Just a quick piece of news. I have two BIG travel plans with special focus on photography soon! I will try to write about the way I choose my destinations, what I like to shoot over there, preparations for the trip, and the gear that I will take with me. So stay tuned!

Back to the topic of street photography! Another way of doing candid street photography is the so-called “Hip Shooting”, meaning that you would keep the camera at your hip level and shoot. But why would you do that? Because it is inconspicuous. People do not notice and do not behave differently because they are being photographed.So how do you frame, focus, etc? If you have a SLR with fixed screen and no live view, you simply don’t! You just try and try and 1 out of 10 shots can come out almost right! But the best is to have a camera with tilting screen, live view, and a fast autofocus. That’s why I think the new Olympus E-PL3 is a winner in this regard!

This camera is still not out, but I think it will be a great camera for street photographers.

But even with an old SLR and no live view and tilting screen, like 5D, it is possible to do some nice hip shooting. It just needs a bit of practice! Generally a wide angle lens is better, although I have tried an 85mm lens too (with lower success rate). If not sure about the autofocus speed and accuracy, it’s advantageous to use pre-focusing (setting the focus distance to 2-5 meters) and use a small aperture to have a larger depth of field. Here are some examples of my hip shooting:

Paris - Love on bicycle

There was no time to even bring up the camera, when I saw this couple close to the bikes. I just pointed my camera towards them and shot this.

Glasgow - Playboy

Using an 85mm lens with autofocus is very tricky for hip shooting. This shot was one the few that I (luckily) managed to have it right.