Transcripts
1. 00 CourseIntroandChapters: Street photography taught me more than just
taking photographs. It taught me to
see, to be present, and to embrace the unexpected. I didn't start with
fancy gear or training. I just hit the streets, and in doing that, I
found something real. Street photography isn't just
about capturing moments. It's about anticipating
them before they unfold. But starting out can feel overwhelming. What
camera do I need? What if people notice me, and what if my
photographs are bad? That's why I made this
Essentials mini course to help you skip the overthinking and start shooting
with confidence. In under an hour, I'll give you just enough essential knowledge
on how to pick a camera, shoot without fear, and build a solitary photography
habit that will actually make you
show up consistently. On my YouTube channel, I teach street photography through
my own experience, and this course is
your fast track to getting your street
photography journey started. Street photography
is learned by doing. This course is your first step. Hi, my name is Embrine. I'm a self taught
street photographer. I started my journey
back in 2016, so I started out on
a cheap DSLR camera, the Cannon 800 D. And
when I started out, I had a very hard time
figuring out how to do street photography because there is a wealth of
information out there, but it wasn't giving me what I needed as a beginner
street photographer. And also, the more time I spent on reading article
and watching videos, the more confused I got. So fast forward to 2022, I started my own YouTube
channel on street photography, where I teach new or aspiring
street photographers the art of street photography. I designed this
mini course aimed at new or aspiring
stree photographers, or maybe you already
started your journey, but are struggling
with the basics and want to take it
to the next level. In this mini course, I'll
give you the basics, so a crash course on
how to get started with street photography
without spending endless of hours watching
tutorials or getting lost in technical details
before you even get started. Instead, this mini
course will give you just enough essential
knowledge to start building a solid foundation by
getting you out there on the streets and building confidence through practical
hands on experience. We'll cover the
following topics. They're easy to follow
and understand. So the core structure
is progressive and this allows you as the
viewer to learn in manageable chunks and also build confidence through hands
on practice and exercises. Chapter one, having the
right mindset to think like a street photographer
and why it's important to overcome
fear and anxiety. Chapter two, understand gear. So the importance of
choosing camera and lenses. Chapter three, understand
street photography settings. We will talk about the
exposure triangle, so aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, and how to choose the right street photography settings for
different situations. Then we will head into
the practical part. Chapter four, first time
heading out on a photo walk, and the four things to
consider when heading out. Chapter five, basic
composition and light. Chapter six, your first
week of street photography, a plan to follow the
first week so you can focus on exploring
and getting comfortable. Chapter seven, how to build
a street photography habit, give you the tools to build a habit using the rinse
and repeat method. Chapter eight, first stree
photography challenge. Gently push yourself further with a challenge
from time to time. This part is optional, but I recommend trying it out.
2. Chapter1: Think like a street photographer: Chapter one, confidence
and mindset. Let's start with some of
the biggest challenges new street photographers face. These challenges can seem intimidating or even
paralyzing to get started. And once you recognize them, you can push past them. For most newstret photographers, the hardest part is
not getting out on the streets or even
camera settings. It's the mental barrier. So having the right mindset, you might have a fear or anxiety about shooting strangers
out on the streets, or maybe you set the bar so high that you put so much
pressure on yourself, or it's maybe the
overwhelming fear of failure, so how to make a photo, if they're blurry
or if they're bad. Here's a simple tip for
you to shift your mindset. So think of yourself as an
observer and not an intruder, and also you're documenting the city, not
interfering with it. Straight photography has a
reputation of being intrusive, obnoxious, and careless form of photography, but it
doesn't have to be. You can make it your own. And maybe that's one
of the reasons why most new street photographers have these beliefs that
I mentioned before. Let's talk about a few
common beliefs and challenges most new
street photographers face and break them down. I'm too shy for
street photography. So within the first 15
minutes of your photo walk, so let's assume you're
out on the street, it's very important that you quickly get
out of your shell. So what I mean by
that is that you quickly shake off that fear
so you don't let it build up. So what you do is that you
approach the first people you see within the first 15 minutes and try to take a
couple of photos. They don't have to
be good photos, they don't have to
be correct photos. The exercise here is to
shake off that fear and also allow yourself to build up that interaction with
people out on the streets. I'm a bad photographer. I don't know how to
make a photograph. These were exactly my thoughts
when I was starting out. I didn't know how to
handle my camera. I didn't know how to make a
photograph, and my photos, even after year three, so I've been doing
this for three years, my photos will still be blurry. You just got to accept that, especially in the beginning,
you will have bad results. You will have a lot
of bad photographs, and that's part of
the learning curve. You have to accept that
it takes time to build up a skill and also to build
up your creative eye. But the more you go
out on the streets, the more reps you put in, so the more practice you get, the better you will
become over time. I don't understand
camera or setting, so for most new
street photographers, they feel confused or lost, but the good news
is you don't need to master everything
all at once, but that's what we'll
cover in Chapter two.
3. Chapter2: Exposure Triangle made simple: Chapter two, the importance of choosing the right
camera and lenses. Gear is a big topic and includes everything from camera
lenses and accessories, and they can all have
their own mini course. But for this mini course, I won't be able to
cover everything, but I want to give you a solid
foundation so you can make informed decisions when it comes to gear for
straight photography. Before we jump into the
four things you need to consider when it comes
to camera and lenses, we need to understand
basic camera theory, so it's also called
the exposure triangle, and the exposure triangle
consists of three variables, so Io aperture and
shutter speed. And together, these
variables makes a well balanced photograph.
