Color street photography

<p>I find my black and white street photos get more attention than my color. How do you shoot good street photos with color? Can you recommend photographers work who do? Thanks</p>

<p>Joel Meyerowitz. He has some videos on youtube talking about his technique. One of his (and others) techniques is to find a shaft of light striking the street between the tall buildings and "stake it out", waiting for something or someone to pass through it.</p>

<p>Ok I shall check that out.</p>

<p>Another interesting thing about Meyerowitz, apart from shooting color photo, was, that he was strongly impressed by the "dancing" of Cartier-Bresson when shooting street photography and that he aspired, like Bresson to be <em>invisible</em> when shooting in streets - and still he made "engaged" photography. </p>

<p>"I find my black and white street photos get more attention than my color"</p>

<p>Well, we see in colour. So, if we remove colour it is something different...we like different.</p>

<p>The other argument is by removing the colour we remove a distraction helping us to perceive the soul of the photo.</p>

<p>Hey, gal b/w is cool and arty.... it has soul;)</p>

<blockquote>

<p>These color images seem cool and arty to me. Or maybe I`m just jaded on b&w? <a href="http://121clicks.com/inspirations/35-fantastic-color-street-photographs">http://121clicks.com/inspirations/35-fantastic-color-street-photographs</a> Thanks Allen.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>this too <a href="/photodb/folder?folder_id=933336">http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=933336</a></p>

<p>Try in-public.com or look at the Getty images list of photographers.</p>

<p>ok I shall</p>

 

<p>I see a lot of great street and documentary photography in color. But I've always struggled with making it work for me. Recently I've been forcing myself to use it more often by shooting raw along with the in-camera b&w JPEGs. Sometimes color helps with separating elements when different colors are rendered as the same monochrome tone.</p>

<p>having a colorful subject helps.</p><div></div>

<p>I don't know Marie, that this too dude needs practice..but you might try, for some of us right here: http://www.ericmilner.com; http://www.citysnaps.net and http://spirer.com all great color street photographers when they shoot street.</p>

<p>I find that in many cases strong colour can distract. When I do use colour I tend to slightly desaturate it so that the eye can focus more on the detail of the subject. However there are some cases where colour works really well. I posted a couple in the other color street shot thread </p>

<p>Thanks! Nice links and points to ponder.</p>

<p>http://www.webbnorriswebb.co/#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=8&a=1&at=0</p>

<p>^^^Alex Webb. Not a link that will destroy the inner working of you computer</p>

<p>Alex Webb is great. In fact the whole Magnum website is filled with fantastic photography, with a good amount of street.</p>

<p>In the 16,000+ comments under my photos/portfolio and my responses, I've written rather extensively on this subject and provided many examples.</p>

<p>I shoot both 'black and white' and 'color' street.</p>

<p>In fact, with digital, each photo now starts out as color and the conversion is to 'black and white' so I get a chance to see each photo in its color version -- unlike when I was shooting tri-x or Ilford pan, where I never got a chance to see my shots in color.</p>

<p>There are basically three kinds of shots.</p>

<p>1. The shot works best in black and white or exclusively in black and white - maybe there is a very distracting color in the photo of the colors do not coordinate, or some such. Such a photo should be posted and will work best in black and white.</p>

<p>2. Some shots work best in color -- the beauty of a such a photo is in the colors of the photo rather than JUST the graphics. Perhaps one subject has browns and the background is tans or shades of green that make a good coordination, or conversely there is a good contrast in colors, or like on photo I took, there is a (Dutch) train, with blue, white and yellow and then a poster on the platform being approached by a blind man and the poster also was blue, white and yellow and the sign on the poster had a message and a beautiful woman that related to something the blind man would have liked to see, but couldn't (of course). Color helped make that photo because of the repetition of the blurred train, right, and the poster (same color combination) left with the titillating message. Post color oriented photos in color -- these are photos that will not do well in black and white.</p>

<p>3. Some photos, and in fact many, will do well if they have solid graphics. If color ADDS to one version to the photo, then it can work and be posted as a color photo, but desaturated it also can work as a black and photo. Sometimes such photos can be the hardest to choose which version to choose to post -- color or black and white. Often when I have such a photo, I'll posts it on this site in my mainstay black and white folder (or a subsidiary folder) and post it again at some other time in color, maybe on another site.</p>

<p>Occasionally I'll post it twice on the same site in color and black and white if I like it very much.</p>

<p>There is a subset of photos which do well as black and white AND color.</p>

<p>Those are the photos which change appearance rather dramatically when one compares the color and the black and white versions. </p>

<p>These can be a challenge, but are also coveted photos because they allow for many choices in posting.</p>

<p>If you haven't posted a color photo for a while and want to, then it's a natural fit for a color posting; and it it's a great black and white photo (regardless of its strength in color) then it might fit in with a black and white collection).</p>

