10 Street Photography Tips - How to be Invisible!

In classical street photography the photographer is more of an observer than part of the situation the photographer wants that the things that happen on the street would happen even if he or she was not there to photograph hi it's Peter here why did I use this hand hi it's Peter here and let's get right into the business it's actually quite astonishing how little people recognize and sees what happens around them so it's not that hard to be invisible when you're doing Street photographs because people don't pay attention they you know it's it's just they don't care most of the time they don't really care and but there are some things that you should think about and have certain type of habits when you're doing the classical street photography and want to be invisible and let's get right into the first one that is dress accordingly so do not stick out from the crowd with some St striking color uh stuff unless others are wearing that type of clothing too here in Finland everybody wears dark clothes during winter time and if I had my red winter jacket on I would stick out and people would notice me and I would lose the invisibility but having this old blue jacket that I've had for years is a perfect jacket here in Helsinki and the same goes with the hat I use the OMD hat because this one would be too much I would be like right there out in the open and everybody would notice me and I would lose their invisibility and then let's go to the next one avoid eye contact when you see someone you want to photograph or you suspect that okay now something's going to happen don't start looking at the people that you might be photographing or or or plan on photographing because if you start staring at them they will notice you if you see them just slightly turn your head away and look something else look at the windows in this in the the shops or you know look something else or play like a tourist and look upwards and see what's what's up there that could also of course be something that if you look up everybody else starts looking up so that might not be the thing but anyways try not to have eye contact with the with the subject that you're going to photograph just mind your own business and do something else and when the things happen be ready to just click the shot because you might only have one chance and then the next one is move like a ninja yes moving like a ninja is the way to do it don't rush into if you see something don't run or don't do anything that's not you know something that other people are doing on the street just act normally and move slowly and and just mind your own business and then be fast as a snake and take the photograph nobody will know notice but of course when you're having the the camera on your hand maybe walking a lower and if you quickly move the the camera up they will notice you just move the camera slowly into front of you and then you know when something happens make that shot be familiar with the surroundings that you are photographing the best way is to just walk around and and practice some photographs and do some photographs that doesn't include any people just photograph the streets and minding your own business walk around and look around and see how people interact with each other what happens what what are the possibility is and you can do this from Google Street View if you're traveling to a place that You' never been before that's one possible way of of getting familiar with the surroundings that's what I always do when if I travel somewhere I haven't been I you know go to Google Street View and take a look what it looks like and then while I'm there I first you know just wander around and being like a you know local or a tourist it depends on what which role you fit better or or which which you feel more familiar with if you're trying to mimic the locals or you want to be just out in the open as a tourist because when you're a tourist or looking like a tourist you also have the permission to photograph and then if someone you know like sometimes happen that they think that I'm taking a photograph of of a you know some land mark or something then but I'm photographing them they might not even notice that I'm doing that and if if they you know notice me then I say say sorry and then I'll take another photograph without them so they won't be kind of uh uh thinking that I'm photographing them if they notice you and then what I said about observe the areas first so that's something that you need to practice just uh you know spend time and observe the people and uh see what happens also learn to observe so that you're looking this way but you're actually observing what's going on on over there that's something that you can start practicing you need to concentrate you just look headed but you don't see what's there but you're concentrating on the side what's going on and that's also a good way to learn you might take a glimpse over there and then you just you know look ahead and see with your corner of your eye what's going on there and then you're ready to photograph when the things are about to happen and then one thing is to be invisible is to be invisible behind some pillars or you know you know driveway or whatever you know you know you know under the bridge or whatever the place is just you know be there and then don't uh be quick or or I mean make sudden moves you can be quick but don't make sudden moves when people up they might get scared and and you know if you all of a sudden it knows you behind behind a pillar just you know be there and and take that that shot when