Your technique.

Anyone care to reveal you "street" technique. Mine is to have the

camera (in my case a Leica IIIa) just above my navel, I usually use

ISO 400 film be it Tri-X, APX 400, or HP5+, the film is rated at 400.

I set my lens to two meters and my shutter speed at 1/500th and my

aperture at f/8 (on a sunny day) or f/5.6 (overcast). After that I

just walk and shoot. I'm sure others have their own, i'd like to hear

them.

 

Thanks

i like to sniff a sponge soaked in ammonia before i go out.....

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<img src="http://s93887327.onlinehome.us/yo.jpg">

just beer for me...<div></div>

Well, I'm still trying to get a handle on using my new (to me) RZ. This camera is a big difference from the Pentax PZ-20 I used to use. I was doing street photography before I even knew there was a name for it. I would just set my Pentax on the green mode, let the camera take care of my exposure and just click away. Now I have to meter with a hand held, set the f stop and shutter speed after determining what the fastest speed I can get away with while still hand holding, then I have to focus (I still need to learn how to focus to a certain distance) then fire the shutter. Needless to say, I'm looking at taking another course at one of the city colleges around me. Upside also is I'll have a darkroom at my disposal. I have to use a rental for now, and it gets expensive.

Regards,

Marc

(This is for when I don't want to be seen): I let my camera hang down on its strap, usually just above waist leve. Since its usually my F3HP I just set it on AE (depending on the range of tones around me I adjust exp. compensation), and set a 24/2.8 to f/5.6 or f/8. I prefocus and when the distance from my subject is the same, I fire. It works almost everytime, the 24 is wide enough to get everything in the frame (by everything I usually mean their heads). Never had a person notice me while using this technique.

 

--Dominic

My technique is similar to yours Robert, except I have my Leica M4-2 hanging down by my side in my hand with a (Lutz Konerman) Sling thru my fingers, this allows me to shoot from different angles "blind" or raise the camera to my eye very quickly. I sometimes use a Leica CL + CV25mm f4 with a wrist strap or held in the palm of my hand. I use Ilford XP2 or Kodak T400c as they give more latitude (I also don't use a meter, as it's too "anti-stealth")

My two P&S cameras are always in the bag until a few seconds before I shoot. The Olympus controls the shutter speed and aperture and the Holga is alway fixed at somewhere at 1/100 and f/8. The focus is somewhere between 3 feet and infinity. The film now is 400TX.

 

If it is too dark, I disable the flash on Olympus and resist my urge of taking out Holga (it was proved many times that it won't work). If the light is good, I shoot Holga and rewind it immediately. I forgot twice.

 

Robert Capa had the best technique for Holga: If your pictures aren't good, you aren't close enough."<div></div>

Great Holga shot.

Grant,

 

You too!! LOL.

Depends on the gear.

 

Small cameras or those that are ergonomically friendly, I just hold in my hand. Maybe I'll wrap the neckstrap around my wrist, maybe not. My Agfa Isolette, a recent favorite of mine, doesn't have any kind of strap so I just grip it inside the bellows recess. Pretty much the same with my Olympus XA3 - it used to have a neckstrap, then a wrist strap, now no strap at all. Those two cameras I zone focus and pray.

 

I do keep a "strap" made of paracord on my Canonet. I've devised a quickly adjustable but absolutely secure knotting system for it so it can hang anywhere from sternum to zipper in a wink. Or I'll wrap it around my wrist. Usually I'll focus the Canonet rather than zone focus.

 

With my SLRs I'll zone focus with wide angles but manually focus with normal or longer lenses. With ultra wides like my 17mm I don't always even look through the viewfinder - I'll just raise the camera to face level and fire; sometimes I shoot while it's hanging from my neck.

 

My Nikons have quick-detachable neckstraps. Sometimes I'll detach the thick neoprene neckstrap (very comfy) and just hold the camera via the motor drive grip at my side. Depends on how secure I feel at a given moment - my thief radar is pretty good, and I don't fool myself that those cushy neoprene neckstraps are particularly secure.

 

I suspect I use telephotos and zooms more often than many folks here do. It may not be kosher according to "The Street Photographer's Rule Book" but some of my favorite photos have been taken with lenses ranging from 75mm to 210mm. Being able to isolate a subject from the surrounding via shallow DOF appeals to me.

