People, On The Street

Sam From Liverpool

Sarah From Dorset

Lauren From Warrington

Matt From Manchester

Sammie From Cornwall

These are the photos I've taken so far for my third assignment 'People, On The Streets'. This was a very different project as we have to approach strangers in street situations and ask to take there portrait (in any way we like) and we also have to get there name and home town. I think this project is more about building confidence than it is creating amazing photos but obviously for a project like this they come hand in hand.

I didn't find it too hard approaching people but I was careful with my approach. I decided early on I wanted to photograph people of a similar age to me and I wanted each photo to keep the same composition so there was some links between them.

I was shooting on a DSLR with a 30mm f1.4 prime lens. All but one of these photos we're taken on cloudy days so I had my aperture around f2.8 to allow loads of light in and throw the background out of focus. This also meant I could use a fast shutter speed and capture shots in rapid succesion incase my focus was off in one. I always tried to take 3/4 shots of each person both in portrait and landscape so I had plenty to work with when it came to choosing my final photos.

Here are some of the raw files and photos I didn't select for my final set:

The reasons I didn't include these were because in some the focus was off and instead of focusing on the eyes the focus was on there clothing etc. This was due to my own errors and something I managed to keep to a minimal the more I shot. Another reason I didn't select some of these was due to the composition. I wanted my final shots to all share the same composition and fill the frame as much as each other but these shots just didn't work when placed next to others mostly because they were shot landscape or contained more than one person which just wasn't what I was looking for when I decided on my final look.

I wanted my shots to have the same style because the subjects didn't have much in common apart from age so I wanted the links between the photos to be shown in the composition and framing.

I am really happy with my final images because they are well exposed and sharp and this project was a great confidence booster and helped me refresh my hands at shooting on the spot. Shooting strangers on the street means you only have a limited time to get the shot you want but when you work with people you know you can hold them up for an extra 5 minutes if things haven't worked but it was nice to have to get it right before they had to walk away.