things are happening before we get into the gear part of this video always be respectful to others if you are photographing on the streets and you clearly see that someone does not want you to take their photograph then don't if they you know show their hand like this or or do something like this and then just don't take the photograph no photograph is worth risking your health so that someone will beat you up if you take their photograph very seldom do people get mad about that sometimes I've you know had a problem with some someone starting to ask me what I'm photographing for and why I'm doing that and then you just you know the worst thing that happen is that you delete the image and you know that that's something that I've never done or had to done I've always you know talk my way out of it and sometimes it might require that yeah I'll send a fair photo for you and you know usually people are nice but if if if you are respectful and behave and don't uh steal the images then in most places in the world where I've been everything is good does gear have any thing to do with this yes it does first of all use small gear if you have a big huge camera you're more visible than with a small camera that you can fit in your pocket of course with the big camera with the huge sensor you might get better image quality but but if we talk image quality as a possibility of an image which means that of course the image you wouldn't get with the big camera because people would notice you and and the the thing is gone it's not authentic in that sense anymore but with a small camera they won't even notice you and sometimes the small camera can be your mobile phone because everybody's you know taking pictures with their phones and nobody cares so with the small camera it's like a you know mobile phone nobody cares if you if you carry a small camera what I do nowadays is I use my Rico gr 3x which has actually given me more possibilities of course a bigger camera with the better and more versatile lens could be of course something but what would I do with the photographs that are better image quality but has no story i' rather take the a bit worse image quality and a story if that's possible because you know with a small camera it's a lot easier to blend in now then a usage of the camera pre focusing is a great way of of making Street photographs then you have more time to react to the actual scene and you don't have to worry about the focusing so set your camera to manual focus and set the camera to let's say like 3 m and stop down to F 5.6 and you pretty much covered what it comes to focusing you don't need to do that and Rico grx has these two excellent uh features for this and that is the the snap focus and snap Focus distance I will you know make a video about those sometime because those are really really good features and the same goes with om5 which I can you know pre focus prmf and set that to a certain distance and then it will focus on that distance and I will use let's say 5.6 for example on my 20 mm lens on om5 and it s you know works almost the same as the snap f Focus thing on recall but you know it's implement it a little bit better on the recall because it is more towards Street photographs but that's a that's something that you could do and if you have a manual lens it's even easier to just to set the distance manually on your manual lens and then you know stop down a few not and you will be good to go and don't have to worry about focusing and before we go to the last tip there will be an extra tip like always and then there's one way of of shooting which is actually the thing that I've been practicing every now and then now with the recall gr 3x is shooting from the hip sometimes it's the best way you just have your camera on your hip and press the shutter button and then you just have to you know learn how the image will be cropped and what what the what do you call the composition will be a 28 mm version of Rico G R3 could be a better choice than you have more uh kind of like room to play around and crop it afterwards if if the crop isn't perfect which usually is not when you're doing the shooting from the hip but I've been doing it with 40 mm with some luck and sometimes no luck at all and the extra tip is hang your camera from the neck with the neck strap and if you have possibility to use a live view app then use your phone as your trigger and with live view you will see what happens and you can you can kind of turn and and make the composition better and when you're standing on a street corner or anywhere looking at your phone nobody will realize that you're actually taking photos it's it's even you can be standing right in the middle of the of the street and nobody will notice when you're looking at your phone and then use your phone to trigger the camera at the right spot and if you have you know possibility to adjust the settings that's even better but if you're doing straet photographs you know f5.6 and uh 3 to four meters uh focusing and P mode auto ISO you don't have to worry about anything you just press the shutter button and you're good to go here are some more videos about Street photographs there are certain Styles this was about the classical style where you don't interfere but there are other approaches to to Street photographs and you can watch those videos afterwards if you're interested in Street photographs but hey thanks for watching and bye for now

Channel: Peter Forsgård

Views: 148,496

Keywords: photography, Peter Forsgard

Id: v_v6U3Qzp-Y

Length: 11min 58sec (718 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2024