Street photography, to me, is the foundation of all photography. Through street photography, we can learn a lot about the fundamentals of photography. Street photography requires us to act quickly in capturing moments while we are moving, but sometimes, we can also wait for a moment while sitting and enjoying a cup of coffee. However, even while waiting for a moment, the instinct of a street photographer will automatically prompt them to act quickly in pressing the shutter button when they find an interesting moment.
In training one's photographic instinct, street photography is the best because we can observe shadows, highlights, moments, emotions, architecture, and practice composition. Practicing in manual mode requires us to get the right exposure, so the captured photos align with our intentions. Therefore, when doing street photography, we must be able to adjust our camera settings to the current street conditions because street conditions change rapidly, especially lighting conditions, which can vary significantly from one place to another. Lighting conditions can even change quickly within minutes. Hence, we are trained here to adapt our camera settings to all street conditions at that moment to achieve good results without the need for post-processing.
Although it's not necessarily a problem to correct it during the editing process, I feel that the essence of photography itself would diminish. For example, now we can easily see the histogram on digital cameras, allowing us to know whether the photos we are about to take are properly exposed. This is different from using an analog camera where we can only rely on the viewfinder, and we can't determine if our photos are well-exposed at the time of capture. We only find out the results during the development process. Therefore, personally, I believe it's crucial to ensure precise exposure when taking photos.
I've noticed that nowadays, many people call themselves photographers, even though they might not be familiar with the technical aspects of photography. Some don't care whether their photos are properly exposed because they believe they can process editing using raw files later on, allowing them to correct their photos. While this is not necessarily wrong, I've noticed an increasing number of photographers relying on editing in the final process. Consequently, I feel that the knowledge of the exposure triangle is gradually becoming less known.
Oh, I almost forgot. Here are some of my results from doing street photography in Jakarta, specifically around Glodok Market. This place is indeed one of the destinations for photographers interested in street photography, so people here are accustomed to seeing someone with a camera. They also don't mind us capturing their activities. Therefore, I feel very comfortable doing a street photo session in this area. If you feel tired, there are also many places to have coffee and eat in this area, so there's no need to worry about getting tired as there are plenty of places to take a rest.
For me, conducting a street photography session is quite challenging because I have to repeatedly adjust the shutter speed to the surroundings, adjust the lens aperture to capture the ambiance, and tailor the ISO to achieve the desired shutter speed. Not all photos that appear bokeh are appealing to me. While for some people, bokeh is everything, the longer I immerse myself in the world of photography, I realize that bokeh isn't everything. Creating the right ambiance to support the story of the photo I want to produce is also crucial. Even for portrait photography, bokeh isn't everything to me.
Thank you to those of you who have visited my post this time. Perhaps more accurately, this post only contains my concerns as a photographer. However, indeed, street photography is one of the most fascinating ways to practice photography, as you will swiftly adjust the exposure triangle to the surrounding conditions. Don't forget to always support the photography posts that you find interesting. With your support, we photographers will undoubtedly be more enthusiastic about sharing our work in this community.
Warm regards from me.