I took my best ever street photos recently while walking around Manchester and I learned some key tips and tricks for taking dramatic, moody black and white photographs. I’ve put my best advice in the video tutorial shown above, but I’ll take you through these easy tricks here too.
1: Travel light
I shot my images on the Sony RX1R, a superb, full-frame compact camera that’s small enough to fit in a jacket pocket. Its small size means I can always have it ready to shoot whenever I see an opportunity. But it also makes it more inconspicuous and doesn’t draw attention like a big DSLR might.
My favourite street photos are candid moments, where the subject is just going about their day. By using a small camera I can take these shots without making anyone feel uncomfortable. Instead, I just look like any other tourist taking photos of the city.
2: Shoot in black and white
I change my in-camera image profile to black and white, with extra contrast. It allows me to visualise my final image more easily, being able to see exactly how the light and contrast will look without the distraction of colour.
I shoot in RAW and JPEG, which means I can see that original JPEG file in black and white to remind me why I liked the image, but still giving me the flexibility of a raw image. Often I’ll prefer the look of the JPEG anyway.
I waited for about 15 minutes for someone to enter this scene. I’m pleased my patience paid off.
3: Patience is important
My instinct is often to walk around a city, looking around and hoping to spot a photo opportunity. This often doesn’t work. Instead, I’ve learned to be patient and wait for images to come to me.
Sometimes I’ll linger in busy areas, where people are coming and going. I find that by just watching everyone I start to become more attuned to my surroundings. Other times I’ll find a great composition that needs that extra human element and I’ll hold my position waiting for someone to enter the frame.
4: Be bold, but not too much
I’ve always felt nervous taking photos of people on the street, as though I’m being rude or intrusive and I suppose to an extent I am being. But I’ve learned to recognise more occasions when I can get the shot I want but I’m not putting anyone in a difficult situation.
I didn’t want to make this lady feel uncomfortable, so I shot from more of a distance. But it was also in a very busy, very public area, so I was confident she wouldn’t feel threatened by my presence. She actually loved the photo and told me how much the pigeons love her.
I’m a 6 foot 2 man, so I’ll always avoid doing anything that could seem threatening — putting a camera in a woman’s face, for example, would be an awful thing for me to do, and I always avoid photographing children, for obvious reasons. It’s another reason why taking images in busy areas is good as it means I’m unlikely to make anyone feel ‘targeted’.
5: Practice makes perfect
It’s true of so many things, but I’ve really found it to apply to street photography. It’s not just about learning the mechanics of taking an image (balancing exposure, shutter speed and whatnot), but it’s about training yourself to ‘see’ images.
The more I’ve gone out to try and take street photos, the more I’ve been able to recognise opportunities, or spot compositions I want to explore. I see potential images in a way that I simply didn’t do when I started out taking street shots. Almost every time I’ve gone out I feel I’ve improved my photography and it makes me extremely excited to go out next time.
You can see the full gallery below.
