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How to optimise your camera settings for street photography to get the best exposure

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Street photography is one of the more chaotic yet fun genres of photography that many people choose to pursue. Even if it’s not something that people do regularly, it’s something that many of us do anyway when we go on vacation as just a regular part of documenting our trip. But how do we optimise our camera for this sort of shooting if we’re used to doing something more controlled, like portraits or product photography?

In this video, street photographer Frederik Trovatten talks about how he sets up his camera for shooting street photography. While he’s using the Fuji X-T3, the principles he mentions are common to many DSLR and mirrorless cameras. He also touches on shooting street photography with negative film, too.

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How sharing your photos on Unsplash may (not) help you grow your photography career

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It is now exactly 2 years since I started uploading stock photos to Unsplash -the slightly controversial stock photo platform where everything is FREE for everyone.

And I thought this is a good occasion to review what I gained from my presence on Unsplash.

In this article I want to answer the question if giving away one’s photographs for free on Unsplash has benefits for photographers.

Of course, these are just my own experiences. Your mileage may vary…

Let me give you the short conclusion first. For me as a professional photographer publishing photos on Unsplash was (almost) completely useless and had no tangible benefits.

Yet I am not negative towards Unsplash and I am going to tell you why.

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The three things you need to know if you’re new to shooting in manual mode

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Shooting in manual isn’t some magic bullet that will make all your shots perfect, no matter what some photographers might want you to believe. But there are things you need to understand in order to be able to use it effectively. Those three things are ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

In this video, photographer JoshinCincinnati walks us through the three basics of manual mode exposure, what they mean, and the implications of changing each.

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This ice cream truck owner’s had enough of Instagram influencers, so he charges them double

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We’ve all heard of Instagram influencers who ask for freebies. I’ve always thought that they usually ask for pricey stuff, such as photography services, or free accommodation on exotic locations. But it turns out that some of them go as low as asking for free ice cream in exchange for “exposure.” The owner of L.A. ice cream truck CVT Soft Serve got fed up with this. So, he decided to charge Instagram influencers double.

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How dynamic range compares on film vs digital

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The film vs digital argument has been going on since DSLRs first hit the market a couple of decades ago. But it doesn’t seem to be dying any time soon, especially with films popularity growing again. One of the big debates between the two formats that regularly pops up is that of dynamic range.

So, photographer Bill Lawson put it to the test. He shot some Kodak T-Max 100 in a Nikon N90s vs the more recent Nikon D750 DSLR using the Nikon 135mm f/2 AF-D DC lens on both to see how they compare.

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Been asked to work for free? Use this Exposure Calculator to see what that’s worth

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Normally when we talk about exposure calculators in photography, it’s to figure out what ISO, aperture and shutter speed we want to use for the scene before us. But with the rate of payments coming in “exposure” seemingly on the rise, a new type of “exposure calculator” has arrived. This one just popped up on Photography Domination, and it’s pretty amusing.

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A comprehensive visual guide to equivalent exposure

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If you’re just starting out with photography, the relationship between ISO, aperture and shutter speed is one of the crucial things to learn. However, it can be difficult to grasp if the concept is new to you. In this great animated video from Apalapse you’ll easily learn the relationship between the three parameters and how they affect the exposure and the look of your images.

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This is how the metering modes in your camera work

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Metering is one of those strange aspects of photography. It’s actually a rather straightforward principle, but it seems complex to new camera users due to unfamiliar terminology like “spot”, “evaluative” and “incident”. But it’s pretty easy to get to grips with.

In this video, photographer Saurav Sinha, goes over the basic metering modes that are common to pretty much all cameras. Those are spot, centre weighted and matrix or evaluative metering. There are other brand-specific metering modes available on some cameras, but these are the ones you’ll come across most often.

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Photographers, don’t fight the shadows. Embrace them

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In tricky lighting situations, most photographers expose for the highlights to prevent them from getting blown out. But this can create dark shadows which sometimes don’t preserve enough detail. What to do with them? Should you brighten them up in post? According to Sean Tucker, you shouldn’t. Instead, just embrace them and use them to your advantage. In this highly inspirational video, Sean discusses how to do it, and why this advice goes for both photography and life.

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