So let's break it down. Let's talk about aperture, arguably the most important variable of the three
that I just mentioned. So aperture refers
to the opening in the lens that led lights in
to the camera or sensor. Think of it as the pupil
of your eye that expands or contracts based on how
much light passes through. Aperture is measured in F Stop, so a large aperture is
actually a small number, so it will be F 1.8, which allows a lot of light into the camera
and also gives you that blurry background that you probably know from
portrait photography. It's also known as
shallow depth of field. On the other hand,
a smaller aperture, which is a larger F number, so it can be F 16, it can be F 20, F 22, and that lets less light into the camera and keeps more
of the scene in focus. So think of landscape
photography. A up next is shutter speed. So shutter speed controls how long a camera sensor
is exposed to light. It's measured in
fractions of a second. It can be 1/2000, 1/100, or even lower, 1/10. So for a fast shutter speed
like 1/4000 or 1/5000, it allows to freeze motion. So it's really good for capturing those fast
moving objects. Think of a racing car
that you want to capture. And then you have
the slower shutter speeds like 1/10 and even lower. And that's really
great for motion blur. So when you use lower
shutter speeds, you can use that for
artistic photographs, but you can also use that for light trails and
smooth water effects. Up next is ISO. So ISO measures the light sensors
sensitivity to light. So a low ISO like 100 or 200
will produce a clean image. It will also require you to have conditions where the
light is really good. So it can be a bright sunny day or you're in a
controlled studio. On the other hand, you
have high IOs and it can be anything from 1,600, 3,200, 6,400 and well above with
these modern cameras nowadays, but it makes the camera
more sensitive to light, so it will also introduce
more grain and noise. On the other hand,
it's also very useful in low light conditions.
4. Chapter2-2 How to choose gear: All right, so now we have
a basic understanding of the exposure triangle, so the foundation
of photography. And now we can move on to
discussing the four steps you need to consider when
choosing a camera and lens. Step one is decide
your starting point. Very important that you
early on decide what you're willing to spend on gear
for street photography, but also more importantly, what is essential for you that will get you out
there on the streets. So most camera brands have cameras at
different price points. So I would recommend
that you start at the entry level
and work your way up until you read your budget. And also remember,
you don't need an advanced camera, especially
when you're starting out. Step two is keeping it simple when it comes to
your camera choices. So a lot of newsree
photographers, they fall into the trap of focusing so much on
technical details, like, I want a camera that
has full frame sensor, high megapixel, a
fast auto focus. And while all these features are great to have in a camera, I would say, as a beginner,
this is not what you need. What you need is to
be able to handle your camera and be able to go out on the streets
and practice. So doubt reusability
and not specs. I wanted to share three
smart ways to get a camera. So first of all, use
what you already have. So if you already have a camera, old DSLR, mirror less, or even a disposable camera, it can also be you
have a smartphone, use all of these options, so you don't need
to go out and buy a camera just to do
street photography. And I would recommend if you are a new street photographer,
completely new, you haven't done street
photography before, use your camera because I suspect you might
have a smartphone. It might not be the
best smartphone or the latest greatest, but you will have
a camera in it. So the idea here is to go
out with your smartphone and just try to get your feet wet and try to go
out on the streets, noticing the small
details and not focusing so much on
settings right now. Number two is borrow a
camera or buy a used camera. So first of all, so if you know somebody who has a camera like a family member or a friend, politely ask them if you can borrow a camera for a
short period of time, so you can just try out street photography and
how it feels like. And secondly, you can
go to the used market because there are
so many cameras out there in good conditions, and you can often find a good
deal and make a bargain. Number three is
buy a new camera. So if you already decided that you want to
buy a new camera, I would say buy smartly. So think about your budget and also your
current skill level. So a pro tip here is to think both long term
and short term. And let me explain
what that means. Long term means that you also consider your future growth. So pick a camera that
is not too advanced, but has a few features
that you might not need right now as a beginner
street photographer, because long term, it will mean that you don't need to switch cameras or upgrade within
a year or even six months, and then you have to
reinvest your money again. So think a little bit into the future and
your future growth. So pick a camera
that will keep you occupied for at
least the next year. So short term means that you buy a camera based on your
current skill level. So you don't buy a camera that is so advanced that
you can't use it, and you also get
demotivated along the way. So most new street
photographers, they tend to overestimate the
technical knowledge or know how and end up spending way much more than their
budget allowed for. I want to share an
experience with you for my own street
photography journey. So I mentioned in the intro, I had a cheap DSLR camera, the cannon 800 D, and that's not entirely true because before
that, I had another camera. It was one of those
retro looking Olympics cameras that was actually quite advanced
back in the day. So I bought that
camera well above my budget and well
above my skill level, and six months later, I had to sell it again
because I simply did not know how to use it because I didn't
have the skill set. And also, I got demotivated because the photos were
just all over the place. They were blurry, and they
were just looking horrible. So I traded it in for
a cheaper camera, and that was the one I
mentioned, the cannon 800 D. And I used it exclusively
for three years to do sree photography and
learn everything about it. And I only had one lens for it. It was a very cheap
pancake lens, a 24 millimeter that is roughly a 35 millimeter
on a full frame sensor. And once I was ready to
move on and upgrade, I knew that because
I've outgrown that camera and I needed
more advanced features and functionality so
I could get more technically into how to handle
my camera and settings. So I opted out and bought a much more advanced camera
that I had ever since.
