Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-04-04)

52 Assignments:Street

Photography(Ammonite

Press,£12.99)is full

of moregreatstreet

shootingtipsfrom

BrianDuckettandis

availablefromall good

booksellers.

Technique MONO STREET MASTERCLASS

Dosomeghosthunting

ForBrianDuckett,slowshutterspeedsandmotionblurcan

helpcreatesomeimpressivestreetshots.It alsogetsyou

intothehabitof findingsuitablebackgroundsforyour

subjectsto‘blur’against,andthiskindof backgroundhunting

comesin usefulforstreetphotographygenerally.Imageand

lensstabilisationis nowsogoodwithmoderncamerasthat

younolongerneedtousea tripod,sometimes even with

shutter speeds as slow as a second.

You’resosquare

Someimagesjustcryoutfora 1:1black& whiteformat,sobemindfulof this

whenyouareoutshootingsoyoucancomposeaccordinglyandavoidheavy-

handedcroppinglater.‘Inthisshotof climbers,thepatternof thenettinghelped

makethedecisiontocroptoa square,’saysDuckett.MichaelKennais another

master of the square format with black & white, so check out his work too.

Popularlocations

arefinetoo

Asanexample,Terakopianciteshis

popularshotof a littleboyrunninginto

reflectedlinesof lightat theTate

Modern.‘It’soneof theseclichéd

locations,butasI mentionedbefore,

thisshouldneverstopusexploringand

makingourownimages.I wasvery

fortunatethatthisimagepickedup

severalawardsandnominations.I made

theshotona LumixG9witha Leica DG

50-200mm f/2.8-4.0 lens.’

Becarefulatnight

‘Nightshotsneedtolookdark,butyourcamera’slightmeter

caneasilyovercompensate,leavingyouwithimagesthatare

toolight,’saysDuckett.‘Souseexposuretodialthingsdown.’

Anothergoodtipis toweardarkerclothessoyoublendinto

theshadowsbetter,anddon’tattractthesubject’sattention.

Butdon’tlookshiftyorsuspicious or you could also attract

the wrong kind of attention.

C’monbring (a bit of)

thenoise

Whileyoushouldnottrytousemonoto

hidepoorexposureorfocusing,

Terakopianhasnoissuewitha littlebit

of noise.‘ThecamerasI choosework

beautifullyat uptotheISO10,

mark,producingaccuratecolours,

whichareessentialformakinga full

tonalrangein black& white.Myblack&

whiteconversionsgenerallyhavesome

grainadded,whichcan cover any

distracting noise.’

Mixprimeand

zoomlenses

‘Igenerallypreferprimelensesin the

rangeof 35mmto50mm,althoughwill

happilyshootwitha zoom,’counsels

Terakopian.‘FormyMicroFourThirds

Lumixbodies,I lovetheLeicaDG

15mmSummilux,whichgivesa 30mm

fieldof view,aswellastheLumix

25mmf/1.7.Forzooms,I liketheLeica

DG12-60mmf/2.8-4.0ortheLeica

DG10-25mmVarioSummiluxf/1.7.

OnmyPanasonicLumixS1andS1R,

theLumixS Pro50mmf/1.4is king.It

renderssobeautifully,is fasttofocus

andI’vefoundthefaceandeye

detectionworkswonders– a goodtip

for street shooters looking to upgrade.’

Nightshotscanbe

veryevocative,but

be careful out there

It’snotsomuch

aboutthelocation

as about the light

© BRIAN LLOYD DUCKETT

© BRIAN LLOYD DUCKETT

© BRIAN LLOYD DUCKETT

© EDMOND TERAKOPIAN