Mastering Street Photography is a practical guide to capturing the candid moments that reveal life at its most dramatic, absurd or beautiful.
In Mastering Street Photography, fully updated to include the latest technologies and software, acclaimed photographer Brian Lloyd Duckett presents the techniques that can elevate images of the urban landscape from the ordinary to the extraordinary. A practical guide to equipment and technical skills leads into lessons in finding inspiration, developing projects and composing different subjects and scenes – laying the foundations for you to capture the candid moments that reveal life in the raw and as it happens.
One of the great joys of street photography is that it can be practiced just about anywhere and at any time. With a little planning and a handy camera, there is a world of great shooting opportunities.
Introduction 6
Chapter 1
Equipment 12
Analog or Digital? 14
Digital Cameras 16
Shooting Film 20
Lenses 22
Accessories 26
Other Essentials 28
Chapter 2
Technical Skills 30
Exposure 32
Focus 36
Composition 40
Raw or JPEG? 52
Shooting For Color 54
Shooting For Black & White 56
Low Light 58
Assignment 1: Alone 62
Assignment 2: Its All A Blur 64
Chapter 3
Inspiration 66
Finding & Developing your Style 68
Develop a Project Mentality 70
Colour or Black & White? 74
What to Shoot 76
Where to Shoot 94
Assignment 3: Juxtaposition 104
Assignment 4: Objects 106
Chapter 4
On Location 108
Planning a Shoot 110
Working Safely 114
Developing Observational Skills 115
How to Be Invisible 116
Conquer Your Fear 120
Timing 126
Assignment 5: Up Close & Personal 130
Assignment 6: Where I live 132
Chapter 5
Legal & Ethical Issues 134
Shooting on the Streets 136
Photographing Children 144
Cultural issues 145
Red Lines 146
Copyright 147
Chapter 6
Postproduction 152
The Integrity of the Image 154
Image-Editing Software 156
Cropping 160
Editing Raw Images 162
Converting to Monochrome 164
Fine Tuning in Photoshop 166
Glossary 170
Useful websites 172
Index 173
Acknowledgments 176
Brian Lloyd Duckett is the Principal and Course Tutor at Streetsnappers, a specialist in street photography workshops and tutorials in London and cities across Europe. A highly successful commercial and editorial photographer, he teaches as a Visiting Lecturer on photography degree courses. He has worked for many leading newspapers and commercial organizations, but his hobby and passion is street photography. He is the author of Mastering Street Photography, Street Photography Workshop, 52 Assignments: Street Photography, 52 Assignments: Black & White Photography, 52 Assignments: Portrait Photography (Ammonite Press). Brian is based in Merseyside, England.