5. Chapter2-3: Lenses and Classic focal lengths: Let's talk about step three to consider when it comes
to camera and lenses. Let's talk about
lenses. Lenses make a huge difference in how your photographs
will eventually look. The quality of the glass, the term is referring to
the glass inside of a lens. It's often just in
casually set glass. So the better quality
glass you have in a lens will have the effect
on overall sharpness, contrast, and image rendering. That's why a lot of people focus so much energy on buying a lens, a good piece of glass because it will last them a long time, and also it will render
really beautiful photographs. That's why also a lot of people say focus more on lenses instead of camera bodies
because camera bodies you can change every three, four, five years
and update them, but your lens collection,
it will remain with you. Let's now cover the two types of lenses and also focal lengths
for street photography. So you are able to make
informed decisions when you go out and
buy your first lens. When it comes to lenses,
there are two categories. So there are prime lenses
and there are zoom lenses, and you probably heard
about those terms before. So let's break it
down real quick. So prime lenses are often
fixed focal lengths, like the 28 or 35
or 50 and so forth. And they are typically
lightweight and sharp, and they often have
a white aperture. So we talked about the F stops
earlier so the low number, so F 1.4, F 1.8, and so forth. And on the other hand,
you have zoom lenses, and they can be
very flexible and they often have a little
bit more bulk to them, so they're not so lightweight as their prime counterparts, but they can be zoom lenses from 18 millimeter to 55 millimeter. So you can go all the
way from a wide angle shot with the 18
millimeter up to the 55, which is a bit tighter shot. So you get different
focal lengths in one package, so to say. And also, it's not
important to know everything about focal length
right now in this course. Let's talk about how to choose a focal length to do
see photography with. You probably heard Se
photographer mention that they have one specific focal length
that they love. I do, too. And this is, of course,
a personal preference and often based on
years of experience. But there are a few
ways for you as a beginner street
photographers to start to understand how
to choose a focal length. So first of all, you
want to go out and experiment with
different focal length as much as you can. So if you have access to
different focal lengths, I would just go out
and experiment until you completely understand
the different traits, the characteristics,
the limitations of that specific focal length. And once you have that, you
will also start to understand what kind of photograph you can make with that
specific focal length. So in terms of composition. And the more you get into it, the more you also
start to understand what you like and
what you don't like. And from that point
on, you will have a better understanding
of what kind of focal length suits
your needs and maybe also the way you
see and create your art. Let's talk about some of
the classic focal lengths and their pros and cons. So the 28 millimeter
is great for capturing those wide scenes
with more elements in it, and you can also have a lot
of the scene and focus. But these scenes
can also become too crowded because of all the
elements you can have in it. And it's actually quite wide, and it's not easy to use if you're not an experienced
street photographer. The 35 millimeter makes a
well balanced photograph. It's very beginner
friendly and versatile to use and has a
perfect balance of wide and also being
able to close in and is highly recommended for beginner street
photographers. The 50 millimeter offers
a tighter frame for isolating subjects or objects
so you can fill the frame, so focus on the
storytelling aspect. It's also good for
subject isolation and portrait photography, and also you can use it for editorial
photography as well. But it's not always ideal
for street photography because it's
actually quite tight as a focal length to use. So at this point, you're
probably thinking, What lens should I buy? So, essentially, you
have two options. So if you already decided you
want to buy a new camera, I would recommend to
buy a kit lens with it. So often cameras, if you're
buying a entry label camera, there will be an option
of buying a kit lens. I would opt out for that
because you will only spend a couple of more hundred dollars and you will get a complete set. So you'll get a camera
and you'll get a lens, and it will be a Zoom lens, and it'll probably be the 18 to 55 that we
also talked about. But that's a great beginners package because what it
does for you is that it will allow you
to go out and do street photography right
after you bought the camera. And the second
option is that you decided you want to
buy a prime lens. So I would recommend that you buy and start out
with a 35 millimeter, because the 35 millimeter for most camera brands,
they're often affordable. They're very beginner friendly, and they're versatile for different types of street
photography styles.
6. Chapter2-4: Other Street photography essentials: Step four is essentials
you need to consider also. First of all, maybe
consider buying a camera bag and a camera
strap or a handcuff. These are not
strictly necessary, especially when you're
just a beginner and starting out on your street
photography journey. But I would say, if
you have an idea already that you want to invest in your
street photography, these are the next items
you need to consider after you figure out that
street photography is something you want to do. And also, you want to consider buying extra batteries
and memory card. So memory card is, of
course, essential. You need to buy that unless your camera already has
an internal storage, but extra batteries is
not strictly necessary. It might be something
that is great to have the more serious you
get with street photography. And last but not least, get comfortable shoes because
you will be walking a lot.
7. Chapter3-1: Camera Settings for different situations: Chapter three, understanding
camera settings. Understanding camera setting doesn't have to be complicated. You just need to
understand and focus on a few things to get
consistent results without slowing yourself down. We covered the
exposure triangle, so the three variables that makes a well
balanced photograph. So ISO, shutter
speed, and aperture. So let's do a quick recap on what that means
for the settings. ISO was light sensitivity, so how sensitive is a
camera sensor to light? For lower ISO 100-200, that's best for
bright conditions. So a bright sunny day that will also give you
a clean image, so less noise and grain. On the other hand, you
have high ISO that can be anything from 800
plus, so 800, 1,600, 3,200 and above, and it helps
in low light situations, but it will also introduce grain and noise to the
overall photograph. Shutter speed controls how long the sensor is exposed to light. So for fast shutter speeds
between 1/500 of a second, 1/2001 over 4,000 of a second, it freezes movement, so it's great for action
and action shots. Slow shutter speed is 1/30 of
a second, 1/10, and below, and it's great for motion blur, and is really good for
creative photography. Aperture is how much light goes into the
opening of the lens. So think of shallow depth
of field and deep deptofel. So shallow is where you have that blurry background you can recognize from
portrait photography, and deep is where you have
more of the scene and focus. So think of landscape
photography. So if you talk about
white apertures, remember, we talked about
the smaller F numbers, so F 1.4 F 1.8, and you can go up to F 2.8. It gives you that
blurred background because it lets more light in. And narrow apertures are
the larger F numbers. So F eight, F 11, F 16, and you have more
of the scene and focus. So as I mentioned before, landscape photography where you want to have more of
the scene and focus. And at this point, you don't need to
memorize everything I just told you because some of it your camera
can help you with, and that we will
cover in step two.
