additionally you can email the show @ liam@liamphotographypodcast.com and find the show notes at http://www.liamphotographypodcast.com.

You can find my work @ https://www.liamphotography.net and follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @liamphotoatl. If you like abandoned buildings and history, you can find my project @ http://www.forgottenpiecesofgeorgia.com. and http://www.forgottenpiecesofpennsylvania.com.

Please also stop by my Youtube channels Liam Photography

Forgotten Pieces of Georgia Project

Forgotten Pieces of Pennsylvania Project