Street Photography - Indianapolis 500 Style

Sitting on the sidewalk watching the crowd walk by

Another after dark street photoshoot.  This time I went out the night before the 2012 Indianapolis 500 along Georgetown Road.  I knew from previous year’s shoots this setting was going to be street photographer friendly.  Lots of alcohol loosened people, mixed lighting, loads of people in every stage of dress.  You guessed it, another perfect shooting opportunity.  Also from previous years I knew it was best to go light weight.  For this reason I simply took my Nikon D300s camera and my AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8mm lens.  I also took a Nikon SB-600 speedlight, but never broke it out.

All shots were done in Aperture priority.  I set my ISO to 1600 and f/stop between f/1.8 through f/5.6.  I tried to keep my aperture as tight as possible to get reasonable depth of field.  Shutter speed normally ended up around 1/50, but whenever it got slower than 1/50 I cranked the ISO up to 3200.  I wasn’t too worried about noise due to the high ISO because I was going to convert all images to B&W.

Way too much to drink !! Unable to get up

This setup was solid for street photography.  It was low profile and pretty speedy.  The only challenge was that on occasions I had problems focusing due to the extreme darkness in some areas.  No problems I just switched to manual focus.  

So with my camera kit all ready to go I arrived around 10pm, but the area was HOPPING!  I simply joined the crowd of people walking up and down Georgetown Road.  Occasionally I would walk over to the sidewalk and stop to shoot as people walked by.  It was a great photographic environment as everyone appeared to be having a great time.  

Loads of people enjoying the after dark atmosphere

After action report:

·         If you are going to shoot in an environment like this pack light. I’d learned from previous shoots that too much kit was just going to sit on my back.  Way too many people for a tripod also.

·         Bring your fastest lens.  I took my 35mm, but probably should have also brought along my AF-S 50mm F/1.4G.  Even though this would take tighter shots of the crowd the additional aperture stop would have been supremo in this lighting situation.

·         As I’ve said previously, don’t be afraid to go up and ask people if you can shoot their picture.  In a night like this, it’s really no problem.

·         Balance your shutter speed with your ISO.  Keep your shutter speed up above 1/50 if at all possible which means sacrificing ISO if you want to keep your aperture as high as possible to maximize your DOF.  I sacrificed ISO on this shoot to keep my aperture at F/5.6 and my shutter speed at 1/50 or higher.

New York City Boy

The day before New Year’s Eve I visited New York City and walked around the streets for about 8 hours.  Big city, people in the street, colors, darkness, camera – you guessed it, I had a blast.  I didn’t go specifically to take photographs, but I did tote my camera and a couple of lenses.  I ended up walking in a 1 mile radius around Time Square shooting while walking.  I simply wanted to capture the hustle and bustle of NYC.

It started out grey and overcast turning dark quickly.  Therefore, during the daylight hours I had a huge softbox.  Shadows were not a problem.  At night the lights of the city were alive with color.  On top of this the number of people in the city was HUGE all day.  It was absolutely no place for a tripod.  I simply set my camera on aperture priority, set the aperture as small as I could for the light (I wanted to get maximum DOF) and the shutter speed ended in the 1/100 range.  As it got dark I had to crank up my ISO from 400 during the daytime to 2500 at night.  I wanted to keep my speed no slower than 1/100 so I took lots of high ISO shots.  I was using my trusty AF-SNikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED most of the day, switching out of my AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mmf/3.5-5.6G ED VR II early in the day.  I sacrificed a wider focal length on the short end for a couple of stops of aperture.  Good choice.

Almost all of my shots were taken while walking or stopping just briefly enough to steady my camera and get off my shot.  I was walking with my two 20+ year old boys so I decided not to stop to chat up people to take more formalized street portraits.  Anyway, in NYC from experience taking street portraits can be hit and miss. 

When I got home and looked through my photos I was very happy but noticed the colors tended to dominate the image.  Therefore in my post processing I converted several to B&W, which I think worked out well.

Next time I plan taking my tripod and going solo, although being with my boys was a blast.  Oh, by the way I did end up hitting B&H Camera as well.  Icing on the cake.

After action tips: 

·         Be respectful but don’t be afraid to take candid street shots in a city.  OK, some people will give you the evil eye, but people are moving so fast and in their own little word it passes quickly

·         In a street shoot like this it would have been better with a smaller profile prime lens.  Not only does a D300s Nikon with a batter grip stand out, but add a 20-70mm f/2.8 lens and you have a big camera setup.  I probably would have been better bringing my AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G prime or my AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G prime.  Faster glass with smaller profile.

