Doing a Background Check

Three components constitute an interesting street portrait: (a) an intriguing subject, (b) adequate lighting, and, last but not least, (c) the right background. Background matters! One thing that wrecks a street portrait is a cluttered background which will swallow up the subject and distract the viewer’s eye. It will also make the image look flat because the camera can’t capture the depth that the two eyes can. Therefore the photographer has to create sufficient visual depth by means of composition and subject/background separation. Most times, the right background for a strong, compelling image can be produced by slightly changing your perspective or blurring out a background.

There are two different types of background for street portraits, (i) meaningful and (ii) "meaningless" backgrounds.

(i) The meaningful background:

If one wants to photograph the subject in her or his (cultural, natural or work) environment make sure the background is equally as impressive as the subject, is part of the story, and adds value to the image. This is called an environmental portrait; the aperture could be f/5.6 or even higher (up to f/11 and more, depending on circumstances). If there is sky in the image, one want's to make sure the horizon does not cut through the head of the subject. Choosing the right camera position creates sufficient visual separation between the subject and the background which is essential to draw the viewer's eye to the subject.

Examples (i) - Environmental Portraits with Meaningful Background:

(ii) The "Meaningless" Background:

If the street portrait is about an interesting subject, then one can try to fully eliminate the background, making it about the subject and her or his facial features. There are three ways to do this:

• (a) You blur the existing (cluttered) background by opening up to f/3.2 or even more (up to f/1.2 if you have a good lens) thus creating a nice, creamy bokeh.
• (b1) You direct and position your subject in front of a clean, colourful or uniform structure (e.g. a brickwall, a painted wall, a green or flowering shrub, a wooden fence, a roller shutter).
• (b2) You improvise and use any impromptu backdrop (e.g. an umbrella, a curtain, any large piece of clothing).

Examples (iia) - Blurred Background:

Examples (iib1) - Homogeneous Background:

Examples (iib2) - Impromptu Backdrops:

Background matters; an intriguing subject alone is not enough for an interesting street portrait. A piece of advice: find an interesting background and wait patiently for something to happen... Have fun!

High-res portrait photographs with full exif data, precise geotags and technical details in Matt Hahnewald's

Flickr Albums

Recelebrating Ecstatic Thaipusam

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February). In Malaysia, the temple at Batu Caves north of Kuala Lumpur attracts over one million devotees, many of them with body piercings that would make a surgeon cringe... (more: see blog post of January 22, 2009 Celebrating Ecstatic Thaipusam).

Georgetown on Penang is a second place where the Tamil community of Malaysia (together with many members of the predominant Malaysian Chinese island community) celebrates this boisterous Hindu festival. Thaipusam commemorates the occasion when Parvati (the Hindu goddess of fertility, love, devotion, strength and power) gave Murugan (the universal granter of wishes) a spear so he could vanquish an evil demon. During the festival devotees pray to Murugan to receive his grace and favors and to make penance. In Penang, on the first day, a pilgrimage procession takes place to bring the statue of Murugan on a silver chariot led by more than 60 kavadis from Georgetown’s Little India to the Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple. The chariot is pulled by two decorated bulls and thousands of coconuts are smashed in front of it to cleanse the road. On the second day, Tamil devotees go through a physical endurance of being skewered and pierced on back and front of their bodies as an act of penance. Some have arrows through their tongues and cheeks whilst others carry numbers of small milk pots attached with sharp hooks to their skin. Thunderous loud music, singing, dancing, the beating of drums and playing of devotional songs are the norm during Thaipusam.

"Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew."

(Mahatma Gandhi)

The kavadi attam (burden dance) is a ceremonial sacrifice and offering practised by Hindu devotees during Thaipusam and emphasizes spiritual debt bondage. The kavadi itself is a physical burden, the bearing of which is used by the devotee to implore Murugan for assistance, usually on behalf of a loved one who is in need of healing, or as a means of balancing a spiritual debt. The devotees process and dance along Georgetown’s Thaipusam route from Little India to the Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple while bearing these burdens. The more elaborate kavadi consists of two semicircular pieces of wood or steel which are bent and attached to a cross structure that can be balanced on the shoulders of the male Hindu devotee. It is often decorated with flowers and peacock feathers and can weigh up to 30 kg.

Thaipusam in Penang is not only celebrated by Hindus but also by many members of the Malaysian-Chinese community. The Chinese worshipers and devotees of Murugan celebrate the festival together with the Tamil Malaysians and and do pierce themselves exactly in the same way as the Malaysian Indians do.

High-res portrait photographs with exif data, geotags and technical details in Matt Hahnewald's
Flickr Album 2018-01a Recelebrating Ecstatic Thaipusam
Flickr Album 2009-02a Celebrating Ecstatic Thaipusam

Animating Street Portraits with Props

Originally, a prop, fka (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or on screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct from the actors, scenery, and costumes. The term comes from live-performance practice, especially theatrical methods, but its modern use extends to film, television, and photography.

A simple yet highly effective way to animate and spice up an interactive aka posed street portrait is to use impromptu props in the scene. An impromptu prop for interactive street portrait photography would be anything that the subject owns, holds or touches and/or something near the subject that adds to the story and dimension of the image. Utilising props that mean a great deal and are highly personal to the subject, such as below the Buddhist prayer wheel, Mao’s Little Red Book, or the sadhu’s walking stick, can make the street portrait more unique and tell a story about that person.

Using props in portrait photography is a simple way to create a strong point of interest in the image. Props can complement the subject and make the picture more visually appealing. Props help to tell a story, producing a more intriguing photo for the viewer to look at. Cell phones, flowers, umbrellas/parasols, cigarettes/cigars, books/newspapers, food/drinks, musical instruments, cameras and pretty much anything else that the subject can lay her/his hands on will make a good impromptu prop for interactive aka posed street portraits.

Examples of street portraits "propped-up" with cell phones:

Examples of street portraits "propped-up" with flowers:

Examples of street portraits "propped-up" with cigars, cigarettes, vapes, chillums, beedies:

Including a prop will add another level for the eye to the process, therefore it is imperative to clean up everything else as much as possible: a tight frame/crop, a clean background/backdrop, and minimal distractions in general. Any prop should always be used to the advantage of portraying the subject. The objects used in the picture should be very convincing for the viewer in understanding the subject; there has to be a reason for the object to appear in the image. This can be done with the help of (i) person-related props, (ii) context-related props, and (iii) time-related props. Of course, the transition from one prop category to the other is gradual.

(i) Person-related props help the viewer to understand the character, personality, mood, attitude and role of the photographed subject:

(ii) Context-related props help the viewer to learn about the subject’s environment, culture, religion, nationality, and/or occupation:

(iii) Time-related props help the viewer to fantasize about the subject’s past or future:

More blog entries depicting impromptu props for street portrait photographs:

• Food/drinks (Slurping Oodles of Noodles, Munching at Donghuamen Nightmarket),
• Umbrellas/parasols (Dancing with the Thai Chinese),
• Musical instruments (Facing Exotic Northern Borneo),
• Pieces of art (Profiling Coconuts on Sulawesi),
• Books/newspapers (Making Decisions in Tamil Nadu).