street Portraits

PhatimagesAberdeen

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HI Group,

Looking for a bit of feed back, Mainly focused on wildlife until last year when i stepped out my comfort zone to try street portraits. want to venture down the route more in 2025 and beyond when time is limited so i can still get the joys of capturing images.

to those who have a good experience with this do you just use natural light or carry a flash?
i am currently using a Canon R7 with either a 50mm or 85mm lens when i tried a few last year.

I have attached a few i took.

I know i need to adjust with poses as well which is something i need to learn through practice.
 

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With respect, I see posed portraits shot in public. Wide of my--and most, I'd guess--views on what street photography is. If you haven't, take a look sometime at these photographers' work:


A rougher edge here:

50mm equivalent is good, 35mm equivalent is as good, maybe better. Long lenses encourage sniping, slow you down and draw attention. Suspect your LCD can be used as a WLF--very useful for street shooting.

Above all, keep at it.
 
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A good start, but for me they would be stronger if they were candid shots, shots that reveal more of the persons character, what they do and their relationship with there environment.
 
I am just getting into street photography myself. I learned a hard lesson when I traveled to Europe and didn’t bring a prime lens with me. Everything I shot was using a zoom lens and didn’t get quite the effect I was hoping for. I prefer candid shots myself. This was one I took in Florence while standing in line outside the Galleria dell Accademia. I like the pic but it could’ve been a lot better.
IMG_0116 Copy.webp
 
I am just getting into street photography myself. I learned a hard lesson when I traveled to Europe and didn’t bring a prime lens with me. Everything I shot was using a zoom lens and didn’t get quite the effect I was hoping for. I prefer candid shots myself. This was one I took in Florence while standing in line outside the Galleria dell Accademia. I like the pic but it could’ve been a lot better.View attachment 283071
Not posed, spontaneous. Have always felt strong street pix actually find you sometimes.
I think 28mm, 35mm and 50mm are best. It's why I like the little Ricoh GR II(28mm) and the Fuji X-100T(35mm).
 
Everything I shot was using a zoom lens and didn’t get quite the effect
I'm curious, what "effect" did you think you missed? My favorite "walk around" glass is my Pentax 18-135, f3.5-5.6 on the K3ii. It's light, and extremely versatile. Never had the occasion to wish I was locked into a prime.
 
I'm curious, what "effect" did you think you missed? My favorite "walk around" glass is my Pentax 18-135, f3.5-5.6 on the K3ii. It's light, and extremely versatile. Never had the occasion to wish I was locked into a prime.

I should've expanded on my comment a little. The Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 is a great walk around day time lens, but it is not a great night time lens. More likely, I just don't have enough experience with it yet seeing how I am new to this. My 24mm or 50mm prime would've given me a better night time and low light lens. Also, a there were a couple of shots I took that the bokeh would've been better with a prime. I love having the zoom range but a prime would've came in handy in a few instances. We are going back to Europe in the Fall and I will definitely have a prime with me this year and leave the 55-250mm at home.
 
I should've expanded on my comment a little. The Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 is a great walk around day time lens, but it is not a great night time lens. More likely, I just don't have enough experience with it yet seeing how I am new to this. My 24mm or 50mm prime would've given me a better night time and low light lens. Also, a there were a couple of shots I took that the bokeh would've been better with a prime. I love having the zoom range but a prime would've came in handy in a few instances. We are going back to Europe in the Fall and I will definitely have a prime with me this year and leave the 55-250mm at home.

I suspect you answered your concern "More likely, I just don't have enough experience". With today's modern digital, noise from high ISO isn't as difficult to deal with, don't be afraid to crank it up. I routinely shoot at high ISO when required. Also note that all glass will be less sharp at either extreme of aperture. Knowledge of your camera and it's capabilities will produce quality results more often.

As to bokeh, it's important to note there is a difference between "blur" and "bokeh". "Blur" is a general term for out of focus areas in an image. "Bokeh" is a specific term for quality of the "blur". "Bokeh" is dependent on lens design, aperture, focal length, distance to subject and distance from subject to background. I have some legacy glass primes I've accumulated over the years that produce creamy OOF areas, I also have some zooms that do the same. The difference is that primes are less expensive than equal quality zooms. Again experience is your best advice.
 
@smoke665 What do you consider a high ISO to be?
I routinely shoot at up to 5 stops over base (ISO 3200), depending on requirements. Above that it starts to be a trade off on (noise vs other settings and requirements) Even though my K1MII is rated at ISO 819,200, it isn't really practical. The key to controlling visible noise is being sure you fully expose the image. You don't want to under expose and boost in post.
 

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