When thinking about how you’ll capture the essence of a city there are a number of key decisions to make before you begin.
Shots like this of prominent city landmarks can be recorded as both stills and video clips to allow different opportunities for sharing them. We’ve reproduced this image in a 16:9 aspect ratio to show how it could work as a video clip, which would capture the movement of the subjects in the foreground, adding interest to the scene.
Stills or video?
With so many cameras today being equally capable of recording photos and video, it’s important to think about which mode of recording to use. Different recording formats will suit different situations and offer different sharing opportunities.
Maybe you should record both stills and video? If that’s your choice, which types of shots are best suited to the sharing situations you’re considering?
Start with how you plan to share your pictures. Either can be used for social media – but take account of what most sites/apps do to your images and video when they are uploaded and whether the changes applied will be detrimental to the viewing quality. The screens used for viewing will also influence the impact of your posts.
Video is best for recording action sequences and performances, and you can print individual frames from 4K (or better) video clips at up to A3 size for framing or using in photo books.
Stills are better for capturing moments in time and preserving them for people to contemplate. They’re also the best option if you plan to print your photos – although it’s possible to print frames grabbed from 4K video at up to A3 size. Factor this in if your city trip will be shared as a photo book or if some of the scenes you’re shooting involve fast action sequences.
Your best stills are pictures you’re happy to look at again and again, whereas a movie may only be replayed a couple of times. Impressive stills linger longer in your memory – and printed photos are easy to pass around and share.
Stills are great for capturing ‘decisive moments’ and also the best choice for images you’d like to print, especially if you’ve devoted time and care when composing the shot. (Source: iStock by Camera House.)
Most situations can lend themselves to video recording, and it’s great for capturing action and communicating emotions like expectation and excitement. While great action stills can elicit admiration, to get the best of sports and other types of action, video is difficult to beat.
Video can be more engaging when your work is shared on a screen, particularly a large, widescreen TV set. It’s also the best way to tell stories, for recording the passage of time and capturing actions within a specific time slot.
Video is more impressive on larger screens than on the small screens of handheld devices. But while movies can deliver all the excitement and vibrancy you recorded, the overall impression may be fleeting and it is often difficult to recall details later.
Noisy market squares can produce interesting video footage – but you may want to dub-in a new soundtrack to replace the relatively poor audio quality the camera records.
If you opt for video, give some thought to soundtracks and how much you plan to use real-time audio recordings versus any narration and background music you’ll add later. Real-time audio is often difficult to listen to and built-in microphones can pick up noises produced by the camera and/or lens when focusing and/or zooming.
Because you can’t separate the microphone from the camera, you may not be able to get the microphone close enough to the subject to record clear and uninterrupted sound. If you ramp up the mic’s sensitivity you also risk picking up extraneous noises you don’t want.
This happens because most camera mics are omni-directional (designed to pick up sound from all directions). And even if the camera includes a wind filter or attenuator, it may not completely remove unwanted extraneous noise.
Accessory microphones can be fitted to recording devices as small as smartphones to improve the quality of the recorded audio. (Source: RØDE Microphones.)
The best option for recording ambient sounds is to attach an accessory microphone, either to the camera’s hot-shoe or via a clamp, and then connect it to the camera via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Shotgun mics target sounds from in front of the camera and suppress all other noises. Connecting headphones to the camera lets you hear what’s being recorded.
If you plan to share videos, take account of the extra time you’ll need to produce a watchable movie. Most people find viewing unedited video tedious so long sessions of uncut footage will likely bore your viewers.
Whether you record still pictures for slideshows or video clips for movies, you must be selective in what you share with viewers. Most people find long, repetitive slideshows and unedited video tedious to watch.
Be equally selective when creating slideshows of photos for displaying on your TV or computer screen. Constant repetition of similar images will put your audience to sleep. Try to prepare a varied set of images and arrange them in a way that is constantly changing.
Adding transition effects between slides and background music and/or commentary can improve the viewer’s experience – but both require a light touch. A constant barrage of transition effects will be tiring to viewers, while loud, demanding music will send many people away.
Colour or B&W?
Choosing whether to create your ‘story’ in colour or monochrome (black and white) is a personal decision that can be made before or after you’ve recorded your shots. With today’s cameras, it’s easy to record in full-colour and then convert the result into black and white – or a version of the numerous monochrome tones.
Shows the different impacts that colour and B&W reproduction can have on how viewers respond to the same image.
Colour images have a different emotional impact on viewers from those that are in monochrome. Colour is essential for some images but a distraction in others. Subjects that look great in black and white may not look good in colour – and vice versa.
Some images need colour for impact and/or to accurately represent a subject or a moment in time. Colour is great for showing seasonality or establishing a time of day; think of autumn leaves and glowing sunsets.
However, vivid colour photos that seize your attention lose their impact if they’re desaturated – unless they are structurally interesting. B&W places more emphasis on composition and can leave a more lasting impression in genres like photojournalism and documentary photography, architectural photography and many portraits.
The structural design of this image is emphasised by rendering it in black and white.
Monochrome is best for highlighting contrasts, shapes, textures and lines. It’s also great for drawing attention to the direction, quality and intensity of the light and revealing structures and highlighting tonal subtleties.
Subjects where the main interest lies in texture can work well when rendered in monochrome. High-contrast B&W images convey a sense of raw toughness much better than you could achieve in colour. On the other hand, if you convert images with subtle pastel tones into B&W their impact is lost.
Most image editors provide plenty of monochrome conversion options, some of which let you apply traditional filters – similar to those used with B&W films – to your digital images.
Fortunately, today’s editing software provides plenty of tools for converting both photos and videos from colour into monochrome. Many have presets that can be applied effectively to single frames or video clips. Users can also create their own ‘filters’ to achieve certain end results by modifying colour balance, contrast, saturation and sharpness. Noise is also readily adjustable.
Approaches
There are many different ways to approach a city and street photography project. One straightforward way is to take a ‘big picture’ tack and present an overview of the structure and life of the city. You could also choose to focus on one element: the buildings, the people, the transport system, geographic aspects like harbours, rivers and hills or the ever-changing weather.
Documenting the changes that occur in two or more city landmarks over the space of a day, a month or several years can also yield interesting results. The end results can provide valuable historical records of the place and time.
Popular events like Sydney’s annual Vivid festival make it easy to create ‘story’ sequences based on different angles of view, different display sequences or different locations, as this series of shots taken at Vivid Sydney 2024 shows.
Another approach is to assemble a portfolio of similar images, centred on a theme that relates to the city in question. With older cities, it could be a focus on historical aspects. With modern cities, approaches could range from surveying different architectural styles to documenting the different types of citizens that characterise the place.
Cities all round the world present plenty of opportunities for creativity. Your only limit for exploring them is your imagination.
Useful links
Henri Cartier-Bresson at Magnum
This article by Margaret Brown is an excerpt from City & Street Photography – click here to order print or ebook edition.
Pocket guide Partner: Camera House
