Candids from town.

Gamefreak501

Gamefreak501

Gamefreak501

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Joined
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Bedfordshire
I was standing around in town freezing my nads of for nearly an hour getting candid shots. I ended up filling my 1gb card but I only like about 36 of the pictures I took.

Anyway, usual Irfanview editing involving borders. Nothing else done, straight from the camera. Anyway, here are 3 of my favourites:

1

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2

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3

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And finally my favourite bird pic of the day:

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All taken with my 75-300 lens @300mm. Unfortunately, upon close examination of my pictures, I can see some CA...ah well, can't complain really!
 
Hmm I dunno, they feel a bit dull. People walking down a street, oap on a phone and someones back to you. I feel like street photography should say something more than just be about people on the street.
 
Cheers for the critique,

I have never really done any Candids before...but sounds like I need to think more about how I go about doing them!

It's funny though, I've been doing photography for a year now but I still need to do more learning, I do like how the colours came out from these shots...but there is no substance!

Here are two more that are a little more 'exciting' but still not really there:

Riding through town

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Queuing for the hole in the wall

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Any points and tips greatly appreciated! :)
 
I think in street photography look for the people who are doing something or around someone else who is doing something interesting, rather than people jsut walking up and down the highstreet mindlessly shopping.

Then you get some interesting expressions. When I do some candids I shoot in high speed shooting so I can get ebery expression they make while they are looking at something.
 
Some very good examples there Raymond Lin!

My first piece of advice would be not to put the point of interest slap bang in the middle of the frame. Just a quick example, the guy on the bike, there is a lot of space above his head, and yet we can't see his bike.

Also, as others have said, try and capture some really different shots, something out of the ordinary, and then try to liven them up a bit in photoshop or eqivilent

Kimmett
 
Another point i noticed, it seems none of your photos are with the subject head on, it is like you are trying to take pictures of them but afriad of insulting of offending them. So you took shots from the side and the back, well......that doesn't work I am afriad, not when they are the subject. You need to go for it, bite the bullet and take some head on shots.
 
Cheers for the help everyone - I am very shy when it comes to candids...which is one reason why I used my longest (and slowest) lens.

Anyway, that was a good gallery there, cheers!

I'll probably do some more between lectures tomorrow, maybe use a shorter lens to get out of the shyness barrier. Out of this lot, what should I really think about using: 35-105mm 3.5-4.5; 70-210 f4; 50mm f/1.7; 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6, or that 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6?

Also, one final question...what's the worst situation anyone has been in where someone has reacted badly to having a candid taken, and what did you do?

Well, that's all for now!
 
Worst situation I have been in is that someone has frowned at me, I smiled back, and they wandered off. :).

Having said that, I have the shy barrier as well, really not helpful when it comes to shots like the above.

Kimmett
 
There's a trick you can use, now you have digital so film is not a problem which makes thigns evern easier. What you use us a 50mm lens, hang the camera on the strap over your neck in front of your chest. Set it manal to everything, focus, aperture, exposure etc....walk around with it like that wiuth 1 hand on the trigger. Snap when you are close to some subject, people take less notice when you are not holding the camera to your face.
 
Raymond Lin said:
There's a trick you can use, now you have digital so film is not a problem which makes thigns evern easier. What you use us a 50mm lens, hang the camera on the strap over your neck in front of your chest. Set it manal to everything, focus, aperture, exposure etc....walk around with it like that wiuth 1 hand on the trigger. Snap when you are close to some subject, people take less notice when you are not holding the camera to your face.
Click to expand...

I think I'll try that today! Much much easier to hand hold and lug around then a long heavy 75-300mm! Also, the working distance will be much shorter (20-30cm instead of 1m+) and the focusing will be quicker too!

Just need to use it in a small crowd of people or larger and that will be fine :)
 
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Hmmm, you could always get a remote release cord and have it in your pocket; that way it wouldn't even look like you were fiddling with your camera. I reckon if you set your 18-70mm at about 20mm, which will give you an equivalent to 30mm; set your aperture to f8 and shutter to about 200; might be tempted to use zone-matching instead of setting ISO, assuming that the 5D has zone-matching like the 7D.
 
Hmm, I'm trying again Tuesday. I am going to bring my 18-70mm kit lens with me as well as my 50mm and stop being so shy! As for the 5D, it doesn't have 'zone matching' as is, but does have an 'Auto' setting.

edit: actually, scrub that, I'll be trying a few Friday on my way to work :)
 
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You are still trying to take sneaky pictures, and the photos FEELS sneaky. Therein lies the problem, you need to lose that fear and just point the camera at people and just take the photo and then move on. If they see you then smile, if they don't like it, move on.

Another reason using the 50mm is it is a fast lens, so you can make use of that.
 
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