A Step-by-Step Guide to Abstract Street Photography By Gary Rea
If you're a fellow street photographer who is also following my work (see viewbug.com/member/GaryRea) and you have been wondering how I do it and, more importantly, how you can, also, then this is your chance to find out. Anyone can learn photography, of course, and most people, having done that, can learn to do some variety of street photography. For most, gaining the self-confidence necessary to photograph people in public is the hardest part. If you're beyond that phase and you've done some street photography, but you're just not excited about it anymore, then you may need to find a new approach to the genre. I'm writing this with the assumption that you're at that point now, so this will not be a beginning photography tutorial. I am assuming that you've been doing photography for a while, now, and that you're not new to shooting street photography, either, as this will not be aimed at beginning street photographers. A few other assumptions are also made, here: first, you will need a digital camera that has some semblance of a Program or Program Auto mode that will allow you to control either shutter speed, aperture or ISO, and preferably ISO, as that is what you'll be using, all the time. If you're one of those diehard "purists" who insists upon shooting manually, this probably isn't going to be for you. If, on the other hand, you have an open mind about technique and you're open to doing whatever works, no matter what it is, then you'll do fine. The second thing you might want to use, although this is optional, is a zoom lens with a focal length in the range of about 50mm to 200mm or so. I am using a 55-210mm, myself, and I find this is adequate for all the scenes I shoot. You can, if it suits your preference, though, use a wide-angle fixed lens camera or interchangeable lens camera with a wide-angle lens. You could also use a wide-angle to telephoto zoom lens. The focal length isn't important, really. I just prefer a medium telephoto because I like the flattened perspective and the graphic look I get, not to mention being able to "reach out" and grab scenes that are farther away. That's all you'll really need, in terms of gear: a digital camera with the ability to set the ISO while in Program mode. Why? There are a couple of reasons: first, you'll be using the same settings all the time, regardless of the scene, in order to free yourself to concentrate upon the scenes, the action and, of course, framing and composition. As a street photographer, you're probably already aware that, in street photography, you don't have the luxury of taking the time to fiddle around with camera settings and that a point-and-shoot approach works best. Secondly, you'll also be shooting into what
are essentially low-light areas most of the time and so you'll want to freeze both subject motion and camera motion, so as to avoid blur. Now, that's all you'll need for the shooting, but you'll also need software that enables you to have full control over contrast, as this is key to the look I am getting. The look begins with the lighting you'll be looking for while shooting (more on this, in detail, later), but that's just the beginning. The Zone System photographers didn't get their amazing images in-camera only, and neither do I, although I'm not a Zone System adherent by any means. My point is that, if you're one of these "purists" who eschews the use of digital editing software, then this is definitely not for you, either. That said, I'm not talking about anything other than maximizing the black of the shadows and making them contrast with the light. You can get the same effect in-camera by shooting for the light and allowing the shadows to go dark, but the end result will be more predictable and controllable if you're in control of the final image. In Ansel Adams' day, the final image was a silver gelatin print and I can tell you, from my own experience as a photo lab technician, that none of the "old masters" of photography ever got their best work in-camera. Photography is, and always has been, a process that only begins with the camera, whether you're shooting film or digital, and the digital editing tools we use today are only digital emulations of the analog lab techniques that were used to arrive at the finished print more than a century ago. Where the processing of the image is concerned, I have used Nik Software's (bought by Google in 2012 and later sold to DxO) Silver Efex Pro 2 plugin for Photoshop and Lightroom (I used it in Lightroom 4.0) and it is one of the finest digital emulations of black and white lab techniques ever made, although there are more "modern" products now that can equal or surpass it. You can use it in Windows 7, 8 or 10, and it can also be installed as a plugin in Affinity Photo 2018 for Windows. Since my recent shift to the iPad from my Windows 7 laptop, I have been making use of Snapseed, which was also developed by Nik Software and acquired by Google (who promptly killed off the desktop version of Snapseed). Snapseed for iOS and Android is free and it is an amazing editor that incorporates many of the "Nik Collection's" features. I had to dig a little, at first, to find all the same tools that I've used for 7 years in Silver Efex Pro 2, but they are indeed there and I've been able to use them to maintain the same look I've had from using Silver Efex. These are the tools I've used, but you may have others you prefer. There are plenty of good dedicated black and white editors out there.
