To photograph people on the street we need to looking for a subject that looks different or unique compare to most people out there. Therefore, shoot a person with unique outfit can become our advantage to make a dynamic image.
Unique outfit could be in many many form like a person wear a big hat, a stick, colourful/full pattern dress, unique moustache style, etc. However, umbrella is my first pick for unique accessories for several reasons.
Why umbrella?
Because this thing is easy to find, has edgy shape (good for add dynamic element) and most of them come in colours, which is means we also can play with strong colours match to add “power” to our images to attract audience attention.
Shoot umbrella with translucent material
If I have to pick some subjects that hold umbrella at the same time, then I will focus on the one with translucent style. By shooting at sunny day, from extreme low angle, translucent umbrella will enhance texture and strong colours (due to light of sun). Make it become more surreal, and has greater wow effect.
Mysterious subject
Can not find any translucent umbrella at all? Only opaque material available around? Then we still can use it as advantage by cover umbrella to subject’s face or part of their body to create a mysterious effect. Shoot with any angle we prefer (eye-level, low, high, or tilt left/right), just make sure to leave mysterious space there. Do not reveal subject’s full face/body. Cover part of it with umbrella that they hold.
Main reason to shoot mysterious subject is because I like to create image that force audience to use their imagination (and infuse it to reality) to interpret the story in my photo. For more about Shoot Mysterious Subject read here.
Play with angle
Umbrella itself has “unique” shape because it has form of diagonal lines. Play with our angle, if able do not shoot only one time and from one side only. Be creative and try to shoot more from different angle. Like in photo above I choose to shoot from her side because I want to combine silhouette of her face’s contour with diagonal line from umbrella. Read here for more about diagonal composition.
Like in the photo above I use the umbrella’s shape (and colurs) to create dynamic form and at the same time also create mysterious subject effect.
Also notice in both photo they use umbrella with solid colours (not translucent material), therefore if I shot them from extreme low angle, I could not get strong colour and texture effect of their umbrella because the light from sun could not get through well.
Easier to shoot from close distance
One thing that I realize after photographed so many people who held umbrella: Most of them have less awareness of their surrounding (perhaps also the fact that umbrella limit their vision area as well), therefore it is much easier to shoot them at close distance without disturb or annoy them because they simply did not realize being photographed.
Easy to find
Here in Jakarta city, I think the easiest way to get unique outfit is by shooting a person who hold umbrella (compare to other unique accessories). At summer time, Sun is simply too hot to be true (like now!), even though most people still walk outside without umbrella, but with a little patient, eventually we will find one. At rainy day (if it is not too windy), umbrella is simply everywhere. Like in photo above, I shot it when I was walking to get my lunch at near my working place.
That is all about my thought of shooting umbrella as unique accessories that able to enhance visual power of our photos. Have fun to hunting your umbrella shots. A little additional notes: Umbrella with strong colour (red or yellow) is more eye catching to photograph!
Keep shooting everyday,
Nico Harold