Understanding Photography

In this entry, I'm going to give you an explanation of those technical terms that already appeared in the previous one.

1,DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras - These cameras have a moving mechanical element inside that helps the light coming through the lens reach the optical viewfinder that is on the back of these cameras. Fast autofocus, short shutter lag, and way larger sensor are those elements that are usually typical of them.

2, Image sensor - It is a small part behind the mirror mechanism inside the camera. As the mirror flips up, light coming through the camera lens reaches the image sensor. This is actually the most important part of cameras; it determines mainly the depth of field and the overall noise level.

3, Depth of field (DOF) - DOF determines how much the subject can be separated from the background. It depends on two main factors that are as follows: focal length and aperture. The following image is a great example of shallow DOF:

4, Aperture - A camera lens is very much similar to human eye. There is an iris inside the camera (lens diaphragm) that regulates how much light can enter the lens. The larger the aperture is, the more light enters the lens making the depth of field shallower. Larger aperture can also result in less contrasty images. Stopping down the lens itself can increases contrast and sharpness, but significantly reduces the DOF, which may look like less professional.

5, Focal length - It is marked on lenses as "XX mm." The length decides the field of view. The smaller the focal length is, the more field of view is available. The longer it is, the more the subject is separated from the background. If you use a wide angle lens, it is unlikely that you'll be able to reach shallow DOF. While these wide angle lenses are suitable for landscape photography, longer lenses are used for portrait, sport, and astro photography.

6, Night photography - Taking great photos in low light conditions requires a fairly great technical background. If you're considering doing night photography without a tripod, the best you can do is get a stunning low light performer, most preferably a portrait lens that has a big aperture (f1.4, f1.8). It enables you to take handheld photos without blurring the images.

Wide angle lenses can also be used for this sort of photography. All you need is a stable tripod and patience. Taking a photo at night with a lens that has a smaller aperture can be a pain in the neck; however, it's really not that difficult. The shutter speed should be as long as possible and the lens should be stopped down in order to get bright, sharp images.

Image taken with a wide angle lens at small aperture:

7, Bokeh - It originates from Japanese and it means intentional blurring. Bokeh is the out-of-focus are on a photo. Numerous photographers include bokeh lights in photos, making them look like more professional.
Here's an example of what bokeh light means:

Disclaimer: All rights are reserved. You may not use these photos on any web page, commercial or non-commercial, for profit or non-profit, without written permission from the photographer (Emil Chalhoub).

How to get started?

Doing street photography doesn't consist of taking photos of literally everything you see in the streets. Communicating a message and telling a story through your photos is what street photography means. Photographers should hunt for the decisive moment and capture it.

1, Choosing the camera

Missing that decisive moment is the biggest mistake one could ever make. In order to capture unique moments, a proper photography equipment is a must. Although it's said that it's not the camera that counts, but the photographer; however, the limitations of cheapo point-and-shoot cameras can indeed set you back from getting the best out of your own imagination and creativity. One of the most well-known disadvantages of point-and-shoot cameras is their slow autofocus system that may let you down in many situations. Consequently, choosing a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) would actually be a much more viable idea if you decide to do street photography, since DSLR cameras have extremely fast autofocus system that won't disappoint you for sure. Let's not mention now rangefinder cameras that are meant to be used for specifically for this purpose, for street use. They usually have price tags of $4k-5k, which is quite expensive for most people.

Another tremendous difference between compact cameras and dslrs is that image sensors in compacts are pretty tiny and this small size highly reduces their overall image quality and low-light noise performance making these small cameras quite unusable in most situations after dark.

2, Deciding on what lens to get

Once you got the camera, choosing the suitable lens is the next step. It is good to know that fix focal length lenses perform way better in most situations than their zoom counterparts, since fix (a.k.a. normal lens) have fewer lens elements inside the lens barrel, thus reducing the chance to get flare, chromatic abberation, and other failures concerning image quality.

What's more, fix lens have better sharpness, contrast, colour rendering, and bigger aperture which enables you to reach shallower depth of field and get the most out of your night photos. Another great advantage of using a fix lens is that it stimulates your creativity and makes you think about how to frame a photo and how to compose it.

The most popular focal lengths that are suitable for street photography are as follows: 35mm, 50mm, 85mm. These are usually great low-light performers and portrait lens with minimal amount of distortion.

3, How to carry around all these stuff?

Well, avoid being vivid and noticeable in order to be part of the moment you're to capture. Obviously, choosing a pink or magenta bag for your stuff and a fancy strassed camera strap for your camera is the worst idea to come up with when considering getting involved in street photography. A black camera bag that doesn't look like a camera bag would certainly do. Be sure that it protects your gear properly and has plenty of space inside.

These are the first 3 steps towards street photography. Bearing all these things in mind might be a great help for you all before becoming a huge enthusiast in this field of art. In my next post, I'll explain all the technical terms that appeared in this entry.

Introduction

I'm Emil Chalhoub, a Budapest based university student and an official shutterbug who has been involved in photography for more than 3 years. As I always lived in Budapest, it stands to reason that street photography is the field that is really close to me.

In the upcoming posts, I'll give you an image of what street photography is like in the capital of Hungary, Budapest and how one can improve the quality of photos by taking some simple steps to get on the right track of becoming a successful photographer.