Why I Stopped Shooting Like This
When I first got into street photography I put way too much emphasis on my camera settings.
In the early days of being a photographer I must’ve heard someone on the internet say that I had to shoot in manual to be a “real” photographer.
And so I thought that’s what I had to do. I mean, it made sense to me at the time. I needed to learn how to shoot in manual to understand how settings really worked. To take real photos like a professional.
And while there’s some truth and logic to understanding the fundamentals of exposure, what it actually ended up resulting in was too much emphasis on my settings.
I was so fixated on getting the correct exposure of my settings that I was spending more time looking down at my camera than actually looking up and seeing what was happening around me. You know, actually noticing the photos to begin with.
Fast forward to today and camera settings now have just become another part of the tool that I use.
Getting a shot in 100% focus or getting my exposure 100% “correct” will never be more important than actually getting the photo.
And I swear by that.
Aperture Priority.
This is the camera mode that is set on my camera pretty much all of the time these days, and for good reason, it lets me have a much more hands off approach to photography.
It’s fair to say that digital cameras have become a bit too convoluted. They can do so many new and different things, which is great if you need those things, but for most of us we really only need a few key things for a camera to be functional to use for something like street photography.
So just because a new camera that has come out can shoot in HDR, has AI auto focus, or can order food to your house, it doesn’t mean you need to use those things (although I’d probably take the food ordering feature if that was available to me).
So when it comes to new digital cameras in my case, I feel like I don’t really need a whole lot out of its internal specs for photography.
Actually, most of my technical needs come in more for video but that’s a whole other topic.
If you ever pick up one of my camera guides I’ve made for the X100V, XE4, or GR IIIx, you‘ll see that my setups can be pretty simple, and that’s the whole point of it. Most of my camera setup actually involves turning things off and making the camera more functional out of simplification.
This is all to say that it’s okay to simplify your camera if it means you’re going to get better use out of it.
For me that involves using aperture priority, and letting my camera automatically set the shutter speed and ISO.
Venice, Italy 2023
Marrakech, Morocco 2023
The Fast & Sharp Lens Myth.
I think every photographer goes through that stage where they immediately assume the “best” lenses are the lenses with the widest aperture. And maybe there’s some truth to that, typically those lenses will be sharper, definitely a lot more expensive too, but that doesn’t necessarily make them the “best” lens.
If there’s anything I’ve learned over the years as a photographer, it’s that image quality is not the be all end all to creating a great photo.
I now much prefer the smaller, more lightweight lenses for my Fujifilm because they are so much more compact and practical.
That practicality leads to more use, and with more use means more experience on the streets gained.
Fujifilm XF 35mm f/2
I swear by these f/2 primes for my Fujifilm and even though they open to just f/2 it’s never been something I’ve felt like I’ve needed more from.
Personally, I think they’re the best for street photography and travel because of their incredibly lightweight and compact profile, and aesthetically they just fit Fujifilm camera bodies the best.
There’s something about the sharpness output of new digital cameras that I personally don’t like. Where the images are so sharp, so “good” that it doesn’t even look real anymore, like the image looks even better than real life.
There’s a natural feeling to the image that’s lost, some authenticity that’s no longer there. I know some film photographers will argue that’s the case between digital and analog, but I think you can begin to draw that line within digital cameras and just how sharp they can be.
New York, New York 2023
I shoot in a lot of abstraction, so I actually welcome the muddier less sharp look that my older lenses create. It almost contributes to this paint like aesthetic in the photo which I really don’t mind and again, prefer in my street photos.
And no, this is not because I wear glasses.
I’m definitely in the minority on this but this is just my preference. I’m not trying to say one look is better than the other here. My point is that I don’t really mind that my lenses are not the fastest or sharpest option, and that I actually prefer the look of a less digitally sharp photograph.
For all general street photography, using aperture priority, I’ve stuck to around f/8 or higher as it creates that deep depth of field look that I’ve really grown to like in my images.
It’s a look that of course not everyone is going to like, but I like that lack of separation between subjects or objects and the background.
Maroc, Essaouira, 1988 - Harry Gruyaert
The Slightly Out of Focus Effect
One of my favorite photographers, Harry Gruyaert shot at high apertures and frequently layered subjects in the foreground to create this overall layered stage of characters.
Studying photographers like Gruyaert, Haas, and Leiter, I’ve found that incorporating the environment as a compositional tool is a really great way to add depth.
I made a whole video of that concept that you can check out for yourself. It’s a good one. Not biased at all.
It’s a simple trick to create cleaner compositions, create depth through layering, and also potentially even add more context to a photograph.
This is also one of the reasons why I’ve been sticking to using higher apertures.
Venice, Italy 2023
Because of the higher aperture I can get more detail of what’s in my foreground while also having subjects further away in relative focus.
The keyword being “relative focus” as shooting in higher apertures has its perks in getting subjects in focus, enough.
You may of heard of zone focusing. Unfortunately it’s a bit difficult to do on Fujifilm cameras. But shooting at higher apertures does give me more leeway with more subjects being in relative focus.
While shooting, I’ll focus the camera on a point (usually the ground) ahead of me and from that point on to infinity might be my “focus zone”. The higher the aperture I use, the bigger that zone can be.
Keep in mind, this really only works with a back button focus setup or having an AF-L button handy, as anytime I hit the shutter, my camera won’t be refocusing.
Now, not all of the subjects will end up being pin point in focus, but I’m fine with that. This idea of needing subjects to always be in 100% focus brings me back to this idea of furthering myself away from that “digital look” and coincidentally I’ve found that a slightly out of focus subject creates a more natural “less digital” look to the image.
This is all subjective, of course, but I prefer the slightly out of focus image over the 100% in focus image in a lot of scenarios.
Take the image examples below. All of them are just slightly out of focus, and as a result there’s a softness to the image that is almost film like, in the sense that there’s some imperfection to these images that is quite pleasing to the eye.
Marrakech, Morocco 2023
Paris, France 2023
New York, New York 2023
I can't say that this is how anyone should shoot, but it has certainly helped me both in achieving the type of style I'm going for in my work but also just making the shooting experience on the street a whole lot less complicated for me.
I haven't worried about settings at all since shooting like this and I feel like that has resulted in better photos because I’m just that much more focused on what’s happening around me versus what’s happening with my camera.
If you're in a bit of a struggle with your camera settings I highly suggest you try this out for a bit, see how it goes, and try and implement it with the use of layers that I talk about in my other video too.
In the end, it’s all about making the process work best for you which is why I’m sharing this with you all.
Because this is what works for me, and maybe it will work for you too.
