The five F’s in Street Photography
Recently I saw a short video by John Free on his version of a photographic acronym: the five F’s in Street Photography. It is a very interesting approach and I thought I would elaborate a little on his points. This will be a useful exercise for me to internalise his concepts and I hope it will be a useful read for you.
One thing that profoundly resonates with me is the claim that we need to practice our skills as photographers: isn’t that amazing? It’s not just about instinct and the innate eye! We actually have to work to acquire a skill! I would love to see a lot of photographers I have met realising this: the justification for not putting the hours in usually goes like “but…but…it’s art! Art is subjective! I frame instinctively!” And on, and on… Art is subjective and I can’t agree more, but you get to spin-off on your journey after you developed your skills. Unfortunately 99% of the work of the “instinctive” photographers I see is, frankly, insignificant. You can really see when a photographer has been developing their skills and their visual library trough the masters’ books and photographers that have something to say. The images have more visual weight, they are crafted, not snapped.
John says that the eyes and seeing are just a part of a photographer’s tools. It’s what we feel and what we get out of the heart that matters. We have to convey a passion, an understanding, an idea, a concept with our image. I wholeheartedly support this and would add that to be able to convey all that we need to be articulate and nuanced in crafting our images. To do so we need to have a vast visual grammar and vocabulary and these only come with a lot of study and practice.
The 5 F’s are a drill that is practiced, so when you do come upon a subject you know what to do instinctively, you don’t have to think about it. Yes, I said instinctively. But that is an instinct that comes only after your 10.000 hours!
So, what are these 5 F’s?
1. F for Finding
Finding a subject, one of the most difficult things. John says that we are looking for a subject that will appeal to the viewer, that will move the viewer in some way for having seen it.
I don’t fully agree with this statement: in my opinion we should be looking for a subject that will appeal to us, the photographer. At this point we do what John defines as the goal of photography: we create an image that because of its balance and visual intensity has the power to emotionally move or affect the viewer in some way for having seen it. This will come with the other F’s, with experience and practice. If we are choosing a subject with the viewer in mind we are doing what so many Instagrammers do, choose the subject to get likes instead of developing a visual identity, a personality. We choose what moves us, but our skills will allow us to create an image that will have the desired effect on the viewer.
2. F for Figuring
Once we find a subject we have to figure out how to handle it. How do we frame it? We have to decide which of the elements and factors present around the subject we want to include and which ones we want to exclude. What should we include to give the subject added strength? What should we exclude so we don’t get distracting elements in the final image, detracting from the main subject?
It’s fundamental to do this. All great photographers have always done it, John says. There always additional visual elements in great photographs that strengthen the image, that add enough information to understand what the photographer is trying to say. These elements could be the background, a gesture, an expression, a piece of clothing, a tool, anything that supports the concept the photographer wants to convey.
I think Figuring is something we learn to do with lots and lots of practice, but the visual training, to build a visual vocabulary, is also fundamental. Only looking at other photographs we can see the infinite possibilities that we have to portray the same scene or subject. Each of us, given the same scene, will produce a different image. Each of us could always learn from others that subtle difference in point of view, in visualisation.
Figuring and framing
3. F for Framing
We have to fill the frame with those important factors. We have to get close.
John says: “It’s hardly ever that I find a photograph where the photographer was too close”, and “that’s one of the biggest problems in photography today”. Although I can agree with this to a point, I don’t think this should be a rule. In my opinion you should aim to get close enough, but the Framing is about including as well as excluding the right elements and there certainly is such thing as too close.
True enough, John adds that you have to get in close, yes, but not so close that you eliminate necessary elements from the frame: there are always at least 3 or 4 of them.
Never too close. Mmmhhh…
4. F for Focusing
According to John, we should only use manual focus: we have to react to the instantaneous. He says that autofocus cameras have their main focus point in the centre but we have to be able to focus anywhere in the frame. We don’t have time to focus and recompose. We don’t have time to move the focus point to the right place in the viewfinder.
I have a few issues with this: most manual focus SLR cameras have a centre point split-image and microprism focusing screen; a full frame focusing screen is a very specific choice and rarely available in most autofocusing cameras nowadays and most people will own autofocusing cameras. Rangefinder cameras, renown to be fantastic tools for Street Photography, can only focus with the rangefinder patch in the centre of the frame. Also, the YouTube video was released in 2010: at present, in 2020, we have a really wide choice of electronic viewfinder (EVF) equipped cameras that have focus peaking as a focusing aid, but the focus by wire manual focusing on their native lenses is awful. These camera also have lightning fast autofocus and ever improving face detection. I think the choices today are many and all can be valid: the key is, again, practice! Autofocus? Know your camera, know your autofocus system, set it properly and make sure you can always focus on what you intend. Manual focus? Practice your focusing skills for accuracy and speed and use zone focusing when possible.
Another issue is that, as instantaneous the moments we photograph might be, we always focus and recompose. All the time. Most of us do, unless we keep the subject bang in the middle. And I have never found myself missing opportunities because of that. Also, especially when using a manual focus camera, we can shoot using zone focusing, which takes the whole focusing time delay out of the equation.
Bottom line for me: be absolutely certain that you can focus exactly where you intend to and that you can do so very quickly.
5. F for Firing
For John Firing is usually handled by the subconscious, it “seems to go off by itself”. “You fire when the heart tells you to. You can’t help that”.
I don’t agree at all with this. You fire just at the right moment, and that is intentional. You see it happening or you anticipate what is about to happen, you know what you are looking for or waiting for. You fire when you see it. And the perfect timing comes with…practice! Again? Yep! Practice. Again.
Conclusions
I found these tips from John Free quite interesting. Although I don’t fully agree with some of his statements I found the reflections helpful for myself. I hope you have gained a little insight from this as well.
To summarise, the five steps to craft a Street Photograph according to John Free are the 5 F’s:
Finding
Figuring
Framing
Focusing
Firing
These five steps are skills that are acquired with practice. He defines them as a drill you have to practice so you can internalise such skills and be able to instinctively apply them in the street while shooting.
My main takeaway? Practice!
Let me know what you think in the comments!
Previous comments:
A very good point in the first "F".
Very cool drawings too)
I think that in addition to practices, passion is also important - the passion to photograph, but experience as the only tool will not help to create a masterpiece.
Flavio Admin Mark Kauda • 3 months ago
Hello Mark, thanks for the kind comment. You are absolutely right, passion is fundamental and will be the driver to put in the hours and strive to create the best work possible!