Day 60.365 – Faces in Chinatown – Post I
Armed with my new lens (85 mm 1.8G and 24 mm 2.8D) I thought Chinatown would be an interesting place to test out my lens. I nearly took all the snaps in this post with 85mm and some with 24mm. Yes, the 50mm is still being neglected, can’t help it. I also took an overwhelming number of shots and have divided this day’s shots over two posts.
So Chinatown is the most amazing place to catch up with street photography, I would say the first place to strike up with street shots. The vibrant colors around is too hard to ignore and there’s always these red lanterns in the shot, so that they are always somewhere in the background even if they are bokehed. This was the best backdrop to photograph people.
Few things I learned extensively shooting on day 60. Hope I implement them in my later street walks
- Get an ideal location, and wait for people to come by.
- Composition is everything is street photography, it will make no sense if the action is happening somewhere in the background or corner of the frame.
- Being quick is the key here, else the person changes position. So continuous focus and perhaps a smaller aperture would help, which will eliminate the time taken to focus.
- great street shots are about people in action and not just people walking.
- If I am focusing on a person’s face directly approaching me, I act as if I am focusing on some scene behind. I know this can be tricky, so the best street shots will come if I can take permission. Again this leads to lot of ethical questions, but guess if I am not using a person’s shot for anything commercial it should be fine.
- I don’t shoot very old people (I feel rather sad to do so) or street performers (too easy a target) wherever possible.
- I think taking a seat rather than walking around will help sometimes.
Though this is almost my first time shooting people on street, I am not giving advices, but just sharing my experience which I think will help me another time. Hope you enjoy this post.
More snaps coming in later posts.
“Doesn’t look like I captured it right”
Blurred Chinatown
Food Lane
Waiting for the Bus
A good thing about people on phone is that they don’t realize when you click them
White Purses
Sharing it all along
The lady with the green bag
Searching for directions
The girl with the smoke
“Oh, yes I think it’s the same place”
Another phone person
Mom and daughter
Not bold enough to click without the car
In her own thoughts
The backside alley
The smile
Club Street
Blurred passerby
I missed the focus here
I cheated here, this is not from Chinatown but in Ikea
“I think I should have got this”
The girl in the alley
Great photos. I like the tones. Chinatown is definitely a great and rich place to shoot the street.
Similar with you, I start using the street using D90+85mm, but my favorite combo now is D90+24mm. Hope you will also love the 24mm
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The lesson learned is also great stuff — although, looking at my personal experience, I can’t agree 100%. Of course, to each their own
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Good luck, have fun, and looking forward to see more.