·         If you can avoid it don’t take a backpack.  Note to myself, people don’t like getting hit by a backpack when you turn around suddenly.

·         Be careful shooting in some venues or buildings.  Not surprising very few office buildings and museums let you take photos in their facility.  No worries, that’s when my iPhone 4S came in handy.

·         Take every opportunity to shoot photographs.  In a city of any size there are hundreds of photo opportunities.

San Francisco Fire & Night Workshop with Chris Marquardt

San Francisco skyline from Treasure Island at sunset

I just completed a photo workshop and series of photowalks with photographer, Chris Marquardt.  The workshop was in San Francisco and focused on street photography, after dark fire dancing photography and after dark city scenes around San Francisco.  I’ve followed Chris’s work, website & podcasts and learned about the workshop from one of his podcasts.  Since the focus of the workshop was photography after dark and street scenes I thought it would be enjoyable and a great learning opportunity. 

Chris Marquardt interacting with street art

I was right about the workshop.  It covered several areas I enjoy shooting, but I have to admit it was humbling. Chris knows his stuff and it highlights how much I have to learn and develop my photographic eye.

I arrived late on Thursday and met up with the workshop participants at the end of their introductory get together dinner.  I’d say over ¾ of the 12 participants had either worked with or been on a previous Marquardt workshop.  Therefore, a number of participants already knew each other.  I figured that would make for a very interactive experience.  Most people were starting to call it an evening, but I got to meet most of the photographers, and chat them up a bit.

The workshop started officially at noon on Friday so I got up early and walked around San Francisco for about 4 hours during rush hour shooting the day unfolding.  Got lots of the standard SF tourist shots of cable cars, city scenes, Chinatown, etc.  The shooting conditions were great since the light was muted by the typical SF weather. 

We then met up and headed to Oakland for start the workshop at the Oakland Warehouse base for the Department of Spontaneous Combustion.  This is a live-in artist colony focusing on industrial metal sculptures along with sculptures that spew fire.  A very unusual mix.  The location is a non-descript warehouse in a rundown part of Oakland.  Lots of really cool equipment and sculptures in the warehouse to shoot.  We spent about 5 hours talking about all things photography focusing on the technical side of photography (versus composition).  The key learning experience for me was to use a grey card to check and set exposure.  In the past I used a grey card only to set white balance.  Also, Chris is big into manual shooting so the grey card is very important.

Stop action fire dancing

Double loops of fire

Grinding away

Playing with fire

When the night came we spent about 2 hours shooting 2 fire dancers.  For those who are uninformed, like me, a fire dancer uses various props that are lit on fire, i.e. a long staff with material (Teflon) on the end that is lit on fire.  The staff is spun around in various ways to produce a really interesting light show.  The equivalent of a ball and chain where the ball was on fire was also used.  The artists were quite skilled, and after with long exposures the images are amazing.  When the exposure is set correctly the fire looks like it’s alive.  I’ve never photographed fire before, so it was a challenge.  Luckily, Chris was there to lend advice.  All my images were shot with either an AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G or my AF-SNikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED.  Even with my fastest glass I used my tripod, ISO at 1600-3200, and most shots were in the 1 second range.  Lots of tasty motion blur with the fire dancers, which is what we wanted.

Day 2 started at 1pm, so once again I had a chance to go out before the workshop.  I walked down to the Ferry Building about 20 minutes from the hotel.  There was a huge street fair and farmers market going on.  It was a people-a-rama.  A photo rich environment from the homeless, beggars, artist, pretty people, and just folk.  Great fun.  I shot everything.  I then made my way back to the hotel to change my kit and then headed to the Embarcadero YMCA for a workshop on both street photography and after dark shooting.  I have done lots night photography so it was nice to hear that I wasn’t a complete idiot.  However, I still wanted to practice my skills.  The street photography part is something I want to do more of.  The key for street photography is either to blend in and capture the scene or get REAL close and shoot people.  We went for the close portrait work on the street. 