Getting Started Okay, now that you have the right gear and the right tools for image processing, it's time to put them to use. Rest assured that, wherever you live and wherever you've done your street shooting before, you can find everything you need for the kind of work you'll be doing. There is nothing complex about my approach at all; just a few simple "rules" you'll need to adapt to. It will take time to get used to thinking in a different way and the temptation to fall back into your old habits will take a while to overcome.
First of all, instead of looking for people to photograph, you'll be looking mostly for areas in which there is contrasting light and shadow. This is the main concern, now, and the people will come later. In fact, you may have already noticed, if you're following my work, that the people are mostly silhouettes or partial silhouettes and are often peripheral "stick figures" somewhere in the distance. Rather than being on the lookout for interesting "characters" doing odd things or juxtapositions of people with things, colors and each other, here the people become more or less incidental elements, sometimes the main element, but just as often incidental elements no more important than any other element in the scene. In fact, the people will not be the "subject," but rather, the scene will be. You're now focused upon creating abstract street scenes and the people in them are also abstracted. This will be the hardest transition to make from "traditional" street photography, but once you are accustomed to it, you'll begin to really appreciate how much more interesting your work will become. Because you'll be looking for scenes to shoot, you'll also find that your work will come to rely upon a certain level and character of light. Whereas, before you might have ignored the weather altogether and gone out to shoot whenever the mood struck you, in this style of photography, you must be more disciplined to wait for the right conditions. Never mind the weather report's insistence that it's "mostly sunny." If it isn't really truly sunny weather, the kind of contrast you need just won't exist. Thus, the ideal weather is a bright sunny day. Now, if you happen to live in a region like Northwest, as I do, that means many days in which the right light just won't be there. If you live where there is more sunlight year-round than there is cloudy weather, lucky you! However, if, like me, you're "sunchallenged," take heart, as you can still get that contrasting light at night, via man-made light sources. The natural darkness of the night will act as the perfect foil for these bright light sources. But, even when neither the sun is available nor you just can't shoot at night, there are still ways to get silhouettes, even on an overcast or rainy day. Under such conditions, you can look for people who are in front of bright backgrounds or who are silhouetted against the sky. If that's not quite adequate, look for those people who are wearing darkly colored clothing, especially black. Lastly, you can defeat any lack of contrast by increasing the contrast in post-production. Another note about night photography: if you'll be doing this, you will need a camera that has quite an extensive ISO range, as well as excellent image stabilization and noise reduction. For this, I recommend most of Sony's mirrorless line. I have used both an NEX-5N and an a5100 and I prefer the 16MP NEX-5N to the 24MP a5100 because the a5100 tends to include too much detail in the shadows, thus reducing their effectiveness in abstracting the scene. Because you're not looking for people to shoot, so much as you're looking for interesting light and shadow, it really doesn't matter where you go to shoot. Whereas, before, you might go to places where there are lots of people, like fairs, concerts, marches, etc, you can find ample places to shoot anywhere there are deep shadows, and on a sunny day, that's just about everywhere. If you're shooting in an urban area, you'll have ample architectural features that will provide areas of shade that you can use. Trees are also you're friend, in this respect, both in summer and winter. One thing you'll notice as you search out routes to walk that have all these scenes along the way, is that you'll come to have multiple routes you can take and scenes in which you can get multiple versions of the scene, each with different people, at different times of day, in different seasons, etc. Some will only be productive during certain hours, while others will be productive all day long. Some will be seasonal and some will be on one side of the street in one season, switching to the opposite
side of the street in another season, or at a different time of day. Too hot in the afternoon? Have things to do in the afternoon? Then shoot in the morning, when it's cooler. You'll also find that late afternoons and fairly early in the morning (say, about 8:00 to 10:00am, depending upon the season) are the times when the light is the best. When the shadows are long, that's the time to be out there. Another thing about the scenes you're looking for is that it doesn't matter what size they are. It can be a place on a sidewalk where the available shadow and light is only a few feet across, or it can be the entire side of a street. At certain times of the day, one side of the street may be dotted with these scenes while the opposite side of the same street will be almost entirely in shadow. If you live in an urban area (the best when it comes to this style) and there are hills, be sure to watch the hilltops, especially where there are any people crossing streets, silhouetted against the sky.
