RESEARCH - STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Street photography is a type of documentary photography capturing subjects in  public places such as streets, shopping malls, beaches etc.  It can be practiced 24/7, 365 days a year, unlike photojournalism for example, which needs an iconic moment of action or emotion to report, street photography needs the common everyday exchanges between people to show the mood of a busy city or town, or the tranquility of village life.

It captures an individual moment in time, is spontanious, not set up or staged and provides a detailed record of street culture, the daily life of its inhabitants, by using 'pure' or 'straight' photography.  That is, it attempts to show a scene as realistically and objectively as possible without the use of manipulation.

The final viewer of the photograph can often see more events in the picture than the photographer originally intended, since lots of action is happening all the time in a city street and the photograph freezes a moment in time, making this type of photography very exciting and dynamic.

dog fight in the street outside

photographer in top right hand corner

Street photography has been popular from the time of the earliest introduction of  portable cameras, as in the Leica used by Henri Cartier-Bresson.  Leica's are still very popular with street photographers since they are robust, small and unobtrusive with 'fast glass'.  Fast glass refers to a pellicle mirror, (pellis - skin or film), which is an ultra thin, lightweight, semi-transparent mirror, used to cut a light beam in an optical instrument in two, this enables multiple uses.

In slr cameras this allowed through the lens exposure measurements and reduction of camera shake, also it enabled fast series photography without the delay of the movement of the reflex mirror, at the same time maintaining constant finder vision.

pellicle mirror

A reflex mirror in a slr camera directs the light beam from the lens to the focusing screen in the viewfinder, this is flipped out of the way when an exposure is made causing the viewfinder to go dark.  This adds to the delay between pressing the shutter release and exposure of the film and blocks the photographers view of the action.

Any type of camera can be used however, so long as it is portable, DSLR's, point and shoot, and now mobile phone cameras are increasingly used, however, Rangefinder cameras were popular before these became available and are still used by many purists today, who feel that a bulky Dslr with a zoom lens puts too much distance between themselves and their subject and affects the subjects attitude and actions.  I certainly found that my bulky Canon dslr was at some disadvantage, since it was very noticeable and difficult to use in this situation unobtrusively.

Leica M7 (Rangefinder)

A Rangefinder camera, has a range-finding focusing mechansim, using a pellicle mirror, which workes by showing two images of the same subject, these were brought together by turning a dial and the distance then read off and set by the photographer, by turning the focusing ring to the required setting, allowing for sharp images.  Cameras without this facility could have a range-finding mechanism fitted to the accessory shoe.  Later designs had the rangefinder combined with the viewfinder and coupled to the focusing system, so when the images were combined the lens was focused correctly.

Example of unfocused and focused image in rangefinder window

Digital imaging technology was applied to rangefinder cameras in 2004 with Leica releasing its first model, Leica M8 in 2006, however some features of dslr's are lacking such as, movie recording, face detection and live preview.

(click below for U Tube video)

Leica M8 (Digital Rangefinder)

Another drawback of the rangefinder is the offset viewfinder to the lens, making it difficult when focusing close-up on a subject, since you do not see exactly what the lens is seeing.  However, the viewfinder often has a larger field of view than the lens in use, allowing the photographer to better anticipate action and capture that special moment in time.  In addition with no mirror to move, shooting is quicker, quieter and the camera is smaller is size and less obtrusive.


Zone focusing can also be used in street photography to allow for fast shooting, cutting out any delay in autofocus.  This is the practice of setting a fixed focal distance, with no autofocus, and often fixed aperture, thereby fixing the depth of field, (the zone), and taking all pictures at this distance, without the need to compose in the viewfinder, referred to as 'shooting from the hip'.

Since I do not have a rangefinder camera available to me and I wanted to take a more versatile camera with me to Italy, most if not all my photographs will be taken used a Canon EOS 5DMark2.  Although not as compact and lightweight as a Leica M8, it should be capable of capturing the type of photograph I aim to achieve.  Unfortunatley, I cannot spare enough space to take along my Panasonic Lumix G1 which is smaller and more lightweight, but operates on the micro 4/3rds system, which is a much smaller sensor.

I have added a short video from the internet which helps to illustrate and explain street photography.

street photography illustrated

SOURCES - INTERNET SITES; Wikipedia/Street Photography, Rangefinder Cameras,
 Chris Weeks on
http://fz01.deviantart.net/,
http://www.markushartel.com/ blog (zone focusing),
www. dpreview.com/articles/leicam8 (review Leica M8)