Simple Backgrounds
‘Often you’ll find an interesting backdrop for a photograph, but you don’t have a focal point/subject for
the image,’ says Cathal. ‘You’ll need to be patient and wait for something to come along and complete the photograph. If you think you’ve found an interesting backdrop, it’s always worth waiting for that missing element.
Photo by Mike Blythe
‘A lot of people think that street photography is about speed and running around the place sniffing out every interesting detail in the environment,’ he adds. ‘Rather than working fast all the time, it’s OK sometimes to take a step back and wait for something to come to you. A lot of the time you won’t have to wait too long. If you stand in oneplace for long enough it’s amazing what you actually see, particularly in a place like central London.’
Top Tips
- Try seeing things from a different perspective, such as shooting from inside a building. If you stick to the outside, you’ll risk missing a lot of interesting things that are happening on the other side of the glass
- Keep checking your settings, because when the camera is hanging over your shoulder the dials and buttons can be knocked
- Keep your pictures tightly framed. Don’t be afraid to get in a little closer to your subject and don’t always go for the widest end of your focal length
- Make sure your camera settings are correct for your environment before you start shooting and keep checking your exposures as the light changes
- When is a picture not a picture? When it’s not sharp. It’s not enough to have something ‘interesting’ in the frame. If your subject’s not in focus, you’ve got nothing
- Walk around with your camera as much as you can. If you only go out shooting for one hour a week you’ll never become confident
- Don’t take too many lenses with you. If you have too many lenses you can become caught up in thinking about what lens to use in every situation. Your photos may become contrived
- Try to blend in, otherwise you’ll lose the candid nature of your photographs
- Edit your picture through the viewfinder. Ask yourself: ‘Does that need to be there? If I move slightly forward, will that improve my shot?’ Do as much editing in-camera as you can
