On the experience of street documentary photography

Lead: Talking about the? Sweep the street? Many movie friends are very familiar with this sentence? Slang? It's not the kind that sanitation workers work every day, but it refers to shooting in the street, which emphasizes the authenticity of the picture. Most of them don't pose, but capture all kinds of moving details and moments in daily life while shopping. On the experience of street documentary photography

It's easy to sweep the street. Just pick up the camera and go out into the street. Just start shooting. But at the same time, sweeping the street is also the most difficult kind of photography. There are many people coming and going in the street, and it is really not an easy task to capture moving moments in it.

Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, a teenager playing in the construction waste pile by the river, raised his hands, and his hope and heart seemed to fly in this moment, across the river, across the city, until the distance

Many famous photographers in the history of photography, such as the father of documentary photography, were founded? A decisive moment? Theoretical Henry? Cartier-Bresson, Mark who shot China countless times? Lu Bu, Daido Moriyama, a famous Japanese freelance photographer, and so on, all spent a lot of time on street photography. By capturing ordinary people's daily moments, they retained one classic moment after another, and their works touched countless people. It can even be said that photographs that usually help people remember the history and times are often not earth-shattering events, but street photographs that record the details of ordinary people's lives and the characteristics of the times.

The concept and thinking of street photography

In the old town of Xiguan, Guangzhou, an ordinary fish stall, the cat in the shop suddenly looked back

Undoubtedly, the street is definitely the most important scene reflecting the culture and characteristics of our time.

When we start sweeping the street, we often feel that we can't find the north. The street is so rich and messy, and many events happen at the same time, which are fleeting. How can we find and record the most wonderful moments at the most appropriate time?

here, it is necessary to paraphrase the most basic theory, which was put forward by Bresson? A decisive moment? In his view, everything in the world has its decisive moment, that is, the form and content of the object being photographed just constitute a harmonious picture at this moment. He grasped the appearance and connotation of things in a very short time and made them eternal.

Bresson's photography insists on capturing pictures all his life, but the perfect composition in his works is compatible with traditional painting aesthetics, which makes these moments amazing. ? A decisive moment? Since the theory was put forward in the 195s, although it has been constantly questioned and broken, it is still a compulsory course for documentary photographers from generation to generation at home and abroad.

for sweeping the street, we must first confirm the intention and theme of shooting, otherwise it will be superficial and superficial. Some photographers will be obsessed with shooting historical buildings and human moments that are about to disappear, others will concentrate on recording people and events that are most characteristic of our times, and some photographers will look for ordinary life details that show the brilliance and touching humanity, and record emergencies, conflicts and disputes in the streets? Wait a minute. However, everything remains the same. Only by recording what can move you can the photos move others. The humanitarianism, equality, compassion, sympathy and other feelings that discount human nature in eastern and western art in photographic works will never be out of date.

However, street photography must also have its own unique vision. It is also essential to try to choose a theme or scene or shooting method that others have not photographed, and to explain their views and positions through photos. Otherwise, in today's image explosion, photos without personality will inevitably be submerged and will not leave too much impression on the audience.

Choice of street photography equipment

In the old town of Xiguan, Guangzhou, we should practice calligraphy together according to the method taught by my grandfather

Because of the rapid change and variety of street photography, SLR or paraxial camera with short shutter lag is the first choice for sweeping the street, and paraxial camera with small size and unobtrusive is the ideal choice. Of course, digital DC can also be competent for sweeping the street, but DC has long shutter lag. You need to be familiar with the camera and accurately predict the events to keep the most accurate moment. Besides, continuous shooting is often used to sweep the street, and the continuous shooting speed of the camera should also be considered.

Guangzhou Pazhou Convention and Exhibition Center, a family of three who are tired of visiting the exhibition

In the traditional photography theory, it is generally recommended to use a lens with a focal length of 28mm-5mm for street photography, because the lens with this focal length often has a more stereoscopic depth of field and conforms to people's visual habits, which makes the recorded scenes realistic and spatial. However, too wide or telephoto lenses are not recommended. Wide-angle lenses often bring strong deformation and too much clutter, and are generally only suitable for narrow environments or scenes that pursue visual impact caused by wide-angle deformation. The telephoto lens is often too narrow in viewing angle, which is not conducive to explaining the environment. At the same time, the telephoto angle compresses the sense of perspective between scenes, and it is easy to make the picture lose the sense of scene and space.

Happy childhood in the old town of Xiguan, Guangzhou

However, the choice of lens also depends on personal style. If you like to keep a sense of distance or the subject is difficult to get close to, telephoto lens is also a good choice; If you like the wide-angle visual impact, or control the picture well, it is ok to sweep the street with a wide-angle lens.

snapshot, sneak shot and communication of street photography

Generally speaking, when sweeping the street, it is necessary to take a snapshot, which requires the scene to be natural and true and not interfere with the object being photographed. Those who are the most natural and living are the most valuable. Capturing can be predicted in advance, as long as you go out with your camera on your back and shoot whatever you see. Going deep into life is the soul and essence of snapshot.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, Guang Yuan Bus Terminal in Guangzhou, although the weather is cold and the luggage is heavy, it can't stop the expectation of going home.