The key in late night photography is to take your time, adjust your ISO last and experiment / adjust your white balance.  Chris stressed you should focus on setting your WB to the temperature setting and adjust Kelvin.  As you might suspect even when shooting in RAW, NEVER use the automatic white balance setting.  The key on street scenes is placement, and capture the environment.  If you are going to shoot people then interact and get close.  Ask your subject if you can shoot their picture and then take shots from multiple angles.  Think of the person on the street that you are shooting as your model and watch for lighting, shadows and expression.  Getting a complete stranger to let you take their image is challenging.  Some of our workshop members were amazing at it.  I’m a noobie. 

After the workshop portion of the day we boarded a bus and hit a number of city locations.   For the street photography component of the night we paired off.  We visited a food festival in the Mission District.  Tons of people and lots to shoot.  After shooting street scenes for about 2 hours, we reboarded the bus and went across to Treasury Island and shot the skyline and Bay Bridge.  It was foggy, windy and cold.  It really was a challenging shooting environment.  I brought a Silk UFS-F740 Lightweight Tripod which was needed due to low light, but I still had lots of camera shake due to the wind.  After about an hour we boarded the bus and headed for a spot across from the Golden Gate Bridge to try our hand at a typical tourist image.  The first of the two locations to view the Golden Gate Bridge was a bust due to fog, but the second was amazing because the fog was moving out and it gave us some amazing scenes of the bridge and city.

Mexican heritage at the food festival in the Mission District

Street portrait at first reluctant to get photographed

Street portrait in the Mission District

All shots in the Mission District were with an AF-S DX Nikkor18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II lens, ISO at 400-800, speed 1/100 - 1/250 second and white balance set at cloudy.  All of the shots after dark were with my 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, camera set to manual, White Balance varied throughout the evening to get different temperature effects, ISO was ranged based upon the shutter speed I wanted varying from 200 to 1600.  I also adjusted my speed through the shoot.  Basically I was experimenting.   

Golden Gate Bridge in the fog

We got back to the hotel really late, but it was great.  I contemplated going back out on the streets, but decided to crash.

Day 3 was earlier, so I didn’t go out before the workshop.  We met up at the Women’s Building in the Mission District.  We talked primarily about composition of street photography and several technical aspects.  It was amazing to see some of the images Chris had brought to discuss composition of the street, primarily Vivian Maier and Henri Bresson.  If you don’t know the story of Vivian Maier then I would encourage you to check her out…amazing.

Watching life go by

During the 3^rd day we went out on the street and shot people again.  Also we had a chance to shoot each other in both a comical and a serious setting.  It was fun to see how everyone captured each other.  I rarely see myself on the other side of the camera so it was fun.  After the workshop was over we took a group photo, exchanged emails and wished each other good luck.  Lots of really great photographers all of who I would enjoy going back out with again.

Finally, after the day’s workshop was over I got back to my hotel, again changed out my kit for another romp on the streets and headed back out.  I walked down Market Street and then back to the Mission District.  There I got lots of shots of graffiti, people interacting with others, tourist, homeless, you name it.  Life in the big city.  I ended out being out for about 5 hours and got back at my hotel well after dark, finally calling it a day.

Street Rapper along Market Street

Mission District graffiti

Mission District graffiti

Bottomline, I had a great time.  I learned a great deal and met some good photographers.  Chris was an excellent workshop leader and host and he was able to impart a good deal of photographic wisdom on his charges.  I will definitely do something like this again.

A few tips / comments:

·         When traveling plan your camera kit carefully.  This time I packed just right primarily because I wanted to get everything in one bag.  I brought my 35mm f/1.8G prime, a 24-70mm f/2.8G, an 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6G, and finally a Tokina 12-24mm f/4 wide angle.  Also, 1 SB-600 speedlight (which I probably could have left behind), one camera body, plenty of CF & SD cards and the Silk tripod mentioned earlier.  I really didn’t want to take too much or leave something important at home.  I planned my kit specifically for what I was going to shoot.

·         One tip Chris shared with me on the bus, “don’t use clear filters on your lens”.  This is another piece of glass that light needs to go through and even high end filters can impact the amount of light going through your lens.  The only time to use clear filters is in dusty, sandy or salt water environments.   Also, always use your lens hood.  This provides lots of protection to your lens, and much more than a clear filter.

·       When shooting people in the street, be brave and ask if you can photograph them.  I was amazed that almost everyone agreed.  OK, a few thought it was weird and said no, but more than 50% said “sure”.  Talk to them, and shoot from various angles.  Get their contact information and remember to send them copies.

