6 Steps to Sensational Streetscapes
When photographing a city you will undoubtably photograph the skyline or cityscape, a distant image of the cities towering high-rises or bridge net works. But what about the streetscpae?
Its so important to capture the city at street level, its simple to do, but not so simple to make your photographs stand out. Your images need too look different with out loosing the classic things that make a city famous.
New York's 5th Avenue, the Chans a lise in Paris and Shanghai’s Bund all conjure up images that take you to the very heart of the city, to get the same from your images bare these 6 steps in mind,
1.Pick a Point of Interest
Transport, street artists, a statue, a street seller or even a crowd of people, pick a point of interest to base the overall composition of your image on.
2.Light.
City lighting may cause a great deal of problems with harsh shadows, thought needs to go in to your streetscape photography.
As always the best times are first thing in the morning and late afternoon, these are when the sun is at its softest. A great time is also when the sun has just set and the lights are being turned on, this gives a great opportunity to capture both sides of the street, (with out one side being in shadow).
The built in flash on most compact and entry level DSLR cameras wont give sufficient light. The best thing is to use the forced flash off mode, not using a flash will also mean the colours in your photograph are softer. Remember you will need to steady your camera in low light, if you don’t have a tripod then improvise with something steady at the right high, for example a wall.
3.view point
There are two views to use when tackling streetscapes, down low at street level or high above the street, try and get a mixture of both.
At street level you will be able to capture the hight of the surrounding buildings which is key in creating an over all image of the city. If the city is known for is high-rise buildings, for example NYC, then streetsscpaes at street level are a must. Try and photograph a point of interest at the bottom of the building to give perspective.
If a city is know for something like its traffic, for example Deli in India, then its a good idea to get above street level and shoot down. First floor windows, balconies, bridges are great for getting an elevated view. From an elevated view you will also eliminate distractions, for example people, getting in the way of your composition.
4.Lens
The most useful lens for streetscapes will be a telephoto or zoom lens with a medium zoom setting around 100-150mm. These focal lengths will mean you are able to focus on a point of interest and get enough background in to give realistic perspective between the fore ground and distant elements of the street.
If you don’t have a preferred lens then a wide angle lens or zoom lens, anything from 18 - 100mm, can also give you really interesting images. Just plan the composition well so you don’t get too much in one scene. A higher viewpoint will suite a wide angle lens much better.
5.Depth of field
When photographing streetscapes its good to use a mixture of the depth of fields. A large depth of field is more traditional and will give you a classic look to your streetscape but a small depth of field can really bring your images to life.
If using a small depth of field make sure the thing that you focus on really represents the city and make sure that if the background is out of focus then it is still recognizable.
6.Look for Interesting Angles
A great way to instantly add interest to an image is to change angles. If your on street level instead of just pointing the camera straight ahead point it up in the air to give a really harsh perspective of a building. Different angles can also come from buildings themselves. try photographing a building from a different angle and not use straight on. Also windows can give you a great new angle in which to photograph the streetscape. (Like in this picture of the Chrysler Building in NYC)