8. Chapter3-2: Know you Camera Modes: Before we start talking about
the different camera modes, it's important to
note that different camera brands name
them differently, but essentially they
do the same thing. I'll try to keep it more
on a general level. Let's get started with step two. The different camera modes
are important for you, the photographer to know
because they can help and assist you in different ways
and in different situations. There are four main
modes from fully automatic to semi automatic
and fully manual. Let's break them down. Let's
start with automatic mode. In this mode, the camera makes all the decisions
for you and it's really good if you are
a complete beginner and never had a camera
in your hands before, but it offers little control. So generally, I
would avoid using this mode if you want
to learn and progress. There are other modes
that might suit you better in terms of
learning and progressing. Again, coming back to if you
are a complete beginner, I would say it's
fine to use it for a week or two just to
get handle on things, so how the camera is
making a photograph. But other than
that, I would say, let's move on to some
of the other modes. Up next is aperture priority, and this mode is very popular
among street photographers. And as the name says, you
prioritize the aperture. So you set the aperture
and the camera adjust for shutter speed for
proper exposure or ISO, and it's good for
street photography because it lets you
control the depth or feel. That means that if you want
to have a blurry background, so you'll set your aperture to F 2.8 to get that
shallow deptofel, the camera will prioritize
your setting and make the two other variables
like ISO and shutterspeed, to make a properly
exposed photo. This goes also the other
way for deep deptofel. Let's say you set the
aperture to F eight or F 11, and the camera will keep that
as a priority so you have a properly exposed photo by adjusting the
two other variable. Next is shutter priority. So essentially, it's the
same as aperture priority. So the priority here
is shutter speed. So let's say you want to capture a fast moving object
like a racing car, then your settings
will be 1/2000 of a second because it's measured
in fractions of seconds. And then the camera
will make sure that you can capture that
fast moving object by adjusting the
two other variables like ISO and aperture. And then we have manual mode. So with manual mode, you have full control of the
camera settings, so aperture ISO
and shutter speed. So as a photographer,
you will be making all the decisions
on how to make a photograph and have the
full creative control. And that's a good thing, right? So as a beginner
street photographer, this might sound daunting or intimidating to use manual mode, especially when you're just
starting out on your journey. But the point here
is that you have a basic understanding of
how manual mode works. So it's based on the
exposure triangle that we talked about
throughout this course. So you have the aperture ISO and shutter speed because it's important to know if you
change one variable, it will impact the
two other variables. Once you have that
basic understanding, you will start to build
your solid foundation. Let's do a quick recap
on the camera mode. So if you're a
complete beginner, I recommend starting out
with automatic mode. Stay here for a couple of weeks just to get a feeling
of the camera, get a handle on the camera and start to go out on the streets. And then when you're
ready, you can use aperture priority
or shutter priorty because these modes
are designed to help you and assist
you as a photographer, so you don't need to think about all the settings
all the time, so you can make a photograph based on whatever
you're looking for. And the next is manual mode. So as I mentioned before, it's very important
that you understand the basics of manual mode. That's not the same of using
manual mode as a beginner. So understand the
basics of manual mode, which is, again, the
exposure triangle.
9. Chapter3 3: What is ISO and how to set ISO: Let's talk about manual
ISO versus Auto ISO. Auto ISO is where the
camera automatically picks the ISO based on
your light conditions, and it's a really great feature. But I would just keep an eye
on the settings from time to time because the camera does
not always get it right. Manual ISO is where you
set the ISO yourself, but requires a little bit of knowledge and skill
to do that properly. It's really great if you are
in a control environment, so it can be a studio
or if you're indoors. But manual ISO is
an advanced feature and another variable you
don't need to worry about, especially if you're
just starting out with your suit
photography journey. So let the camera do
the work for you. But there is a middle ground
when it comes to ISO. It's called a ISO range, and most modern cameras
offers this feature. So for example, you
can set a minimum ISO. Let's say you want to go out. It's overcast and you
set the ISO to 500, and the max limit you set
is 3,200 or 6,400, again, based on the light conditions, and the camera will stay
within this ISO range. I personally use this IORnge
a lot when I go out and do street photography because I know if it's overcast
or if it's very sunny, then I will probably
set the ISO 200, and then I will set
it maximum to 1,600. Then I know it won't overexpose
or underexpose too much. Here are a few examples
on IO settings. So in daylight, a
range 100-3200 ISO will give you good exposure
without too much noise. But just keep in mind,
it really depends on which lens you're using and what kind of light
conditions you have. And the same goes with
nytree photography. So if you're out there,
I would set a range from 500 or maybe 800
ISO up to 12,400, but because it depends again on the type of
lens you're using. So if you're using
a fast prime lens that can go down to 1.4, then you might not need
to go up to 12,400. But again, it's a range. So the camera will
determine within that range what is necessary to properly expose a photograph. Step four is manual focus, zone focus, and auto focus. So for this crash course, we will only be
focusing on auto focus. So most cameras have
out of focus features, so I would use and turn that
on because as a beginner, you don't need to
focus manually or even use zone focus because
that's an advanced feature. And autofocus is fast and
reliable for most situations, and the auto focus in most
cameras nowadays are really, really fast in
recognizing humans and animals and other
objects and subjects. But use single point of auto focus for more control where you want the
camera to focus. So there are often
different camera focus modes and play around with the settings and
determine what you like. So you can have also tracking
so you can subject track. It's all about finding out what you like and what you're
most comfortable with. Here's a checklist
for camera settings. So start out by using
aperture priority because it keeps things simple,
especially as a beginner. Use auto ISO or use a ISO range, so set a minimum and a maximum. That can, for example,
be 100 ISO to 3,200 ISO. But again, it depends on
your light conditions. Use autofocus and use the single point of auto for
better control of the focus. But again, play around with the different modes and see what suits use smaller
apertures like F eight, F 16, F 20 in daylight to have more
of the scene and focus. Use white apertures
like 1.4, 1.8, up to F 2.8 for those blurry backgrounds
and shallow depth of field. And it's also really good to
use in low light situations.
