Street Portrait Photo How To

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Portraits tread the funny line between

a fiction and a reality.

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So when we're on the streets,

it's completely random of course,

and that's part of the magic of making these portraits,

is you can't predict what's gonna happen.

You just sort of be aggressive,

stop the person, be honest, tell 'em what you're gonna do

and if they're game, they're game,

if not let 'em go, wish 'em a good day.

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And you can't stop without coming to

be photographed real fast. Huh?

I'm makin' portraits,

stand right there, I'll make a portrait of you.

You look great!

Not of my face, just not of my face!

[Photographer] Not my face, not your bag,

I'll stay close up, how's that.

Cool, what's your name man? Lyle

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I might start a little at a distance,

but I might then attracted to something really up close.

Maybe do some framing and composition,

and see what happens

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You wanna make that person comfortable

and you have to do it pretty fast.

It's already weird enough to be up in your face

with a camera.

Let's try and minimize the awkwardness.

If you don't mind lettin' these guys shootin' do ya?

No where you guys from?

They're gonna take your head, put it on a naked body.

He's cool, we're gonna do weird porn,

probably wired.com, you know they're big on the porn.

Overcome your shyness.

You need to be photographed.

Hey what's up?

Takes two seconds, come,

come makin' a portrait. I gotta go!

[Photographer] Well it only takes

eight seconds, I got work to do

[Photographer] You're gonna stand here

just lookin' at me like that.

Smile, no smile, no smile,

just lookin' it right in there.

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Is it disappointing sometimes

when a remarkable character walks by

and denies you the chance to be photographed?

Yeah sure.

But again, you just internalize it,

and bring that energy to the next person who does pose.

People like to be photographed.

If they've stopped, more than likely

they're cool with being photographed.

What they're not necessarily accustomed to

is the super close,

and I like it up close.

The camera is just a tool to sort of express your vision.

Don't get hung up in the gear.

I use one lens,

I use a 50 millimeter lens,

and that's it.

If I wanna get close, I am close.

An SLR is handy, camera wise,

because it allows for

you to control a little more exposure.

But if you're adept enough at photoshop or something,

you can do a little of that clean out

and make sure that white is really white,

after the fact.

I think a lot of photographers get hung up

on this idea that you have to construct the image,

that it has to all be pre-planned,

that you have to light like crazy.

I'm outside!

Could it be better light?

Sure!

But we're not gonna get hung up in it,

the real magic is the interaction.

I'm not really interested in the Golden Gate.

(laughing) Hear ya man!

More of the people, what's your name?

I'm Frank.

Frank, pleasure to meet you. And you are?

My name's Clay.

So because we're dealing with natural light,

there's a few things to pay attention to,

and one is to find that open shade,

you don't want direct sun,

it's just gonna blow out your exposure,

and it's not as flattering.

Also you want to find an evenness,

and right now it's a little darker on this side

than it is on this side,

so I'm compensating a touch.

Ideally for me, I like a really really flat light.

The sky is your soft light,

and so just work with it.

In a more shady area, you might want a little

bounce in there to fill in the eyes.

This isn't an exotic set up,

I mean literally some white paper

and some natural light

and you're in business.

White, I like, black is cool too,

but white, just something sorta simple

and clear and classic about it.

It's okay to direct, it's okay to move 'em around

a little bit.

I'm trying to also make them look strong and

you know, heroic, if you will.

I don't mean that in a super hero sense,

though you could take it that way.

It's that I'm really trying to put them in their best.

The photographs you make are

are not just the person you stopped,

but the total cumulative experience of all those people

who passed you by as well.

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