Street photography tip: Isolating your subject

Thursday 21 December 2023, 17:17 by Michiel Heijmans | 2,764 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

The man on the train platform, the woman in the summer dress. Instagram is full of photos where it seems as if there is only one person in a particular location. Isolating your subject from the rest works really well in a photo.

Nijmegen - f/2.8, 1/640s, 100 ISO @ 200mm
It can sometimes have a sense of loneliness, or something elegant. It can also radiate strength. By making one person the subject of your street photo, you isolate them, in a way. And that can be in a very busy place, too.

If you want to take a photo like this, the easiest way is with a telephoto lens, such as an 85mm or a 70-200mm zoom lens. If you use a wide aperture of, for example, f/2.8, you isolate the subject even more through the shallow depth of field, the area that is sharp in your photo.

When taking a photo like this, look out for so-called 'leading lines'. The lines in your image that lead the viewer's eyes towards the main subject in your photo.

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