10. Chapter3-4: Understand Street photography Settings: Let's talk about
some of the street photography settings for
different scenarios. So if you're photographing
still objects like buildings, you can easily set
your shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 over a second. And you can use Auto ISO or
you can also use a ISO range. So it depends on the
light conditions, but it can be anything from
100 IO to 3,200 or 6,400 ISO. And if you are
shooting at nighttime, I will probably go a
little bit further up, depending on, again, how
bright the conditions are. And you can set the
aperture around F four to f56 or
F eight or above, depending on how much of the
scene you want in focus. But if you're shooting buildings or other objects that are still, I probably want more
of that in focus. So I would start around
F 5.6 and above. Also, this is a good aperture
range for sharpness, especially if you want more
of the scene in focus. And if you want more
of the scene blurry, then you just go below F four. And if you're photographing
people moving at normal pace, I would set the shutter
speed around 1/200 and 50th and above an
auto ISO and again, a range of your choice. And again, if it's night, then you might want to
increase that ISO as well. And if you're
photographing action so fast moving objects, you want to set your
shutter speed to minimum 1/500 of a second. Even maybe just starting
point should be 1/1000. But again, it
depends on what kind of fast moving if
you're looking for. So if you're
photographing somebody who is biking really fast, then 1/1000 might be enough. If it's a car, then it
might be even higher. Be 1/2000 or 1/4000. Again, depending on the
speed of the movement, you'd choose a different
shutter speeds. I want to share my street
photography setting. So I use the Fuji X hundred V, and my camera is set
to aperture priority. So the settings are
for my aperture, it's F eight because I want
more of the scene and focus. Shutter speed is minimum
of 1/200 and 50th, and I rarely go over 1/500 of a second
because I really need it. And my ISO is arranged. So the maximum here is
1,600 ISO, 3,200 ISO. And sometimes, if I'm really in a pinch and it's
really overcast, I set it to 6,400
because it's a range and the camera will decide which is best for which
light condition.
11. Chapter4: Your first Photowalk: Chapter four, your
first time heading out. Now that you have a
basic understanding on how to choose a
camera and lens and have an idea on how to dial in those tricky camera settings
for different situations, it's now time for the
exciting part to head out on your first street
photography photo Walk. What is a photo walk? So if you haven't heard about the term,
let me quickly explain. Photo walk is simply
a stroll through a chosen location with
your camera in hand, exploring and looking for interesting subjects or
objects to photograph. So going on a photo walk
is all about exploring the environment and start
developing your creative eye. So start noticing the
small details and also continuously practice and honing the skills
you've learned so far. A photo walk doesn't have
to be formal or structured. It's all about
getting comfortable with your camera and start building confidence by getting out on the street as
much as possible. And now I can imagine
you all fired up, you're ready to pick
up your camera, wear those comfortable shoes, and head out on
your first photo. But before you do that, there are a few things
you need to consider. So let's talk about
them. You might consider choosing a known location for your
first photo walk, so try to keep it simple. When I say choose
a known location, that can be a local
neighborhood or it can be a favorite local area
that you know well. And it's also good to start out somewhere
familiar because you don't need the extra distraction that comes with choosing
a new location. So try to stay focused and
just build from there. You've been going on
regular photo walks in your local neighborhood
are your favorite area, and you're feeling more
and more confident, and you're ready to move
on to a new location. And that can be a busy street, a marketplace, or a plaza. And the good thing about
these places are they're filled with people and they
have plenty of details. And these details and moments can make for
great street photography. And also, they won't overwhelm you and you can easily blend in. Next, what I want
you to consider is to set a small challenge. So if you feel like it,
you can give yourself a small creative challenge to focus on when you go
out on your photo walk. That could be something
like photographing interesting light
and shadow scenes or maybe capture the way light hits different surfaces or maybe
capture people in motion. And it can be anything
you like to focus on. So the idea or the exercise
here is to allow you to focus and also keep things interesting when you go
out on your photo walk. Keep you practicing and
honing your skills with street photography by
going out every week. Next is, don't let fear stop
you before you get started. This actually happens more
than you might think. So in the previous
chapters, we talked about fear and anxiety and how that can stop you are spine street photographers
dead in their tracks. And while it's natural to feel nervous about
street photography, especially because
you haven't developed that skill set yet, remember, you're not intruding, you're just observing what
you're drawn to. If you want to
photograph people or strangers out on the streets, but you feel nervous about it, I would say pick
as easier subject. So it can be somebody you know, so it can be a family member or a friend that you can
photograph to start with. Because this way,
you will shake off any nervousness and you get familiar with the
process along the way. Or you can photograph
backs of people, you can photograph
silhouettes or even scenes without people just to get you started if you're
especially nervous. And the second option
is that you can use a Zoom lens to put some distance between
you and your subject. And this can help you ease into the process with less
pressure and fear. Next is don't overthink. And I know this is
easier said than done. I'm an overthinker myself, and I can really be
caught up in thinking about the perfect composition,
the perfect settings. But the key here
is to shoot first, review later, or should I
say, think later about it. And the more you shoot,
the more you will grow. And you'll also over time, develop an eye and understand what works and
what doesn't work. Remember we talked about
setting the bar way high, especially as a new
street photographer, and for the first
few photo walks, this is exactly
what will happen, and your photographs won't
turn out as expected. And the more you try, the more you will
get better at it, but they won't for a long time. And it's part of the
process of learning. So the more you go out on photo walks, the more
comfortable you get, the more practice you
will get in and also you start seeing the details
you didn't see before. Slowly, but surely you will start to make
better photographs. Street photography is all about experimenting and finding
your unique perspective. So don't stress about
getting the perfect photo in the first try that you go out and do a
photo work because they won't you just got to
learn to accept that and also accept the fact that you will probably make bad
photographs for a long time.