<p>This is the way I've guided myself here on Photo.net.</p>

<p>I have two main folders, and emphasize black and white, but many black and white photos are also posted elsewhere in color and do very well (and can be seen picked up by Google.com images, but found nowhere else on Photo.net because of their popularity.)</p>

<p>When Joel Meyerowitz switched from black and white to shooting color, he found that his work he felt was best served to his artistic view by shooting 'wider' or from a greater distance, and including more otherwise 'extraneous' matter.<br>

<br />Maybe this is because he was shooting less for the graphics as more dominated his black and white, and more for the color and the totality, and then you had more 'rich in detail' photos, and since he shoots primarily in New York City (for his street), there often was something 'interesting' going on in one or another corner or part of a photo that was color that might be eye catching. (he explained this in one video I watched about his switchover from black and white to color).</p>

<p>john</p>

<p>John (Crosley)</p>

<p>Interesting thoughts, John. Thanks for sharing those. I do think shooting "street" in color is more challenging. I just ordered tonight, the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 "Art" lens for my Nikon FX bodies (B+H finally just received some stock), which I think is the perfect street lens. I hope to explore this topic much further, and plan to get out and start shooting more stuff once I get the 35mm f/1.4 next week.</p>

<p>I just happened to find this color shot, pulled from my files:</p>

<p><img src="http://studio460.com/studio460/pinkcamera-700.jpg" alt="" /><br /> Nikon D7000 + AF 85mm f/1.8 @ f/2.8</p>

<p>Unfortunately, it's overexposed, rendering a plastic-ey skintone, and a completely over-amped luma/hue in the blouse. It's also cropped a bit (I prefer to shoot the precise framing I plan to present, and not require any cropping), but it's the only image with the girl showing her one eye like that. This was taken with a DX body, before I bought my FX gear.</p>

<p>Here's two more. These didn't "work" in color, so I tried to "saving" them by pulling the chroma:</p>

<p><img src="http://studio460.com/studio460/club.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://studio460.com/studio460/laxcops-700.jpg" alt="" /></p>

 

<p>Marie said:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I find my black and white street photos get more attention than my color. How do you shoot good street photos with color? Can you recommend photographers work who do?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Black-and-white helps to abstract the image--this abstraction helps distance the viewer from perceiving a simple "record" of what was there. Jay Maisel is one of the masters of NYC color street photography. Studying such works in color lends some clues: strong graphic design, simple color palette (or even a single color), coordinated colors, or strongly opposed, complimentary colors, juxtaposed in a strong design.</p>

<p>See Jay Maisel's portfolio here:</p>

<p>http://studio.jaymaisel.com/collections/portfolio</p>

<p>Ralph and Marie</p>

<p>I wouldn't call May Maisel a 'street photographer' in the sense that 'street' is what he does mainly.</p>

<p>In fact, what he does and has been doing since the '50s predated (I think) the coining of the word 'street'. I began shooting in 1968, and I never heard the word 'street' once until I joined Photo.net in 2004, though I am sure it came in to common usage sometime before that.</p>

<p>I met Henri Cartier-Bresson (to shake his hand on the recommendation of a mutual friend - an old 'China hand who worked with him there') who wanted me to see the supposed 'similarity' between my work [and HCB's] [his old friend Henry, as he described HCB to me,] when I first started work at Associated Press as a photographer, and I mean before I ever was sent on my first assignment. The word 'street' was not in common usage then.</p>

<p>[After seeing HCB's work, not knowing who the hell he was, but seeing his wondrous work which filled San Francisco's huge De Young museum for sale from $100 to $300 - I had NO money, but lusted after them all) I came back and quite my job as AP photographer, still before my first assignment.</p>

<p>Literally, AP just reassigned me to write stories for which I had no training and had never done in my life, but somehow I swam instead of sinking right from day one; and my stories ran on page one from day one. Whew! I ducked a career bullet by my brashness quitting photojournalism.</p>

<p>I don't know when the word 'street' entered the lexicon as 'common usage', but it wasn't there then in 1969 in San Francisco after I got shamed out of the photo business by seeing someone who was really great (HCB).</p>

<p>Now about Jay Maisel. I have heard his name most of my young and adult life and owe the above link to cause me to actually search out his work. I recommend it to any Photo.net member who wants to see a real Renaissance photographer at work.</p>

<p>Consider this video on Vimeo, from a workshop:</p>

<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/3371127">http://vimeo.com/3371127</a></p>

<p>You'll also lust after the 72-room mansion shown where he lives in central Manhattan he bought for just over $100,000 (correct) now estimated to be worth $30 to $50 million, where he keeps his work and shows it, mainly to himself and friends.</p>

<p>He carries a camera, a Nikon and the video shows a 70~200 f 2.8 lens virtually wherever he goes. He finds it strange that other photographers find that strange. He's a guy after my own heart. I think if we met, we'd be friends.</p>