·       If you are doing a workshop especially in a different city, then spend every waking hour talking about or taking photographs.  I could have slept in or hit some of the tourist sites during non-workshop times, but I was there to take photos, so every waking our I was either working on the photos or taking photos.

·         Bring a backup hard drive.  I did this and every night I loaded my images onto my computer and also onto the backup hard drive.  I didn’t want to lose any of my shots.

City Shooter

Shooting a city’s skyline offers a photo rich environment.  I live in Indianapolis, so I regularly use the downtown as a subject of, or backdrop for my photoshoots.  Not a huge downtown, but still a solid photo subject.  Since I do lots of nighttime photography I often capture downtown Indianapolis after dark.  Many will agree cities take on a different look and richness of color at night.  Most major cities are over photographed, so during the day I’ll try to do something different.  I will shoot with a fisheye lens, a composite panorama, or with brooding clouds.  Anything to get a different look.

When I shoot a skyline or cityscape at night and day I always us a small aperture as I want a deep depth of field.  Normally, F/9 or smaller.  This also gives you much wider selection of lens to choose from.  Also, use a wide angle lens.  I almost always shoot cities at 28mm or wider.

At night an aperture of F/9 or smaller creates starbursts on strong light sources which I enjoy.  Bring your tripod because it’s needed at night, and I use an electronic trigger to limit camera shake.  I set the camera to aperture priority and set the ISO as low as possible to minimize noise.  I allow my camera to set the shutter speed while in aperture priority.  Exposure often end up in the 30+ second range.  If I’m not getting the look wanted I’ll adjust the exposure compensation.  That’s about it.

At day, there is nothing special to it.  On a bright day I keep my aperture as small as possible and almost always handhold unless I’m shooting series for a panorama which I stitch in Photoshop CS5.  As noted above keep your aperture as small as possible to get the depth of field you want, and set your camera to aperture priority.  Now go out and shoot your city.

Motion Blur

Yes, but is it just a photo out of focus?

Most don't like images with motion blur. An image out of focus is often seen as just a poor photograph. However, I really like motion blur. I've experimented with motion blur, and whenever I'm out on a photoshoot I try to take a few shots with slower shutter speeds. Motion blur conveys motion (I know I'm stating the obvious) and the activity of life. However, done poorly and you're right, it's just an image out of focus.

The key to motion blur from my experience is to focus on a subject (or area in the scene) and then lock down AF. Shutter speed needs to be slower than 1/50 of a second in my experience. At night that is rarely a problem. During the day you may need to switch your camera to Speed priority or Manual. I always try to keep ISO as low as I can, but that's not always possible if you shoot at night like I tend to do. Whenever possible I set my camera to 100 ISO, and take a few sample shots. Sometimes I use auto-ISO at night and almost always use a tripod.

This image was taken on a really busy night. I had set up my camera on a tripod to take some street scenes. These 3 guys walked up and were just watching the activity pass by. I decided to focus on them with my camera set at F/4.5 so I could get the background blurry (in addition to the motion blur). ISO set at 400 with my Nikkor 18-135mm lens set at 38mm. Speed was 1/40 of a second.

This image of a young lady's backside was taken during the day. I had my camera on a tripod about 25 feet back from an intersection. I used a cable shutter release to minimize camera shake. This may seem a waste since the idea was to get a blurry picture. However, my goal was to get motion blur but as sharp of focus as possible on my subject. I set my camera at F/20 for a deep DOF, ISO 100 and my 18-135mm lens at 85mm. Speed was manually set at 1/20 of a second.


I took this photo last night while out on another photoshoot. I was packing my kit in my car across from a highrise. A couple were walking by across the street (they had just been arguing about something?) and I took a shot. They were a bit tipsy so they must have been hitting the clubs. I wanted to capture an image that conveyed the sense of unbalance. I had a Nikkor 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 VR mounted. This photo was shot at F/4.5 ISO at 200 and the focal length at 102mm. Speed was at 1/10 of a second which produced significant motion blur.

OK, these images would NEVER win an award, or end up on any one's must have list, but that's not the point. Shoot what you like, and I like motion blur.

From my experience if you want to get motion blur during the day you will need to set your camera to Speed priority. At night you can get away with Aperture priority. Speeds below 1/50 of a second will start producing motion blur. Below 1/10 of a second and I've found there is too much blur. Try to set your ISO as low as possible, but if you are a night owl like me you may need to use a higher ISO setting or auto-ISO. Anyway, shoot away ... I know I do.