Street photography. Pay attention to your backgrounds and lens choices.

It is always a good idea to pay attention to the backgrounds of your photos.  It's easy to get caught up in the moment, especially when shooting at public gatherings where time and opportunity are fleeting.  Such was the case during the Canada Day celebration in Kelowna when I was photographing people.  

Photographers love control.  We love to control light, subjects, camera settings, and activity around our shoot.  The one thing we have the most control over is our own position.  Street photography is all about capturing the moment, the person being in their element, and their story.  Positioning yourself to capture them relative to a desirable background is important.

The second thing you have direct control over is the equipment you use and the settings.  For the image above, I used my 135 f/1.8 Nikon Z lens and chose an aperture of f/1.8 to make the background blurry.  There is enough detail in it to give some context as to where the photo was taken, which is part of the reason why the row of outhouses wasn't particularly acceptable.  A zoom lens has the advantage of being able to vary the focal length, meaning you can also alter the camera to subject to background ratio.  This allows for narrowing or expanding the background as you see fit.

Mount Baker from Birch Bay.  Focal length affects background size.

Picking the right position relative to your subject to get the background right is important.  Choosing the right focal length and aperture will allow you to manipulate the subject/background relationship.  In street photography, you often have seconds to make a decision.  Making the right one could make all the difference in the world.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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