10 things you can shoot, create or edit this month, from outdoor miniatures and birds to panoramas

1/7000 sec

f/2

ISO 400 1 | STREET

Creating contrast

The low winter sun is a perfect time to practise street photography, says Alistair Campbell

Towards the end of last year, I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days wandering the streets of Madrid. It’s quite rare for me to make any trips in early winter, and I was immediately struck by the huge amount of long shadows on offer.

Street photography is such an easy genre to get out and shoot: it’s free, you don’t need much kit and it is great to see the world from a different perspective. Although it’s easy to start shooting street, it’s a little harder to master. With a few simple tricks and tips, though, you can take street shooting to the next level.

When I first started out in street photography, I would look for evenlylit shaded areas. They were easy to photograph, but lacked depth and tone. Our planet, being the threedimensional spinning rock that it is, needs to be captured in such a way that we can show our viewers as much detail as possible through our lens.

I like to travel light, and certain airlines aren’t a fan of passengers bringing much luggage, so today I’m walking around with my small, beaten-up Fujifilm X-T2 and a Fujinon XF35mm f/2 R WR lens. For me, the 35mm field of view is ideal when it comes to street photography.

1/10,000 sec at f/2, ISO 400

Shoot the street with confidence

1/10,000 sec at f/2, ISO 400

By using the automatic settings shown above, you’re now free to explore the streets and concentrate on the action. You don’t need to rush around too much; you can just park yourself on a bench and wait for people to walk into the frame. Make sure you expose for the brighter section of the scene, as this will give you far better contrast. I find that using the LCD screen and shooting from the hip can be a good way to stay incognito – most camera screens are fully articulating now, so make them work to your advantage. And try not to review your images after shooting each frame – concentrate on what’s in front of you.

Four ways to get better contrast in your street photography

1 Use camera-set shutter speeds

In street photography, moments can be fleeting or gone before you’ve even had time to raise your camera to your eye. I shoot with Auto shutter speeds to avoid missing a shot. Some people dislike using any auto settings, but you can exploit them to your advantage in tricky shooting conditions.

2 Use Auto ISO

Each camera will vary slightly, but I have programmed three ranges for Auto ISO values. Number one for street photography is anything within ISO 100-1600; I tell my camera not to use shutter speeds below 1/125 sec while Auto ISO is enabled. Setting two is ISO 1600- 6400, and setting three is ISO 6400-128,000. Both of these will always make sure my shutter is at least 1/125 sec.

3 Experiment with your aperture

I tend to shoot wide open most of the time, as it offers faster shutter speeds and I get a short, sharp shot. Sometimes, a shallow focus isn’t the best setting for a particular scene, so you may want a deeper focus to incorporate more of the background. For different aesthetics, try using anything from f/1.8 (if your lens permits) to f/9.

4 Get to know your camera and lens

The more you shoot, the better you will become. Stick with one lens until its field of view becomes second nature. Set up custom individual buttons to work with your style and tip the technical scales so they work to your advantage.