Tips

Feb 15 2016

How to Zone Focus :
Street Photography 101

A Comprehensive Guide to Zone Focusing

Capturing life both candidly and in focus is one of the most difficult, yet most important skills to master in Street Photography. Life moves fast, life is unpredictable and life can happen at any moment around you. Other genres and subjects in photography allow you the freedom and time to set up each shot perfectly. Candid life doesn’t. Since it doesn’t get ready for you, you have to be ready for it.

So how can you make it easier on yourself to capture life in focus the moment it happens? By removing the need to focus your camera on the scene before making the photo. And how can you do that? By learning how to zone focus.

In my opinion, learning how to Zone Focus can be one of the most valuable skills you learn in Street Photography. It’s why I use this technique 90% of the time when I’m shooting Street Photography.

I’ve mentioned Zone Focusing in past articles and it usually brings questions from readers. It can sound more confusing than it actually is if you only give a quick overview. So I wanted to make a comprehensive guide covering all things pertaining to Zone Focusing. The how, why and what of Zone Focusing. Hopefully this guide can answer everyone’s questions and more, but if not, you can always ask me below in the comment section.

Feb 08 2016

Behind A Photo Project: Taksim Skies

A Look Behind A Smaller Photo Project

I recently finished a smaller photo project in Istanbul and thought I’d share a more detailed look behind making a photo project like this. The project, titled “Taksim Skies,” wasn’t a large, complex or highly involved project. It wasn’t covering some serious topic or made for deep meaning. It was more of a smaller scale, artistic photo project, while being somewhat experimental and lighthearted. Hopefully describing each aspect of the project can help you see what goes into making a small photo project like this, while also telling you more about the project itself.

Removing Chaos in Taksim Square

While living in Istanbul, Turkey, I stayed just a five minute walk from Taksim Square. If you’ve ever been to Istanbul, you know Taksim Square is at the center of the city, and always full of life. The largest metro station is here, the busiest pedestrian street starts here, Gezi Park is here, and the famous Republic Monument is here. This is also the place for big events, protests and political rallies. So you get a constant chaos of locals, tourists, commuters, street sellers, and political activists. Even on a slow day.

A day didn’t go by where I didn’t have to walk through Taksim Square. I always had my camera with me and spent plenty of time photographing this active spot too. But with people constantly moving in all directions, you get messy, crowded backgrounds where ever you look. So you’re forced to attempt to organize the chaos when shooting Street Photography here. I’m not a fan of messy streets of people walking in every direction because most photos end up looking the same. A person walking in front of other people walking.

So since I had to walk through this square every day, I decided to start a small photo project attempting to capture these people in solitude. I came up with the idea to use the sky as their backdrop and to take a few photos a day, over the summer, and see if anything could come out of it.

Feb 01 2016

Quotes For The Streets: Mark Twain – Eyes See What Your Imagination Allows

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“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

― Mark Twain

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Not many have been as quotable as Mark Twain, but this is one of my favorites when applied to photography.

How Does it Relate to Photography?

Jan 18 2016

Photographing Color Combinations in the Streets

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

Finding Color Combinations in the Street

If color is your medium of choice in photography, then color theory should be one of the first things you learn. One of the most important factors to making great color photography is the use of strong color combinations. Sometimes you’ll look at a color photo that seems simple at first, but you can’t take your eyes off of it. Beautiful colors working together can do this. They balance a scene, add interest, and pull you into the feeling of the photo.

Dec 21 2015

Quotes For The Streets: Oscar Wilde – Mystery Surrounds Us

“The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.”

― Oscar Wilde

This is one of my favorite photography relatable quotes out there. It’s also one of the biggest reasons I love Street Photography.

How Does it Relate to Photography?

Aug 19 2015

Should You Ask Permission when Photographing People?

To Ask, or Not to Ask: That is the Question

One of the most common questions I’m asked is how I take photos of strangers.

Do I ask them? Do I give them money? Do they get mad?

Jul 07 2015

7 Habits of Boring Street Photography

Street Photography is hard to do well. Really hard. Even if you are great, most of your shots will not be.

The internet is filled with boring street photography. The biggest problem is people thinking any photo taken on the street is now Street Photography. There is so much more to Street Photography than that so how do you capture more in your Street Photography?

One way to strive for great Street Photography is by avoiding some of the habits of boring Street Photography.

Here are 7 of the Most Common Habits of Boring Street Photography:

Jun 19 2015

Protected: 7 Ways to Improve Your Street Photography Instantly

Jun 06 2015

How To Know the People You Photograph : Marari Beach Families

Getting to Know the People You Photograph

If you ever want to capture a more personal side of people than candid Street Photography provides, you should get to know the people first. This could be for something as small as street portraits or as big as a project where you spend time documenting their lives and who they are.

How do you get to know people you’ve never met before and have them allow you to photograph them?

May 28 2015

How to Shoot From the Hip
(and Is it good Street Photography?)

What is “Shooting From the Hip?”