12. Chapter5: Quick guide on Light & Composition: Chapter five, basic
composition and light. Now you're all ready to go
out on your first photo walk. But before you do
that, we have to talk about light
and composition, the two most important elements
in street photography. While this topic is
broad and complex, I will walk you through three simple
compositional techniques that are easy to follow and
also a quick guide to light. A quick note to these three simple techniques that
I'm going to talk about. So they're not essential and your photographs
doesn't have to be composed this way if
you don't want to, but it's good to have
that knowledge for a reference and use later on. Our first is rule of thirds. So you probably heard about
this technique before. So rule of thirds is a good way to create a well
balanced photograph. So imagine you have a frame that is equally divided
into three parts, so both horizontally
and vertically. And now imagine you can put your main subjects on these lines or at
their intersections. So this doesn't
have to be perfect. Just use them as guidelines to create a visually
appealing photograph. Then we have leading lines. So as the name suggests, leading lines are
leading the viewers eyes through the photograph to
a specific focus area. And also, these line
can help create depth and lead the
viewer to the subject. And think of streets,
crosswalks, sidewalks, or even building that they have a lot of leading lines
in different ways. And a pro tip is to look for natural lines
in the environment, so things like road, railings or light
posts that can direct the attention of your subject to a specific point
in your photograph. The third compositional
technique is called juxtaposition, so it's a way to create
contrast in your photographs. So this can be achieved
through contrasting color, size, or even meaning. So, for example, a
person standing in bright colors against
a dark background, or it can also be a small figure standing next to
a large building. So you have these contrasts. So a pro tip here is to look for moments
where opposites meet, whether it's through contrasting color, shapes or messages. So these contrasts can make
really powerful photographs, also create a really
powerful visual interest and make your
photographs stand out. Let's move on to talk
about a quick guide on light and what
you need to know. So light plays a crucial role in street photography because it can help influence the mood, the composition, and the
overall impact of a photograph. So it can also help
shape a scene, adept and create that
special atmosphere and mood. And also, good light can really enhance a
photograph while challenging light can lead to creative and some
unexpected results. So it's important that you understand as a
street photographer how important lighting is and what kind of light
condition you're working under. And this will be key to
making most in any situation. Next is silhouettes and shadow, so a very popular techniques
among street photographers, and I'm a longtime fan myself. So strong light can create strong silhouettes and
shadows that can make those really powerful
photographs that are both visually striking
and contrasting. If you want to chase those
shadows and silhouettes, so you can go out in
early mornings or late afternoons when the sun is lower and produces
those longer shadows. And while midday creates
those really hot shadows, so you might want to avoid that unless you're going
for a specific look. So a tip here is to
pay attention to how the light falls on your subjects and how shadows are formed. So these elements
can add drama or more atmosphere and focus
to your photographs. Up next is reflections. So reflections can
be found in puddles, in windows, and even in
the surfaces of cars. So reflections are an
interesting element you can use to add that extra layer of interest to your photographs, making them more dynamic
and visually appealing. Nice street photography, my favorite kind of
street photography. So I can't tell you
how many hours I spent out on the streets
at night over the years. And contrary to popular belief, there is a lot of
light at nighttime. So at night, there are
lights from street lights, neon lights, and other
artificial sources. So coming from shop fronts
or bars and restaurants. And that can really
provide a unique glow and dimension to
your photographs. And also, these lights create
those interesting colors, contrasts, and moves that you can play with in
your photographs. A tip here is to use those
artificial light sources like neon lights or street
lights to highlight people or objects in a way
daytime can't so go out and embrace
that moody atmosphere to make some great photographs.
13. Chapter6: Your first week of Street photography : Chapter six, your first
week of street photography. The first week of
street photography is all about exploring, experimenting, and being
comfortable with your camera. And this is your first step in building a solid
foundational habit, but don't worry,
you don't need to master everything in week one. Please note that
all I mentioned in this section is outlined
in a document that you can download so
we can help guide you in the first week
of street photography. Day one, two, and three
will focus on composition. So start slowly and pick one simple compositional
technique can be one of the three that I mentioned in an earlier chapter. So juxtaposition, leading
lines or rule of thirds. For day one and two,
you can, for example, start practicing leading lines. So look for strees, pads, and building to help guide the viewer's eye to a certain point in the
photograph that will draw attention and
also look around for natural lines in the environment to draw attention
to the subject. For Day three, focus on framing. So use the elements
around you like doorways and windows to create that extra frame within
your photograph. Spend these first few
days just walking around and practicing these
different compositions. Don't rush, explore
and practice. Day four and five, so it's
time to explore light. So as I mentioned in
my previous chapter, light is one of the most
fundamental elements in street photography because light can transform your photos. So take a couple of days to experiment with light in
different situations, so it can be morning light, afternoon light, or
even nighttime light. For day four and
five, you can start to add more elements
to your photograph. So you can start
playing with shadows. So if you go out during
midday or afternoon, you will find those very
strong and sharp shadows. And if you go out
late afternoon, you will find those longer
and more softer shadows. And that is because the sun
is much lower on the sky. So that will create that
softer and longer shadows. And on day five, you can
focus on reflection. So as I mentioned,
search for puddles, windows or shiny surfaces, again, to create that
unique looking photograph. Moving on to day six and seven, so as you're getting
more comfortable with going out and
handling your camera, you can start thinking about how to add movement to
your photograph. So you can try out slower
shutter speed to capture motion blur and also experiment with car, people, or cyclists. And on day seven, you can also experiment with
freezing motion. So practice capturing
people walking or other type of fast action that you
want to freeze in motion. Here are a few
general tips for you for your first week of
street photography. So first and foremost,
keep things simple. And this is actually
the mantra of this whole mini course,
to keep things simple. So focus on a single
technique rather than trying out everything within the first week or within the first day. So I know I gave you a
lot of different tips and techniques on how to progress
within the first week. But the idea here is that you progress when you
feel ready for it. Now you have a list of
what you can work on. So if you feel like
you want to spend seven days practicing
leading lines, you do that. The idea here is not to
pace through everything. The idea here is that
you have a guideline, so you can always go back and
look at the plan and say, Okay, I'm ready for the
next step, then go ahead. So the next tip is go out often. So even if it's for
ten, 15, 30 minutes, just try to prioritize going out every day because it
helps build a habit, especially if you're
new to something and especially if you're
trying to build a habit, it's very, very important that you go out and flex that muscle. Last but not least,
review your work. So after each day, look at your photos and reflect on
what worked and what didn't. And this helped
you without really putting a lot of
pressure on yourself. So when I was starting out, I actually kept a journal. So I had a small diary. So every time I went
out on my photo walks, I came home and I noted
down how it went, what my thoughts were,
how I was feeling. And actually, to this
day, I still do it, not every time, but especially if I give myself a challenge, I track my progress
because keeping a journal or just keeping a few notes on you see
photography progress, it's really good to go back
and reflect on what you were dealing with and how you were actually
progressing over time.
