Series Of Candids
- Thread starter Graelwyn
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davekiddle
Like to feel muppets
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Love the first one!
Hey Graelwyn! I've seen and really liked some of your shots, but these ones don't really do it for me (but one of my favourite types of photography to look at is candid street stuff / photojournalism). On the other hand, I tend to find portraits can be a little dull. And I suppose that's the point with your shots here - they definitely look like outdoor portraits rather than street photography.
Let me explain: the only shots here I feel that I might have liked are 1 and 2 because they are less narrow crops and have something of interest in the frame that goes beyond the individual. So in 1. you have the guy rolling a ciggy (I think?) and his mate looking out of the frame into the distance, 2. you have the bike. But the rest are so tightly cropped they look a bit like police surveillance shots (other than 8 which I quite like - it tells a bit of a story).
And that leads me on to what I think makes good candid/street stuff. Two main things:
1. A story
2. A sense that the tog is really right up close to the story.
To give an example, here's a shot (just Googled "street photography"):
The story? Dude's walking along, turns around to check the guy who walked past him, lady in the back on her phone - is she watching? is the guy next to her watching? why did the main subject turn around? etc
And the photographer has really captured that story from close up. The shot wouldn't work if it'd been taken at 300mm from a hundred metres down the road. Neither would it work if it was just his head.
From all the street / candid stuff I've seen, this is the one thing that rings true throughout.
Anyway, I've gone on much longer than I meant to - but it's my favourite type of photography and I would love to see further attempts of yours because I've really enjoyed some of your earlier work!
Hope that's helpful rather than coming across as negative and arrogant (because I am certainly no expert on taking candid / street shots).
Let me explain: the only shots here I feel that I might have liked are 1 and 2 because they are less narrow crops and have something of interest in the frame that goes beyond the individual. So in 1. you have the guy rolling a ciggy (I think?) and his mate looking out of the frame into the distance, 2. you have the bike. But the rest are so tightly cropped they look a bit like police surveillance shots (other than 8 which I quite like - it tells a bit of a story).
And that leads me on to what I think makes good candid/street stuff. Two main things:
1. A story
2. A sense that the tog is really right up close to the story.
To give an example, here's a shot (just Googled "street photography"):
The story? Dude's walking along, turns around to check the guy who walked past him, lady in the back on her phone - is she watching? is the guy next to her watching? why did the main subject turn around? etc
And the photographer has really captured that story from close up. The shot wouldn't work if it'd been taken at 300mm from a hundred metres down the road. Neither would it work if it was just his head.
From all the street / candid stuff I've seen, this is the one thing that rings true throughout.
Anyway, I've gone on much longer than I meant to - but it's my favourite type of photography and I would love to see further attempts of yours because I've really enjoyed some of your earlier work!
Hope that's helpful rather than coming across as negative and arrogant (because I am certainly no expert on taking candid / street shots).
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400mm on all of these mostly. Was just sat there with my friend and decided to try and grab some shots of the people around me. Would have been impossible to get in closer unnoticed.