 

Like most of us, or in most situations, I rely on fast films, often pushing them. Partly this is to facilitate zone focusing but my physical condition has as much to do with it - I've developed a peculiar nerve condition that causes hand tremors and interferes with fine motor control, so I can't handhold steadily at slow speeds any longer. Of course, if I was an afficianado of the deliberately blurry photo technique, that would be an advantage. But so many other folks are already covering that technique pretty well.

 

My usual films are Tri-X rated anywhere from 400 to 3200, in Rodinal or HC-110 at slower speeds, Microphen at faster (or EI 1250 in Diafine); TMY, almost always at EI 1600 for development in Microphen; Delta 3200, at 1600 for Diafine or faster with Microphen.

 

Sometimes I walk and shoot, sometimes I sit. I have arthritis, blah-blah-blah, so usually I alternate between walking and sitting. Some of my favorite sitting spots are rooftop patios at restaurants and bars.

 

As for taking photos, often I'll look directly at people, smile and shoot. Sometimes I'll chatter with them while I'm talking - depends on the situation. This technique doesn't always make for the best "streety" shots - sometimes the pix resemble family snapshots more than anything else if the subjects are inclined to wear frozen grins whenever a camera is pointed at them. But if I'm able to take enough shots eventually some of their true soul will shine through. Sometimes their smiley face *is* their true nature and that's fine too.

My documentary technique is usually to have HP5+, FP4+, or

Delta 3200 (depending on conditions and desired effect) loaded

in my camera . The camera's on a strap over my shoulder or

sitting on the table in front of me--usually I raise it to my eye,

focus, compose, and snap, but I've been practicing focusing and

composing at arm's length. My exposure typically run from f1.4

at 1/10 to f8 at 1/1000 (again depending on conditions and

desired effect), but most of the time it's f2.8 or below. And I sit or

walk around; sometimes drink coffee, beer, wine, or whisky;

sometimes talk to people; and occasionally scratch myself.

 

I used to sniff ammonia, but it was hard to pick up girls when I

had ammonia breath.

"...but I've been practicing focusing and composing at arm's length..."

 

Switching to digital, Mike? Or didja get one of those "O"-series?

<center><img src="http://members.shaw.ca/mywebspace88/carefully.jpg"></center> </p> <center><i>~ aim the camera carefully and accurately ~</i></center>

<i>Switching to digital, Mike? Or didja get one of those "O"-

series?</i><P>

Just expanding my abilities. Sometimes squatting down or

getting up to move to another spot for a better perspective is

difficult or obtrusive enough to screw up the shot I want. In the

shot below, I was using a 21mm. If I had stopped and squatted

down right in front of her to take the shot, I probably would have

distracter her from what she was doing, and I would have been

run over by the people walking behind me.<P>

<center><img src="http://mikedixonphotography.com/

korvendor02.jpg"></center>

Mike I really like the picture, thanks for posting it.

Ditto, Mike. A beautiful capture.

<i>I used to sniff ammonia, but it was hard to pick up girls when I had ammonia breath</i>

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thats what baking soda is for...tasty!

Are you kidding? I had to spend a week in jail one time while the

lab confirmed that it really WAS baking soda that I had been

snorting. ; )

 

Thanks Hugh and Bill.

I'm currently shooting a series of pictures under the general heading of 'Bags, Labels and Logos'. I'm fascinated by the current obsession with shopping and buying things because they carry a particular label or logo. I have my camera set on aperture priority with a slow film and the lens wide open to isolate the subject. Then I just wait for my subject to appear.

Med. Format TLR (Rolleicord or Yashica Mat 124G) loaded with Tri-X. No meter. When you use the same equipment in the same setting for long enough, you just know. The strap, which was commandeered from one of my mother's old purses, goes over my left shoulder and across to my right side, where I hold the camera in my right hand with my finger on the shutter. Zone focus, usually f8 in shadows and f11 in the sunlight, just in case I'm walking into the sun and someone is walking towards me. I usually split my time between walking around shooting and sitting down waiting for the shots to come to me. I get my best shots equally from each technique. Sitting down, I usually get the "portraits" and walking I usually get the "street scenes".

 

Occasionally, I pull out the Nikon EasyTouch which has a piece of electrical tape over the automatic flash. I wish its motor advance wasn't so loud, but hey, I got it for my 8th birthday and it has a 31mm f/2.8 lens that ISN'T made out of plastic, why wouldn't I shoot it?

I don't do much street photography anymore but when I did I used a Nikon F or Yashica

with waist level and did my best guessimate with focus and exposure.<div></div>

....and then there was the from the hip p&s grab shot which I never respected even when I

did it myself.<div></div>