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By eatstoomuchjam · Posted
The only setup that's truly "wrong" is one that you don't enjoy using and that doesn't get you the photos that you want. The primary camera of a friend of mine is a pinhole that she made herself from... I think it's a coffee can or a cocoa powder jar. The photos are low-resolution, dreamy, and perfect. My setup would be totally wrong for her, or you, but I quite like it! I was at Photostock a few years ago when David Burnett was the speaker - he is famously still shooting sporting events and major political events using either a speed graphic or converted Graflex SLR with an Aero Ektar. At that event, however, he was carrying the camera he uses most of the time - an A7c with a small Sony lens. Not a setup that I'd choose, but if it's good enough for one of the most famous living photographers, it's probably not "wrong." 😅 A number of the big name classic cinematographers/filmmakers favored lenses between 40-60mm or so FF equivalent. A lot of classic street photographers like 35-50mm because it's seen as immersive. But if you want an outsider perspective, your choice of a 70mm seems appropriate! -
https://fotodioxpro.com/products/fltr-spy?srsltid=AfmBOorgYN_vx9pKJxxTg1DIdSUlKXOxH46m5QoEa0-ggy5WdjZGQmhq -
Even better than that, I have the camera on a wrist strap and shoot with it at chest height like you describe, which means that when I'm walking / standing around the camera is barely visible, unlike a shoulder-strap where the strap and camera are front-and-centre all the time. Lots of other things come to mind.. If there are people standing around in clumps, stand right next to one of them. This way you'll sort-of become part of the group, so people walking by will just identify there's a group of people there and 'see' all of you as one thing and walk around you, and people looking around won't be drawn to you as much as if you're on your own against a clean backdrop - this is sort of like camo clothing where you are trying to obscure your silhouette. Pause a few seconds before showing the camera. If you walk up near someone and stop, they'll probably glance at you to see who you are, what you want, etc. If all they see is someone doing nothing (ie, not a threat or opportunity) they'll go back to what they're doing. Shoot people who are distracted and doing things. Most people who are distracted are just on their phones, but contrary to internet hype people do still do other things, and unless you're working on your doco series "People on their phones - Episode 27" its good to seek out these moments. Shoot through people / things. Be careful how you move and approach shots. I try and be very focused on things that are just becoming visible. As soon as you can see them, they can see you, so it's best to not get closer than you need to. The further you are away the more likely there is to be layers to shoot through too, so that's a bonus. People also have a sixth sense that someone is looking at them, even if you're looking "at them" on your camera screen, so although you can approach someone from the side or even from behind and they'll just turn and look right at you. I'm not sure how to navigate this, but I'm sure there's some way to influence it that I haven't worked out yet. This lady was facing directly away from me when I started filming and then turned suddenly a few seconds into the shot: The guy nearest me suddenly turned around to look at me, despite none of his friends noticing me beforehand: I know people do look around sometimes, but the timing is uncanny, so it's definitely a thing. The old trick of finding the backdrop and waiting for someone to come into shot is a good one too, which is what this shot was. It has the benefit that you're not coming into their environment, they're moving through yours. Any situation where you're shooting through layers has the potential for someone to come into shot too. I was shooting compositions using the bikes mirrors and then a lady came and parked her bike right in front of me. I'm pretty sure she knew I was there, but as I was already standing there when she arrived I wouldn't have triggered that 'a new person just arrived' reaction, and also as she arrived at the situation from somewhere else she was probably quite distracted as the whole situation was new and she was trying to park her bike too, so it's possible she was completely oblivious to my presence. Anyway, that's some further thoughts. There's a lot online about how to stealthily take street photos (e.g. Garry Winogrand pretending to fumble with his camera, etc), but much less about street videography where you have to essentially remain motionless for many seconds while rolling, plus you can't 'drive by' people and freeze them with a short shutter speed either. For one reason or other most of the street photography tricks don't really work. I'd imagine that @BTM_Pix would be deep down this rabbit hole.. -
By Aussie Ash · Posted
"without drawing to much attention"-having the camera hanging on the neck strap about 1.1m above ground and therefore looking down at the fold out screen most of the public don't even know they are being filmed.It is also quite easy to do steady pans and tilts like this. -
After digesting my trip to China, I'm now planning the next trip to Japan, where we're mostly in a remote location but we have a few days in Tokyo in the middle so I'll try and spend as much time shooting there as I can (which really means leisurely meandering around shooting and having breaks with delicious food / drinks etc). My equipment lessons from the China trip included: The GH7 is a workhorse and I don't think about using it at all, just on what I'm shooting The 14-140mm is a great all-round day lens for home video stuff The Takumar 50mm F1.4 on speed booster is good, but a little soft on the sides of the frame and the rectangular insert is probably a bit much I also learned a bunch of stuff about how to shoot in crowded situations without drawing too much attention to myself. I suspect that this is an infinitely-deep rabbit-hole that the best shooters probably do unconsciously, but like all things practice makes improvement. One thing I did that I think also worked well was to just shoot as fast and as much as possible. Not only did it lead to more shots and variety for the edit, but I think it also potentially helped me be less in my head and shoot more instinctually, which I suspect will yield more creative and expressive results. I've been thinking a lot (and talking to friends) about what I'm learning and what equipment is appropriate: The 70mm FOV seems potentially universal because in crowded situations you want to focus in on something so the frame isn't just full of chaos (photography is the art of subtraction), but in situations where there are less people you get spotted at a much greater distance and so having the longer lens means you can still get closer shots of people without actually getting close to them If my goal is to make edits that feel more immersive, then it makes sense to shoot with a lens that's roughly "normal" so it has a perspective similar to the human eye, which is about 50mm on FF. Having 70mm is a bit longer and would introduce a slight element of distance between myself and the subject, which is emotionally appropriate as I am an outsider in the places / cultures I visit, so this is coherent and adds to all the other decisions I'll make in what I shoot / how I shoot / how I edit / etc. I mentioned wanting a lens that was a bit sharper on the sides of the frame to someone and they countered by saying that having such a limitation will make my work more consistent (not only from the images themselves but also because it means I tend to compose with the subject nearer the centre of the frame) so this is a reasonable counter-point Despite all this, I suspect that I'll want a wider lens for when I get into the emptier narrow streets where it's more about the location rather than the people in it, and I suspect this is closer to 35mm or so As such, I'm mostly settled on the following lens contingent: 9mm F1.7 - for getting that wide-angle distortion that makes buildings etc really pop 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 - for day-time home video shooting 50mm F1.4 with SB - for that 70mm "night cinema" goodness 12-35mm F2.8 - for the wider "night cinema" duties, and being a zoom it means that I can use whatever focal length works for this task (35mm equivalent is just a guess) but also combined with the AF I can shoot a variety of angles / compositions really quickly I'm also likely taking the following, partly as just-in-case and partly to experiment with: TTartisans 17mm F1.4 - if I find that the 35mm FOV is desirable then this is a fast prime I can swap to TTartisans 50mm F1.2 - obviously I'm a fan of the 70mm FOV and I wonder if this 100mm FOV would be useful / workable, especially as it's super fast with shallow DOF Risespray 35mm F1.6 c-mount - this is about a stop slower than the Takumar+SB combo but seems cleaner wide-open so is a way to challenge my assumption about needing the speed of the Tak I'm also contemplating shooting 24p rather than 23.976p, and also 1080p instead of C4K. Both decisions have pros and cons to them though.
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