Some Street Photos

[chrisburke]

Went out today with the intent on breaking into an old building to take photos of, but that place was like Fort Knox... so, I turned my attention on to some street photography.. heres some shots from the day.. they turned out a little darker than i hoped, but i'm still pretty happy with them.

CC welcomed...

i always find it interesting the looks on peoples faces when they dont know their picture is being taken... they often make me think "i wonder whats going on in their heads"

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[chrisburke]

dropped off one image, because i decided that i didnt like it

 

[TheSon]

They're all a little washed out looking. Were these taken at midday? The flared cloudy sky looks like it had a negative impact on these pictures.

 

[tsaraleksi]

The big problem I'm seeing is that they are all fairly uncompelling. The people don't have anything going on that makes me want to look at them. The idea of street photography is to find interesting things, moments, glances, expressions that are buried amidst the uninterestingness of day-to-day life. At the same time, finding the right light and right backgrounds is a key aspect of the process. When the light is right, everything becomes easier, and you can find interesting images everywhere. When it is wrong, life becomes much more difficult.

It's probably worth noting that all of this becomes much much tougher when you're in a smaller town-- the pace of a big city combined with the sheer number of people on the street at any given time gives you far more opportunity to shoot, and often provides much more variety of people.

 

[chrisburke]

yea, these were taken around 11:30am so, not the best time of the day. but, i was out walking around, so i decided to take some pictures.

I know they arent that interesting.. its a small town, nothing goes on here... they were my first real stab at street photography (without hiding my camera).. really the purpose was just to try and grow some balls.. which i accomplished!

as for them being washed out.. i know.. its because for some reason they all came out pretty dark, so i really had to boost up the exposure and contrast ...

thanks for the comments and suggestions... keep em coming

 

[chrisburke]

anything else ppl?

 

[TheSon]

its because for some reason they all came out pretty dark, so i really had to boost up the exposure and contrast ...

That is from the time of day. The sun illuminates the tops of their heads and casts a dark shadow on the rest of them, leaving them in darkness.

The camera adjusts for the bright background and hair, and once again over-exposes the peoples bodies.

 

[Slaphead]

The majority seem to backlit which is difficult to expose for, especially with this kind of "grab it and run" kind of photography, and has left the faces somewhat bland and lacking contrast. IMHO with street photography the facial expression, detail and contrast is as important as the overall composition.

Next time take a look at where the light is coming from and try to position youself so there's a good chance of a good combination of light and shade appearing on a persons face.

Of course timing and a good dose of luck is requred. Sometimes I come back with nothing and other times there can be a few gems.

 

[Early]

As far as backlit portraiture, not bad. But being the title insinuated street scenes, I was expecting more environment.

 

[leighthal]

Well done on the bravery part. I would love to have the confidence to stand on a street and click away. I always shrink back at that first "What the hell are you doing glare". My hometown is up the road from you (Madawaska) and if I were to take pictures of main street I might find 2 people in a 8 hour span. With everyone knowing everyone I'd more likely get stuck out tongues and moonings. Ahhhhhh small town life...... does it get any better?

 

[chrisburke]

yea, i totally now what your saying, i've been to madawaska a few times... pretty dead place.. although the first time i was there i saw this couple at the pub/restaurant there who were bikers (clearly tourists) cruisin through on their harley's... they looked very out of place.. but the rest of the town was pretty boring.. i did enjoy the pub though

 

[tsaraleksi]

I think in small towns you're better off doing 'street portraits' with the subject's cooperation. Those can be very interesting images as well, and take advantage of the fact that people in a small town are far more likely to pose for you than someone in a city.

 

[Arch]

They are washed out because you are shooting into the light... first rule of lighting is have the light source behind you or to the side rather than facing the camera.

 

[Photog]

Aside form there not being a lot of interest there, there's a fair bit of noise, and I think you could do better with the conversions. Although I reckon it's all about growing some balls, it all comes easy from there!