14. Chapter7: Importance of building a Street photography habit: Chapter seven, building a
street photography habit, the rinse and repeat method. The key to improving
his street photography is building a consistent habit. So just like with anything, the more you practice,
the better you'll get. For the past nine years, I've used the RNs and repeat method. It's simple but effective. But what is the rinse
and repeat method? It's a method I
created for myself, and essentially it's a set of principles I follow when
doing street photography, or maybe I should say, I don't want to do street photography. And following these
principles have kept me motivated to do
street photography for the past nine years. Why? Because I mastery
photography a priority, just like any other
commitment I have, and also it's not
just a hobby for me. It's a mindset and have
become a way of life. Here's how you can make street photography
a consistent habit. Our first is commit to it. So everybody these days
are leading busy lives, and it can be difficult to
set a time for a hobby. That also seems
like it's very time consuming, but it
doesn't have to be. So start by making
street photography a priority and
then commit to it. And you probably know that
forming a new habit takes 60 days and it's a little bit
of work in the beginning. I will give you a set
of tools that I use myself to help build
that consistent habit. Next is, make it part
of your lifestyle. So for most of us
street photographers, street photography
isn't just about taking a photograph or even
making a photograph. It's a mindset.
It's a way of life, as I also mentioned before, and it's the way we see
the world around us. And yes, I know it sounds a
little bit philosophical. But for me, personally,
after doing street photography for so long, it's actually part
of my lifestyle. Why? Because I can't
imagine not doing street photography and
not making photographs. Let's talk about some of
the practical tools you can use to make street photography
a consistent habit. First is consistency is key. So I would start by figuring
out how many times a week I can go out on Photo Walk and the reason why we will
come back to later, but plan it, organize it, and put it in your calendar. So what I used to do is that I just put it
in my calendar, so I decided I wanted to go, especially in the beginning
two times a week. I slot it in just like any other important
employment I might have. And remember, we
talked about treating street photography
as a priority. So remember, make sure
it happens, no excuses. Next is consistency
over quantity. So now everything is planned and organized in your calendar. You have a photo walk scheduled
one to two times a week. So now focus on the
habit and not the number of photographs because most
new street photographers, they zone in on the
number of photographs. So how many
photographs do I make on one single photo walk
and what is a good number? But the exercise here is to keep showing up because we
made a commitment, right? We made street
photography a priority, and we can only honor that by keep showing up week after week. Even if it's just for 15
minutes, you show up. Next is keep it manageable. So you have your photo walks, and a lot of people don't know how long a photo walk should be. And I would say it's completely dependent
on whatever you like. So it can, as I mentioned,
could be 15 minutes. It can be an hour,
it can be 2 hours. I would though
recommend not to go more than 2 hours,
especially in the beginning. And sometimes for myself when I was learning
street photography, I would go out for 1 hour
sometimes I couldn't find the time because I
have other commitments during the weekends because
I had a full time job. I had to prioritize that. So I prioritize street photography
during the weekends. So what I did was that
I planned my route. So I say, Okay, I have to go, I have an appointment here. So maybe if I go an
hour before I can maybe put in a little bit of
street photography time. So I did that. So I would get half an hour here, I will get an hour here. So the idea here was
to stay consistent, right? I kept showing up. So it doesn't matter if
it's like 1 hour, 2 hours, but I think between
1 hour and two hour should be more than
enough as a beginner. Next is repetition is key. So sentiy street
photography is all about putting in the reps and
becoming better over time. So there are two things I
want to talk about that are really important as a
new street photographer. So first of all, is to
develop your creative eye. And if you haven't
heard about the term, it just means that you
start paying attention to the small details you
haven't done before. So the more you go out
on your photo walks, the more you'll start paying attention to the small details, to the quiet moments. It can be the
interaction between subjects or it can
be how light falls, and you'll start noticing
this more and more, the more you second thing is, you will also be able
to train your mind. And what I mean by that
is that with time, you will be able to
instinctively react to a situation or
whatever you're drawn to. You will also start
to anticipate moments before they
actually unfold. So a couple of years ago, I gave myself a challenge, and I went on daily photo walks for a
longer period of time. And what I learned during that period was
that I started to anticipate moments before the
moment actually unfolded. So I could position
myself because I could see something
happening out on the street. And I positioned myself, and I readied my camera, and I walked away with some
pretty great photographs. Next is to review and learn. So after you've been
on your photo wok, take the time to reflect
on your photography. So this is such a powerful tool. So ask yourself,
what worked well? Think about composition, timing, or even light. What
didn't work well? So was the shot blurry? Was the composition off? And if you want to
track progress, you can also keep a notebook. This is very effective, and
this is something I did myself and I gave myself
these small challenges, and I can see how
and what I thought. Next is to learn from it. So now you have all these
annoyances or failures, but see them as
learning opportunities. Next time you go out,
try to focus on some of the gaps you saw by
tracking your progress, and then try again
and maybe only just focus on one
specific thing at a time.