You must be nimble when you take a snapshot, and don't hesitate to seize the most wonderful moment. In order to practice the accuracy of the shutter, the author has photographed the telephone pole outside the window many times when taking the train, and strives to pass every time the shutter is pressed, the telephone pole is just at the golden section. Interested friends may wish to try this practice method.

Capturing must also require the photographer to be familiar with the development trend of the event, to be able to predict what will happen next, and to know when to press the shutter, so as to have a clear idea and seize the desired moment.

On the streets of Chengdu, a happy girl who makes a public phone

When encountering the right light and shadow and scene, waiting is also a common thing to sweep the street. Choosing a suitable scene, waiting for the right person to appear or the right event to happen, and then taking a snapshot, is a common shooting method to sweep the street. But don't stay too long in a certain scene. After all, it's sweeping the street and walking around at will. It's often a fate to shoot a good film, and maybe a more exciting moment will happen at the next corner.

In the old town of Xiguan, Guangzhou, the feeling of the past is somewhat dusty.

When sweeping the street, it is often necessary to shoot strangers. This seems to be a psychological obstacle for photographers, and they often press the shutter in a hurry to take pictures of the surprised expression of the subjects. When sweeping the street, the author thinks that communication skills are often the most important. In some interesting scenes, or when it is necessary to shoot a stranger at close range, one or two simple greetings and friendly questions, full of friendly smiles, can often narrow the psychological distance with the subject. If the other person is not doing unconventional behavior, he will generally agree to shoot. For those who are particularly cautious in front of the camera, you can press the shutter while chatting and take a few more pictures to get the ideal expression and action. If you resolutely disagree with taking pictures, you should stop taking pictures or delete photos according to the requirements of the subject, which is the most basic respect for others.

we should also be friendly when we are questioned when we are caught in the snapshot and sneak shot. It is very important to respond appropriately. The author often smiles foolishly and calls himself:? Those who learn to take pictures, come out and practice. ? Or? I just bought a camera today, and when I try it out, I often get a friendly response. Remember not to flatter yourself as a photographer or a reporter, it will often be self-defeating. I rarely see people who curse and pursue. The barriers between people are often built by people's hearts, and communication is actually not too difficult.

Common skills of street photography

Old people basking in the sun alone in Xiguan Old Town, Guangzhou, how many things happened

Sudden scenes can be seen everywhere when sweeping the street, and often it is too slow to even lift the camera and autofocus, so blind shot's technology is very important. The so-called blind shot, Even if you don't look at the viewfinder, you can roughly predict what pictures and composition you can get from a certain angle. This skill requires practice and you need to be very familiar with the focal length of the camera. You can take the camera to predict the scene first, then blind shot, and then compare it, so you can be familiar with it after repeated exercise for a period of time. Blind shot is widely used in street photography, such as shooting close to the subject who doesn't want to interfere with the object, and shooting the rapid moment. You can also use the blind shot to shoot at a very low angle. When the angle is low enough, you can make the subject look tall and have a unique perspective, and you can also use the sky as the background to avoid the surrounding messy environment.

Guangzhou Xiguan Antique City, a foreign tourist

In addition, you can also use the angle of raising your hands and jumping up to blind shot to get a down shot, which depends on your physical condition. Oh, of course, you should pay attention to safety.

The automatic focusing of the camera is getting faster and faster now, but there is still no time to focus on many occasions. At this time, it depends on your familiarity with the camera. When I walk in the street, the camera never turns off, and I practice the western cowboy's method of pulling out the shooter so as to quickly take out the camera from the camera bag. Of course, it is safe to use the hyperfocal distance of each focal length. For example, when the aperture of a 5mm lens is 8, the focus is at a distance of three meters, so the distance from three meters to infinity is the focus range. Using this feature, you can use the manual focus method to avoid the focus link.

Conclusion and digression:

I waited for a long time in this old shop, watching the cat shuttle, jumping up and down, waiting for this most appropriate moment

For street photography, the most difficult thing is often not the shooting skills, but your perspective. The street landscape is so rich and changeable. What subject you choose and which moment you choose often have no rules to follow, but depend on your knowledge, temperament, life experience and value orientation. In fact, Kung Fu is beyond photography, and street photography is actually out of the scope of art in a sense. It is more closely related to sociology, anthropology, history, politics, economy, philosophy and other disciplines. A photo often carries not only the pleasure of people's aesthetic feeling, but also a lot of information from the real world, which makes people ponder, make people pay attention to it, and make them move.

A beautiful corner of light and shadow, I held my camera and waited with bated breath, waiting for this young man to run into my lens

Someone asked a photographer about the aperture and shutter data of a certain work, and the master replied:? The shutter of this photo is 5 years and 25 th of a second? . Maybe this answer can give us some inspiration.