5 street photography techniques to photograph friends/family with your smartphone
Street photography has the main merit to capture moment of authenticity. The result is usually gorgeous if you add to it a nice light and an aesthetic background.
The same methods can be applied when you are photographing your friends/family with your smartphone. The results will be images of spontaneity which truly illustrate the moment you tried to capture.
You will find here 5 basic techniques you can easily apply next time you will use your phone to photograph friends and family.
Find the background, stay in position and be ready to shoot:
A easy technic is street is to find a background that you find aesthetically nice and you just wait for some people to get into the frame before snapping. This method is perfect for tourism when you visit with friends/family a place where the view is nice., Instead of having the classic Eiffel Tower picture, stay in the spot, find the right angle with the background view and wait for a natural moment to capture your family members. The trick is to not show them you want to take a picture in order to preclude for posing. Not easy at the beginning but works quite well with some practices.
In this example, it was a classic view in Istanbul I wanted to capture. I stayed there for 3/5 min in order for the firshermen to forget me and wait for a moment of action where I could capture him while fishing.
Anticipate emotional moments:
By emotional moment, I mean a moment you can capture that will trigger emotions: a kiss, a hug, a surprised look …. such moments can be anticipated easily with some practices. Let’s say you shoot a birthday of your niece; you can get really nice shots of the birthday girl opening the gifts. You will capture here a true moment.
In the example here, it was a friend joining us for a party. I saw her starting to hug everyone. I therefore positioned myself to the next one in line to capture the shot. Usually people are so focus with their actions that you will not be noticed.
When people pose for a photo, move on the side and snap them from there
We all have experienced this situation where we all group around the newly married couple to photograph them. We fight to get a place, the right angle and the result is rarely satisfying.
An easy trick used in street to capture portrait is to photograph a subject on the side while he is steering something else (in street it might be someone enjoying the view ). The same method can be used to the wedding example I just mentioned. In doing so you will get better result due to the side angle and the spontaneity of the picture, as people you photograph are not posing for you.
This street photo example is from Marrakech where the Caleche driver was steering on the side. The same method can be applied when people are posing for pictures.
Hide yourself behind people to not get noticed and use it for composition
This tip is useful to apply for the tips number 1 and 2. To not get noticed by your subject, use crowd or people around you to hide yourself and your camera. Sometimes, your hideout can even become a nice element of composition.
In this example, I used my friend and her hat to hide my camera and capture a laugh while playing with the hat for the composition of the picture.
Use the portrait mode to reduce distracting elements
The portrait mode uses a second camera of your iphone which was a lower aperture (one of the 3 characteristics of a digital camera). In nutshell, it will create blurring around the focus point of your picture. This is great to remove from a picture a distracting background,/people which are not fitting with the rest.
Feel free to comment, ask question and share the methods you are using.
Arnaud