<p>Jock Sturges, an exhibition and published photographer of considerable fame deriving from his controversial photos of nude youths, on another forum here -- the Philosophy of Photography forum -- argues that one must specialize, or one can be compared to multiple blips on an oscilloscope. One's various talents pursued will nullify any possible greatness, Sturges seems to argue, by spreading the talents too thin. He compares that to multiple blips on an oscilloscope, where individual blips never will be too great, but a single blip may be extraordinary. [i think that is a faulty analogy, but it's just an analogy]</p>

<p>That also assumes I understood Sturges correctly, and I have reported him correctly, which I may not have; I recommend you go to the current Philosophy of Photography forum for the current discussion to read it for yourself, and don't trust my second-hand recount and evaluation. Do your own research; don't trust me.</p>

<p>Maisel I think, and his life's work, would argue for just the opposite of what I think Sturges seems to argue.</p>

<p>He's literally a photographic blunderbuss with a camera, except he's also a dead-eye and wherever he points, he seems to hit something.</p>

<p>He goes out without any subject in his mind, determined to find what is interesting and/or beautiful to his fertile mind through his lens. And he has a very fertile mind and an amazing and amazingly trained eye.</p>

<p>He thinks a trip to the store is a photo excursion, just as I do.</p>

<p>I really think if he and I met, we might end up friends, for I feel exactly the same; I'm NEVER caught without a camera, just as he. Reason: you might pass up a wonderful photo at the exact moment you are camera-less, especially if you are shooting for the joy of it, and are looking to capture any wonder your eye might discover.</p>

<p>But 'street' photographer?</p>

<p>Hardly exclusively.</p>

<p>He shoots everything.</p>

<p>Amazingly well.</p>

<p>Wonderfully.</p>

<p>He's his own worst critic, too, which makes him better in editing.</p>

<p>Sometimes he shoots landscapes.</p>

<p>Sometimes it's urban landscapes.</p>

<p>Sometimes it's more macro..</p>

<p>Sometimes it's more abstract, and in fact lots of his stuff he turns into abstraction or he sees abstraction with color in much of what he singles out or frames (he dislikes the terms 'composes') in his lens.</p>

<p>He does what we call 'street' too, but often that is heavily colored, even heavily saturated and often abstract looking.</p>

<p>Some work is monochrome and looks black and white, or could convert to black and white easily even if colored.</p>

<p>His style is his style, but he has more than one style, as opposed to what I think I understand Sturges on the Philosophy of Photography forum urges - to have one style and stick with it.</p>

<p>I like Maisel's work a lot, and while I appreciate also Sturges's work and his very fertile and learned mind, I tend to the practicality of Maisel-- go out without preconceptions, take a camera everywhere, and just take anything you see that pleases or interests you.</p>

<p>For that's what I do.</p>

<p>I didn't learn it from him and in fact recognize few of his images, so they probably were NOT instructive from my earlier days or youth (he's in his '80s) and going strong; I'm somewhat younger, though I'm not telling how much.</p>

<p>Quotes</p>

<p>'I like looking at life; life is very beautiful to me'</p>

<p>'I try very hard not to predetermine what I do [when he goes out] and [he takes pains] 'not to prepare'.</p>

<p>A friend of his suggests it's about the 'joy of seeing' and capturing what he sees.</p>

<p>I appreciate him; you may too when you see his images.</p>

<p><a href="

<p>Enjoy!</p>

<p>But don't think it's all 'street' or 'color street'.</p>

<p>However, if you can take images of such quality forget about categories entirely -- you've achieved Renaissance status and categories are for others to argue about -- your critics, students, and collectors.</p>

<p>Thanks again for causing this pleasant diversion into Mr. Maisel's work; I'm indebted.</p>

<p>john</p>

<p>John (Crosley)</p>

<p>John said:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I wouldn't call May Maisel a 'street photographer' in the sense that 'street' is what he does mainly.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Agreed. For the purposes of the thread, however, I thought he still was an appropriate subject of study. Certainly, Jay's body of work encompasses more than street photography.</p>

<p>John said:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Thanks again for causing this pleasant diversion into Mr. Maisel's work; I'm indebted.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Who, me? Thank you, for that insightful, thoughtful post!</p>

<p>To slightly append my last post [darned photo.net edit time-out!]: Certainly, Jay's body of work . . . extends, excludes, and abstracts from the more commonly accepted components of the genre, and more often transcends its "narrower" definitions.</p>

<p>A month late, but here's my 2 cents:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>How do you shoot good street photos with color?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Pay attention to framing, light, background, timing, and separation of elements, ie same as you shoot a good street photo in B&W, and let the color take care of itself.<br>

Also critical is self-editing. Too many of us upload every single photo fart that emanates from the camera. Be REALLY self-critical when editing.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>Can you recommend photographers work who do?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>David Alan Harvey, particularly his work in Cuba<br /> Alex Webb, particularly his work in Haiti, Mexico, and Istanbul.</p>