You might think that using a manual camera could pose a challenge for professional pet photography. In reality manual cameras are as good as the AF cameras & could produce stunning images on film or on digital.

Here are a couple of the images using the Nikkormat EL.All these images are shot in natural light, without any flash. I’ve used the 135mm manual AIS lens most of the time to produce these images on the handheld camera.

I have processed these film rolls at the local studio & had them scanned at very low resolution for the web. Even then, you can notice the correctness of the exposure & the sharpness of these pet portraits.

The Nikkormat EL is one of my favorite, ever since I’ve been using it as a backup for the last several years. Not only is the metering perfect on this camera, but it can run without a battery (the exposure meter will not work). The film used here is the consumer grade Kodak 400 BW CN.

The 24mm has a couple of advantages that make it very suitable for street portraits & street photography. The angle allows enough canvas to create a photo story.

The lenses can focus at very close distance, making it easy to shoot portraits up close. And most of the time, at wide open, they create a very nice muted background that does not distract the viewers’ attention.

These street photos & portraits were taken in various parts of New York City & I have known many of them with time. The street portraits include those of Joel, Alysha, Lucas, Eddie Rapp on his fiddle, Marc, Brian Vinson on his bass, Leonardo Love on his saxophone & Anthony Southgate with his guitar among others.

These photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D200 with occasional usage of Nikon Professional Speedlight systems & professional wide angle Nikon lenses including the 24mm Nikon street photographers lens! The images are displayed as they were taken without any digital manipulation except to reduce their size & resolution.

If you need high resolution copies please contact us with the usage details.

Being a street photographer & shooting candid street subjects & street portraits is not an easy job. You have to be extremely fast with your camera & be able to determine the look of the final street photo even before you click the shutter.

10 Tips for Great Street Photos & Street Portraits

1. Get the Right Street Photography Camera, Lens & Flashes – equipments are very critical to the art form. While I never advise on spending tons of money on buying fancy gears, you need to have the cameras, lenses & the speedlight flashes that perform.

I have a shortlisted the essential professional gears for street photography that I use along with an extensive list of cameras & lenses for a wide variety of professional photography.

2. Use the Right Lens & the Best Street Portrait Lens – any professional photographer would tell you that the most important photo gear in their camera bag are the lenses. While individuals may have their preferences, I am comfortable using Nikon prime lenses for most of the street photography.

The time of the day you shoot & the way the light & the shadows play in the location you shoot also make it necessary to have the right lens. I have shortlisted the most important Nikon Street Photography & Street Portrait Lenses that I always carry with me.

3. Using Speedlight Flashes for Street Photos – the modern speedlight flashes are excellent tools to add creativity to your photography. While they add that spot of light to make portraits come alive with a catch light in your subject’s eyes, the correct use of flashes would also help you balance the tone in unevenly lit situations.

I have rarely used flashes in the dark! On the other hand, I have almost always used professional Nikon flashes in bright well lit days especially for street portraits.

4. Connecting with your Subject – a photo is just a photo unless your viewers are able to relate to your subject. When photographing people on streets, you could only get the best expression from your subject when they participate in building the photo. The best street photos are the ones where the photographer has successfully connected with the subject.

5. Building a Story with Photos – the famous National Geographic photographer & writer Bill Allard said that as a photographer he does not have the ability to bring in sound or motion & hence he has to build a complete story purely out of lights & shadows.

Each & every photo of such famous portrait photographers tell a story that viewers easily relate to & immediately connect with the emotions. I try out various angles, various DoFs while talking to my subject on the streets. Many times, I talk to them after I review the photos & take their opinions on which street photos & portraits to finally keep & which ones to throw away.

6. Choosing the Subject for a Great Street Portrait -

Subjects for street portraits or candid street photos are not random. They are carefully picked & chosen to fit the exact image that you are trying to create. A great subject for portrait are those with distinctive looks & high degree of expressions either through their disposition or their action.

7. Taking Care of the Background – the most complex part of a great street photo is an even, non-distracting background and possibly a bokeh where possible. A properly handled background makes the subject pop out & help you create a great street photo.

To get a subdued background in a street photo or a street portrait, you could be using a very fast lens that usually have very shallow depth of field obscuring the background. A telephoto lens also helps create a very even, muted background but adds to the challenge of a longer minimal focusing distance.

8. Shooting Handheld or Using a Tripod – I would advise you to use a tripod always. However, using a tripod in street photography is extremely challenging, especially when people would be moving around & you would have a flick of a moment to take the picture.

Agility is a great asset to street photographers – being able to get to the right spot, anticipating the behavior and be able to move around fast. Some modern tripods are designed out of carbon fibers & are very light, however, they still could become a problem when you have to move through crowds or subways.

9. Color Street Photography or Street Photos in Black & White – this is the most common question I face from street photographers, whether to do them in color or black & white. I have written up my take on that in Color or Black & White Street Photography along with my recommendations.

10. Improving your Street Photos & Street Portraits – there are 2 ways to improve on your street photos & street portraits to make them better. One is always to share them with the subject if possible & take their feedback. For most of the street portraits that you see on ProPhotography101.com, the subjects were able to review them & send in their comments that have helped me to do a better job on the next street photo.

The second way is to take a variety of photos and review which ones stand out. This would also help you refine your techniques & make a better choice of subjects going forward.

These street photos & street portraits are of low resolution created specifically for this website. If you need high resolution digital files or fine prints, please contact us by email.

Even though you’ve heard it probably a zillion times that it is not the camera or the lens, it is the photographer who makes a brilliant professional photo, the truth is, every art has it’s own gears to perfect the style. In photography too, you need the right Professional Photography Lenses to create stunning images right off the camera.

List of Professional Photography Lenses

• Read the list of Professional Photography Lenses I use in the Camera & Gears section
• Instead of buying a “cheap glass” for now hoping to buy the “best lens” later on, save the money and buy the best lens, otherwise you would end up with a ton of cheap lenses
• Cameras change every 2 years & ever more frequently now that the digital photography technology is evolving at lightspeed, professional lenses last for decades – they just become costlier every day. So it is wiser to spend money on Professional Photography Lenses than on cameras
• Clean your lenses after you come back from a photo assignment. Dust, sand, smoke, grease, fumes and sheer heat affects the lenses more than what the eye could see
• Use a lens protector, like an UV filter, or plain glass filter when shooting & use a lens cap with silica gels when you are not using the lens
• Always buy the brand name (Nikon / Nikkor lenses in my case)

Although any professional lens could be used in any situation, to get the best possible impact, you need to focus on 3 types of Professional Photography Lenses (shown in the chart, courtesy of scienceandart.org).

1. Professional Nature Photography Lenses (including landscape photography) – wide angle lenses in the range of 16/17mm – 50mm. Since you would be using them at high aperture settings of f/8 and above, a slow lens would work as great & you could save quite a lot of money when you buy a slow one

2. Professional Street Photography Lenses (including low light photography) -  you need a lot of speed and lenses with very low prime aperture is the best (f/1.4 onwards). They are also the most expensive in their category, but this is always the main difference between an amateur photographer and a professional photographer. Pro street photography requires fast, tack sharp, low dispersion, low distortion lenses

3. Professional Travel Photography Lenses – weight is the main thing to look out for when you are into professional travel photography. The most preferred lenses for pro travel photography ranges from wide angle to around 135mm for great portrait photography. Pro travel photographers also prefer to use very fast lenses especially for low light photography.

You always need to practice for months to get adjusted to a new lens. Take hundreds of photos till you can predict the image in any condition without having to experiment in the field.