NZPhotographer Issue 55, May 2022

The Art of Street Photography
By Alan Blundell
In the last 4 months, we have explored the
fundamentals of street photography – shooting
techniques, gear, and basic settings.
In this month’s article, I want to look at some of the
more artistic ways cameras can be used to deliver
more creative outcomes… What do I mean by arty?
Well, Andy Warhol once described art as “Anything
you can get away with”. Art is limited only by your
imagination and ability to capture, experiment, and
produce a final print.
Let’s look at some ideas to allow you to put something
together with a less technical focus and start you thinking
about more abstract work when out on the street.
MOTION BLUR
Up to this point, the discussion has been about
capturing an image that is in focus, but what methods
are available to deliberately convey that sense of
movement?
Panning – This idea can be used in a scenario where
you stand side-on to the direction of movement and
follow your subject with the camera at the speed it is
travelling. The objective here is to freeze the moving
object and blur its background. The principal variable
will be the shutter speed – which of course will vary
slightly depending on the speed of the object.
Moving object – Holding a camera still with a slowish
shutter speed such as in this circus silk rope act image
- especially with strong lighting, can create dramatic
results. The challenge here is keeping the camera still
and making sure you get your exposure right. An f-stop
of around f11 is needed here to limit the amount of
light getting through to the film or sensor for the longer
period than normal that the shutter is open.
Combination – If you have a willing participant, (such as
my wife during lockdown), you can set up some scenarios
and experiment with still and moving elements until you
get the right mix of static and dynamic to produce, in this
case, an interesting variation on a portrait. The texture in
this shot is really important. Adding soft fabric elements
can introduce a lovely softness to these types of images.
Mumbai Taxi
Fujifilm X-T20 @ F22, 1/15s, ISO200, 21mm
Anyone who has been to India will know that everything happens at such pace - in a blur around you. I like that this image portrays that chaos of
movement with the taxi and bus against the stationary background of one of very few green spaces in the city - a local cricket ground.