For today's photo, I wanted to work a bit with my 100mm lens. For the type street photography I typically shoot, which includes a large amount of the background setting, that lens is not an optimal choice. I also wanted to produce a black and white scene for today, and the older buildings in Downcity Providence are great subjects, so again, the 100mm was not an optimal choice. It's too long a lens for that type of photo, which is precisely why I wanted to work with it today. I knew having that lens equipped would force me to see potential subjects in an entirely different way. As it turns out, I took a number of different street photos in this lunch-time session, and the results are most pleasing. They are clearly different from what I'd have photographed with either the 50mm or the 24-70mm attached, and that was the whole point of the exercise.
The photo I decided to present as the "photo a day" selection is of this juggler. He was in the Roger Williams National Memorial and a friend of his was setting up a tripod and camera to do his own photography. While the friend was getting ready, I asked if he'd mind my getting a photo as well, and he started to juggle for me. The 100mm gave me the opportunity to capture a nice tight image of his concentration while performing. With more time to setup, I'd have gone with a much wider aperture so as to blur out more of the background, but for street photography I'm typically set at a standard f/8, and that's what I used here. Lesson learned. I intentionally had the ISO set to 640, wanting to capture a bit more grain than normal, and that aspect worked very well.
Post processing started with a neutral greyscale filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, boost white, and protect highlights. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
@tryingforsighs I'll have to check out your blog. Is it linked in your profile? Regarding street photography, though, the easiest way to start is to pick locations and events where people expect to be photographed: fairs, parades, protests, races, etc. Anything that's for a cause is fantastic since everyone there is literally begging to be photographed. Like anything else, the more you do it, the more comfortable you become, and it's easy to branch out to everyday street scenes.
@kannafoot Great tips. i will have to try it. I keep meaning to have cards printed so that at least I can thrust those forward by way of explanation. I would like to take photos of people with really funky style, as I have a lifestyle blog. Yes, I have links on my profile. Thanks again. Have a great day :-)
@bluesteel44 Candid hunting is very addictive! It always amazes me how much is going on around our hometowns - stuff that we'd normally completely ignore if we didn't have our cameras with us.