Post Processing In Silver Efex Pro 2, I typically start off opening the file in Silver Efex Pro 2, which automatically converts it to black and white. Then I move the three Brightness sliders at the top right of the interface (Highlights, Midtones and Shadows) all the way to the left, thus reducing these. Continuing down the righthand side, I next increase the Blacks contrast by moving the Amplify Blacks slider all the way to the right. After Moving the Highlights slider (under Tonality Protection) all the way to the right, the last adjustment is to choose one of the color filters, either Neutral, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green or Blue. Depending upon the colors in the original image, as well as the predominate color temperature of the light in the scene, you will get different effects. By experimenting with these, you can arrive at a final look for your image. Then all that remains is to click Save. These are my usual standard edits that I apply to 99% of my images, but there are times when variations on these are necessary. It will depend upon the original image. In Snapseed, things are quite different looking, as far as the interface goes. I'm using the iOS version, on an iPad 6 (the 2018 9.7-inch model), in iOS 12.2. All the Silver Efex-equivalent features are in Snapseed, but they have different names and are not as readily found. To achieve the same look and style as in Silver Efex, I begin by importing the RAW files from the SDHC card they were saved to in my Sony NEX-5N. These go straight to the iPad's Camera Roll. Secondly, in Snapseed, I open each image one at a time for editing. The default editing mode for RAW files is the RAW edit and the image will open in this mode automatically. First, I adjust the Shadows, all the way down, as low as they'll go. Next, I adjust the exposure to also darken the image. This is done until it looks right. You don't want to make the exposure too dark. Next, tap the edit mode icon and select B&W mode. This automatically converts the original color RAW file to black and white. While still in B&W, tap the Color Filter button and try each color until you get the look you want. Each color will produce a different result in the black and white image. Once you've found the right look, okay the change and move on to the Tonal Contrast editor. Here, select Mid-Tone Contrast and adjust it all the way to the right with your finger. This will bring out the midtone details without using the Structure functions. It's more subtle than introducing Structure. Finally, open the Brightness editor and adjust the Brightness all the way to the left, or until the scene looks right. Most of the time, using the full brightness reduction works, but not always, so you'll need to exercise some judgement, here. Once the scene is looking the way
you want it to, tap on the box with the upward-pointing arrow (which usually indicates "Share" in most iOS apps) and select Save. Once you have the editing routine down, in either Silver Efex or Snapseed, it goes rather quickly. I have sometimes edited as many 500 or so RAW files in only a few hours. It's a good idea, for the iPad workflow, to have a place - either physical USB storage, a computer, or a cloud storage account, such as Dropbox - to move your completed JPEGs to after editing, as you don't want to be using the iPad's Camera Roll as your long-term storage location, since it is very limited and finite and you'll need the space for future editing. Well, that's it! You now have the gist of my process and it's all up to you as to how you want to use it. The tools and techniques I've given you here are adaptable to other genres of photography, not just street photography. With some minor tweaking, you could apply the same techniques to producing the same noir style in portraiture, landscape, architectural or still life. You can, also, apply all these same techniques to color photography, as well, but in my opinion, good noir style photography is a black and white thing. Have fun with it, and good luck!