Street Photography

Mar 09 2016

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

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.

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…

Mar 07 2016

15 Top Flickr Pages for Street Photographers

top-flickr-cover — 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)

Mar 06 2016

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

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.

Stats:

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

Mar 04 2016

The Friday 5
(March 4th, 2016)

5 Photographic Links For Your Weekend

Mar 02 2016

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

*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

Feb 29 2016

How to Highlight Subjects with Natural Light

*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.

sunlight shadow-9 — 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.

sunlight shadow-3-2 — 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.

Feb 28 2016