Sony HX5 - Street Shooting

2010-5-6 21.14

Welcome to the fascinating world of Street Photography. There are different techniques from big equipment in your face photography to the hidden spycam approach. To get an idea, read here, here and here. You are also welcome to see my approach to street shooting with the HX1


self portrait in my usual street shooting position.

In a time where most people are highly sensitive of photography and you get into trouble just snapping some shots of buildings I think it is the easiest way to just be casual and unobtrusive.

The camera on the left sure would get you into trouble these days.
(was thinking of Stephen McDonald´s HX1 gun when I took this shot)



click image to go to their website

Here are two positions I found most effective and secure to hold the camera.

as you can see the thumb is used as the trigger finger


the hand band is so adjusted, that even if released the camera stays in the right position and is easy to re grab with on hand.

This is now my faforite position for maximum grip and control





Now lets see some shots, they are all resized to 800 pixel hight and are mostly just sharpened a bit. Since I am shooting from the hip I have no idea what exactly gets framed. Most of the time I get my object but occasionally I miss also.


that is one big afro look


from the street into the open door of a barber shop


I was just aiming for the young man


he is happy in gating the stairway to heaven


acrobatics (I shot a few more but they were out of frame)


my liquor store


an interesting find for 5 Euro

and the we went to Mc Donalds
I loved their Chicken Mc Nugget and from the 1 Euro menu you got 4 pieces and a nice sauce (quatro chicken mc nugget con salsa currrrrry, por favor)
but it is gone now replaced with Chicken Move It.
We ordered and this is what we got!


are they kidding? This is major chicken hyperinflation. This sorry thing has the size of less than 2 Mc Nuggets and tastes not better.


and instead of a BBQ dip you get some powder to put on the sorry piece of chicken.
Hey Mc Donalds, this is crap, you just lost a couple customers and they will spread the word about this rip off!
Gladly we had the above mentioned bottle just purchaded and erased the taste with a gulp.

I need some pussy after that experience

behold the power of the automatic macro from the HX5.
Loved it on my HX1 and in these situations it is just gorgeous.

Automatic everything, the big friend of the lonesome street shooter.


a much closer look at our feline friend here


please do not touch below 18 - yes kids, these toys are no toys
... and what an interesting Gorilla they have


not suitable for children (contains small parts - so choking hazard)
you got to love these things from China.


giddy up


... yes Sir, this is the customer service for your Microsoft product, how may I help you?
(shot while walking up the stairs)


lousy depression, no customers - empty stores


... and then I got up and ate a toast, brushed my teeth and ...


bugger, she found my tiara I just tell her it is 25 Euros


can I see me now?


shot into the sun, loved that t-shirt


and here is it, with the magic of enhance, sharpen and crop
not bad for shoot into the sun


this is why I love this kind of photography, I was just concentrating on the colors of the buggy and the girl and at home I discovered that it was just shot in the right angle ant the right moment. It looks like she is shopping for a garment for her t-shirt girl.


the news of my demise because of swine flu are greatly exaggerated
This little Miss Piggy went to the market...


happy boat people


guys, guys, this is a bit obvious, we are talking discrete street photography here.

This concludes a little show and tell in the fascinating world what is in front of your door.
It only is to mention how to get the best results.
I tried IAuto first and HDR also but best works:

• Scene Mode set to Sport
  since most shots are taken while I walk or just stop for a second I need all the speed I can get for a non blurry shot.
• set burst shooting to on
• set burst to low
  you can now shoot up to 10 pictures in 5 seconds plenty time to circle your object or move the camera slightly
• if possible stay still for a second while you take the shot
• when you find your next shot, aim the camera and then take interest in something away from the object while you slightly depress the shutter with your thumb.
• display setting to low and if you are clever you have a Super Magic Mirror (see post about this gadget) what covers your display so no one sees that your camera is on because of a glowing display.
• sound to off
• go get them, tiger