Good starting camera settings for street photography with a Panasonic GF1

Question

I'm new to digital photography and want to use my Panasonic GF1 with the 20mm pancake lens mainly for street photography. The camera has scene modes and two custom modes, and I'm feeling overwhelmed by all the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed combinations.

Are there any practical starting settings for street photography, or general guidelines for choosing ISO, aperture, and shutter speed? I'm especially interested in how to balance moving subjects, quick shooting, and changing outdoor light.

user496 · Answer

Most street photographers will insist, loudly, that the technique and equipment are very much secondary to the vision and the results. They're quite correct, and it's important not to obsess.

That said, from a very basic standpoint, there are some pretty simple constraints to most street work:

People are probably moving.
You don't have time for extra-careful focus.
It's outdoors, but you have to deal with shade and shadow.

Movement means you want a slightly higher shutter speed. Not having time to focus would imply a higher f-number to increase depth of field. Take both of those together, and combined with the variation in light and shade in the city, and you'll want to raise the ISO, at least a little. Tri-X 400 was the photojournalist film of choice (though sometimes downrated to ~250).

This is a very typical 'photojournalist' type of setup, with nothing particularly special about it. And there are always reasons to vary your approach, like this great long-exposure shot by Trent Parke: alt text

And very much worth reading is his commentary on how he got the image, reproduced on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet/discuss/72157617875097800/

Good starting camera settings for street photography with a Panasonic GF1

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