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A guide to street photography: Antonio Olmos and the dark art of manual exposure. In part one, we focus in on Antonio Zazueta Olmos — a street photographer who has learned to rely on manual exposure to capture the images he wants, rather than making use of the ever-smarter, ever-quicker automatic settings available on the latest digital cameras.
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About: Street photography is the purest, most spontaneous way to create art with a camera. No studios, no props, no poses; all you need is the right equipment and a street with people on it. In this original series for Engadget, we’ll follow three seasoned street fighters and try to glean some practical wisdom about what engages their eyes, brains and fingers in the moments before they shoot.
Engadget provides the web’s best consumer electronics & gadgets coverage. Launched in 2004 by former Gizmodo editor and co-founder Peter Rojas, Engadget now covers the latest mobile devices, computers, TVs, laptops, personal electronics, hardware, tablets and cameras. Engadget’s video property is a part of the AOL On Network.
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I like how he's supposed to explain using a camera manually, yet he uses the screen to check if the image is exposed right. – Give this guy a film-camera in manual mode and he'd probably be pretty lost.
"I've been photographing random people for 20 years and never had a problem."
I've tried it ONCE, on this bearded banjo-playing jolly-looking street-musician, I was a good distance away, taking a quick wider shot to then move on, and he went like "Hey! No!"… He stopped playing, I gave a wave and went over to ask what the problem is. He went like "You take picture and you no pay, huh?!". I tried to talk to him but he just childishly turned around and ignored me, left ticked off. – I walked off then too, but he was being such an entitled child about it for a man in his 60s or so. Oh my god… I didn't even stick the camera in his face. He literally had to spot me from a distance and make a fuss, as a street musician who draws attention anyway. – And then also demand money for being photographed on top of that?… He wasn't THAT good-looking. XD
Very inspirational… you really grow as a street photographer!
Is that the good ol' 35mm f2 lens?
I've found with street photography that if I put my Fuji x100 on f2 and 4000 I'm able to get a sharp picture. Maybe I should try f8 and 500 and bump the ISO up
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dominiksbilder/26349451526/in/dateposted-public/
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I really like the way the shadows and colors are in the video frames @0:38.
What setting on a dslr or post processing can produce the same effect in photos?
Thank you!
So that photo of the woman on the bus, you were shooting video and taking the photo at the same time? How is that done? Are you still able to shoot RAW?
Outstanding and informative video.
Thank very much..updating my engadgets..thank..thank..thank..texts more info ,about newly technology
Ha. That's actually my favorite photo ever also.
Well made documentry. Please check out my street photography on Instagram @lens_flair123
That was a wonderful video. What a great guy.
must every street photography video have a 1920s piano riff song in the background?
Using the manual setting on your DSLR isn't quite dark art but I suspect that was a bit tongue-in-cheek. Nevertheless, in today's sea of auto-everything cameras, shooting fully manual isn't quite as common as it used to be. There was a time when folks didn't have the luxury of a light meter. Even after their introduction they were fragile and expensive. I feel fortunate to have learned on a fully-manual film camera via the Sunny 16 method. I got quite comfortable at estimating exposure by eye. Once you develop this skill it stays with you. I have photo students begin working on this from day one.
I eventually came to own meters and cameras with meters but I still shoot from a place of being aware of the light and how I want it to register on the film (or sensor). You don't need the camera to tell you whether or not it's "right." That is but one opinion of what a "proper" exposure could be. Mr. Olmos kind of alludes to this when he says he likes to take a shot and see how it comes out instead of trusting the meter blindly. That is one advantage to digital – the instant results. I mainly shoot film so it forces you to be knowledgeable about your film stock and confident with your pre-visualization. A film shooter can still bracket if they are unsure.
Choosing one setting and not moving it until the light changes is the hallmark of an experienced shooter. Nothing screams noob like a series of pictures where the exposures are all over the place, which would be the hallmark of a camera in some sort of auto mode.
The main strike against an in-camera meter is its ability to measure only reflected light. It is designed to measure 18% gray in a scene to provide accurate readings. Of course not all scenes will contain this value. This is why camera makers have been developing increasingly-sophisticated sensors and algorithms but even the fanciest cameras today can still be fooled by classic conditions such as backlighting, snowscapes, moonlight and sunrise/sunsets. You still have to interpret what the meter tells you so you're already having to use your brain. If you keep honing that skill you can eventually get to the point where you only use the meter to confirm what you already know!
Which brings us to incident meters. An incident meter measures, instead, the light falling on the subject and is very accurate under all conditions. If I have a meter with me I’ll take a reading (usually on me) to confirm my estimation and go from there. Eventually you will get comfortable estimating how dark a shadow is or how lighter a new scene is from your starting point and then knowing how many stops you need to compensate. It seems daunting at first but it is really quite liberating. It lets you focus more on the shooting – which is what it's all about, right?
Now if we were talking about shooting a fully-manual film camera without a meter, then we might be scratching the surface of what could be considered a “dark art.” That’s the way I like to work. 😉
antonio when can i go out to a street shoot with ya ??? p.m. me
This is very disturbing and should be banned for the decency of humanity. This intrusiveness can not be justified unless the "subjects" in the picture have given consent.
When I think of street photography I think of capturing scenery such as busy landmarks with multiple people, NOT individuals who have no say in the matter.
What would stop a Prevert from capturing images of pretty women (or men) in the public, only to then indulge in their sexual desires when they are at home.
That's ironic
YES!!! It's time we all realised that most people are okay with being photographed..or is that some so called "street" "togs' have to think it's risky and maybe they'll be punched out in order to get a kick? Well not this guy who is the real deal
+Antonio Zazueta Olmos – Thanks for the video Antonio. I, for one, found it interesting! I love taking photographs in London and documentary photography was something I practiced a lot back in my college days (with a little Olympus Trip hhaha!).
I hate when you guys do poor audio or video quality videos, but then you bring somenthing like this little piece of art. This was really good and it touches me as my dad is a photographer and I can see him in this video, his escence. Keep this standart please.
i love taking video and photographs
nice black and whites
2nd
He's…taking screengrabs from a video he recorded with a DSLR? Why didn't he just take a still photo in the first place?