Shooting street action in an urban setting is a forte any prospective photographer would love to have. Be it rain portraits, late evening city lights or those inimitable skylines, there’s always something going on and choosing the right combination of gear and lenses becomes paramount to getting those cherished shots. Having spent the past few years here in San Francisco, a city so near and dear to me, I’ve relied heavily on my X-T2 and the unbeatable pairing of 10-24mm for wide shots, 35mm for low light & the 50-140mm for some telescopic captures. This easy to carry trio covers a solid focal range and renders phenomenal results edge to edge in even the trickiest of situations.
As much as we all love that soft lighting during the blue hours which we shall talk about in a bit, there’s something equally fulfilling about catching reflections. Here’s a sample shot from a quiet Sunday morning after a rain storm had drenched the city through the week providing the perfect opportunity to bring to life this speeding tram on Market street.
Lot of times we may need to use techniques such as panning to freeze motion, but got lucky to get a decent composition sitting on the sidewalk handholding my X-T2 and running a fast continuous shutter with a narrow aperture to get the entire frame in focus.
Color rendition on the Fuji lineup is something that’s always applauded in the photographic circles and this evening rush hour image shot in low light with the 35mm f2 shows us why the Fujis are so reliable as long as we have the composition right.
Star bursts are another cool concept to play around with for the incredible lift and character they add to imagery. In most cases an f stop of 16 and above should produce a good result, this one taken on my older X-T1 at f/22, got the headlamps on incoming traffic glow to appeal.
And finally to something that’s spoken and loved widely in the community, also one that near and dear to me as a landscape photographer, grabbing those pink blue hues at the golden hour.
This beauty of a bridge, the Golden Gate has been photographed from across every possible corner around the perimeter of the city one could think of. So encompassing is its presence, you’ll never lose sight while you are around !
A lot of conditions had to come right that Fall evening to facilitate this showdown, no fog among the most important (locals may say: are you kidding?).
Also of consequence was getting a chance to play around with layering concepts to add an element of depth something that leads the viewer from foreground, to the middle element to everything behind, a desirable progression. Do go up the hill to get these trees sway to the tunes of the bridge, an easy way up, but make sure you head out there with some company thanks to the reputation San Francisco has built in recent years for being unsafe for us camera wielding tourists!