Shooter Files by f.d. walker

Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides

How to Shoot a Photo Project with the Same Look : Train Window Portraits

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Creating a Photo Project with the Same Look

Thinking of photography in the context of a series or project can be a great way to improve. It gives you a theme and vision to focus on, and then teaches you how to bring that vision to reality.

Afterwards, when you’re out shooting photography without any project in mind, it still helps you learn to be more effective in capturing your personal vision with each shot.

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A serious project should take years, not days, but you don’t have to let that intimidate you. Working on smaller, easier projects can be valuable too.

[Read more…]

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Trolley Banana”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Budapest, Hungary by Fővám tér. There’s so much going on around this area that it became my favorite spot for Street Photography in Budapest. The variety of scenery and life is great.

One of my favorite parts of the area is the busy trolley stop in between the square and the Great Market Hall. There’s a good mix of people, the light is great, and I like the old yellow and red trolleys. The trolleys come on both sides every minute or two so sometimes I’ll walk around this spot seeing if any interesting shots come along on either side. 

On one trolley side, you have the light shining and on the other, you don’t. So shooting manually, you do have to make sure you have your exposure settings constantly adjusted. For this shot, luckily I had my settings already adjusted for the dark side because it happened in an instant reaction.

I was walking along looking at something ahead of me when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a woman feeding a young boy a banana through the trolley window. It was such a weird moment/scene that I immediately reacted by turning, lifting up my camera and taking the shot before even thinking. 

The fast reaction turned out to be necessary because as soon as I took the shot, the moment was over and the trolley was leaving. The reflection added something to the photo too, but for this shot it was all instincts and reaction before anything else. 

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/4.0
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 800

7 First Impressions of Bratislava, Slovakia
(From a Street Photography Perspective)

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After Belgrade, I decided to work in Budapest for longer than planned. During this time, I also took a quick two hour train ride to spend some time photographing Bratislava, Slovakia. While Bratislava is the largest city in Slovakia, it’s also one of the smallest capital cities in Europe by population. This actually helps give it some of its charm, though.

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The city’s history has been strongly influenced by many nations and religions, which helps pack a lot of character into the smaller capital. There’s still plenty to experience and explore too. And the best part is that it all comes with an authentic and uncrowded city vibe. Exploring the city with your camera is much more relaxing compared to bigger cities, while still giving you plenty to capture.

So here are my first impressions of Bratislava, from my personal Street Photographer perspective…

[Read more…]

15 Top Flickr Pages for Street Photographers

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Belgrade, Serbia 2015

I’ve written some popular posts on 15 of my favorite Photo Collectives for Street Photographers and 15 of my favorite blogs for Street Photographers so I thought I’d share 15 of my favorite Flickr pages for Street Photographers too.

There is an endless amount of amazing flickr pages so this is by no means a definitive list of the 15 best, but it is 15 of my favorite. I’m always looking for new photographers and flickr pages, but I follow all of these and would recommend checking them out if you’re into Street Photography too.

15 Top Flickr Pages for Street Photographers

(in no particular order)

[Read more…]

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Dog Owners in Budapest”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Budapest, Hungary at St. Stephen’s Square by the famous basilica. If you travel to enough cities, you start to notice there are cat cities and there are dog cities. Living in Istanbul, it’s overwhelmingly clear it’s a cat city. They’re everywhere. Budapest, on the other hand, is definitely a dog city.

Budapest is not a stray dog city, though. You’ll see people walking their dogs at all times around the city. Most are the smaller breeds too, with pugs and french bulldogs seeming to be the most popular.

For this shot, I wasn’t out looking for photos, but was walking to a café to do some work on my laptop. I always have a camera with me, though, and saw these two older women on a park bench with their dogs. They had an interesting look, to me, that went along with brown bench and green shrub background. They almost looked from a time in the 1970’s. They were both holding their small dogs in their laps too.

So I pulled out my camera and walked up to take their photo. The little chihuahua on the right was not pleased about it and went a little crazy, but despite the ladies’ expressions, they didn’t mind and let me take another. Unfortunately, there’s a little back focus in this shot, but I still prefered its candid and unposed look to the second shot. Here’s that second shot below, though, with that chihuahua still going crazy.

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Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/4
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 1600

City Street Guides by f.d. walker:
A Street Photography Guide to
Kiev, Ukraine

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*A series of guides on shooting Street Photography in cities around the world. Find the best spots to shoot, things to capture, safety concerns, street tips, and more for cities around the world. I have personally researched, explored and shot Street Photography in every city that I create a guide for. So you can be ready to capture the streets as soon as you step outside with your camera!

Kiev

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How to Highlight Subjects with Natural Light

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*The “Capture Color Series” covers different tips and lessons on Color Street Photography

The Natural Light & Black Shadow Effect

Some people message me asking how to get the effect where subjects are exposed, while the rest of the scene is in black darkness (Like the photo below). Some even ask if it’s photoshopped to get that effect, which it’s not. So I thought I’d make a post to answer those questions and show you how to do yourself.

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Istanbul, Turkey 2015

This is a popular look in Street Photography today because it adds drama and really makes subjects, colors and contrast pop out at you. It magnifies the intensity of color and contrast too. It also helps your eye focus on specific elements, while taking away any unwanted distractions, like a messy background.

So how difficult is it? 

The truth is it’s easy. There’s no Photoshop, flash or complicated tricks needed. It’s all natural light and it’s very simple.

You only need 3 things. The right natural light, the correct camera settings for exposure, and the subjects in the right spot against the light. 

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Kiev, Ukraine 2015

So if you want to know how to go out and practice this effect in your Street Photography, I’ll break it down in 5 easy steps.

[Read more…]

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Floating Hat”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Budapest, Hungary at the Budapest-Nyugati Railway Terminal. This is one of the main train stations in Budapest and lies at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Váci Avenue. So it’s in the heart of the city where there’s always a lot going on in the surrounding area. 

I was staying only a couple blocks from here so I’d walk by it daily and usually stop to photograph around the streets outside of the station, where there’s good light and plenty of people. It’s not the largest station in Budapest, but sometimes I’d also take a quick walk inside to see if anything was going on.

From the distance, I noticed an older woman dressed in a long black wool coat with a pink wool hat. She was walking down the platform and with the sunlight and shadows, you could really only see her hat, almost like it was floating. So I hurried down the platform to get a closer shot. I tried to capture her with the floating hat effect, but also so you could see her long shadow in front. Then she walked into the shadow and onto the train, while I went back outside to capture more of Budapest.

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/8
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 800

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-f.d. walker

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