15. Chapter8: Keep challenging yourself: Chapter eight,
challenge yourself and push yourself further. Now that you have a good understanding of
why it's important to build a street photography habit as a new street photographer, the key to keep learning
and progressing on that very steep
learning curve is to keep pushing yourself
ever so slightly. So an effective
way to do this is with small challenges
and assignments. I want to give you an
example of how I keep myself motivated and interested in street photography
year after year. So recently, I gave
myself a small challenge, so it was a 30 day challenge, and some of the ground
rules were that I was only allowed to use one camera
with one focal length. And I can reveal that
focal length was a 35 millimeter and that is
not my favorite focal length. So for 30 days, I only
use one camera, one lens, very simple setup, and
I actually also went to the same neighborhood over
and over for 30 days. The key learnings was
that I completely shifted how I view
street photography. So from going into the
challenge and coming out of it, my mind had shifted so
much because I realized how creative I could be using
one lens and one camera. And for me, I have
a lot of lenses. I have different
cameras, and for me, it's just like a
creative playground. You can use different lenses and depending on what
you want to shoot. But using that simple set up, I actually got so much value out of it because I started to think about composition in a different way because
I had to be creative. So if I was in a pinch, I couldn't shoot a photograph
using a 35 millimeter. I had to be creative and do some creative workarounds
to make that photograph. So it became like a challenge for me to try to figure out, how can I do this, even though it seems difficult
on the surface. I got a lot of value
out of those 30 days. Here are a few practical free photography challenges
you can focus on. So remember just to choose one. It could be candid
photography or black and white photography,
can be portraits. It can also be themes. So you can do color focus shots, bright colors like
red or orange. It can be gestures,
heats or hands. So basically the sky
is the limit here. And just remember to give
yourself a time frame, so it can be like
seven day challenge, 14 day, 30 days, or 90 days, whatever you like, and whatever suits your needs. It's just important
that you stick to the ground rules that you set up going into the challenge. So this is an example of how you can set a ground rule
for a challenge. So let's assume you want to do black and white
street photography. So the first thing you can
do is that you can decide that you want to shoot
five to ten strong photos. So here you prioritize
quality over quantity. So every time you go out, so let's assume it's a
seven day challenge. So every day you go out, you try to make five
to ten strong photos. So again, focus on
quality and not quantity. And then what you can
do is try to get the most out of it by pushing
yourself a little bit, and then try to step out of your comfort zone and maybe also try with different angles, lighting and composition to try to keep it more interesting
and fresh each day. Then once you're done
with the challenge, go back and review and reflect, and it doesn't have to
be end of the challenge. You can do it during
the challenge as well. So what did you learn
about your chosen style? What went well? What didn't what would you do
differently next time? These are really good things
you can review and reflect on before you maybe initiate another
challenge for yourself.
16. Chapter9: Course Recap: Chapter nine, keep
it fun and fresh. Throughout this mini course,
we've covered the essential to get you started a street
photography with confidence. So stree photography is all about progression by repetition. And hopefully, this mini
course has given you a solid foundation to
build further upon. So before we wrap up, I
would like to go over the key lessons we learned
throughout this mini course. We started this mini
course by talking about how to build confidence
and overcome hesitation. So you build confidence
by taking action, so going out there on the
streets and making photographs. We also talked about
practical ways to push past fear by shooting easy
subjects and also give yourself small
challenges to keep you motivated and by focusing on curiosity instead
of setting the bar so high that you cannot live
up to the expectations. Then we talked about the
different camera choices and how to choose street
photography settings. So you don't need the
latest greatest camera with the most advanced
features or functionality. It's a good idea to have a basic understanding of Poser triangle. So we talked about
the relationship between the variables IO, aperture and shutter speed, how that together makes a
well balanced photograph. Then we walk through
the first time heading out on a photo walk and the four important things to consider before getting
out on the streets. We talked about building a
street photography habit. So street photography isn't about waiting for inspiration. It's all about showing up and keeping the commitment
that you made to yourself. So putting in the
hours, these small, consistent efforts will add up and help improve
your skills over time. In the last chapter,
we covered how to gently push yourself outside
of your comfort zone by giving yourself a few
challenges from time to time and also to keep progressing up that
steep learning curve. The exercises we covered in this mini course weren't
just for practice. They were actually
designed to help build you a solid foundation and also
help build confidence. So remember, street photography isn't just about perfection. It's about practice,
progression, and also enjoying the process. When talking about
enjoying the process, just remember on some days street photography will
seem effortless and easy. Other days, it might
be a struggle. So you're struggling with
your camera setting, you're struggling with
your composition, and that's all normal and is
part of the learning curve. So every new street photographer
has to go through this. But those small
wins along the way, those moments where
everything clicks, that makes all the difference. So grab your camera
and hit the streets. Your best photographs
are still ahead of you.
17. Chapter10: Companion Materials: To help you keep momentum
after this mini course, I have a lot of companion
videos on my YouTube channel, where I cover various
dreephotography topics and additional tips. So check out my website
or my YouTube channel. I also offer one to one
coaching and mentoring program, and you can find more
details on my website.
Ambreen CPH, street photographer
