James Maher is a New York native, a graduate of the International Center for Photography, and a portrait, event, and street photographer. He’s the author of three photography books on street photography, travel photography, and photography marketing. I invited him for an interview to discuss his approach to photography. Below,…

If you just bought your first camera kit, you may be wondering what the plastic thing is that came with your lens. Maybe you’ve been doing photography for a while and even have been using your lens hood but haven’t questioned why. The downside to lens hoods is that it’s…

Street photography is a great way to capture the everyday beauty around us. It’s a form of documentary photography where the photographer captures candid moments from everyday life. Street photos are typically taken in urban environments such as city streets, parks, and other public spaces.  I’ve been doing street photography…

Street photography ISO is tricky; on the one hand, low ISOs give you better image quality; on the other, high ISOs let you shoot at smaller apertures and higher shutter speeds.  The key is finding a balance so that you can get the results you want for your style of…

If you’re a fan of street photography, you may have noticed that underexposed street photography can be really compelling. It’s a spin on reality that doesn’t look overdone or cliché, like with HDR or overly-Photoshopped photography. In other types of photography, it’s more common to raise exposure and shadows in…

Street photography shutter speed is highly dependent on what you want to achieve with your street photography. For example, do you want to freeze the action so that it’s like a preserved moment in time, or do you want to create a sense of movement by creatively using motion blur?…

While I wish there was a single best focal length for street photography that would fit every situation, it’s not exactly a possibility. There are wide-angle prime lenses that do the majority of what you need while being small and discreet. There are ‘normal’ focal length lenses like 50mm that…

Street photography gear is often over-thought. Gear, to some extent, is an essential part of making street photos though. My philosophy on street photography gear is to keep things as simple as possible and travel light. Street photography gear is great, but having too much of it can weigh you…

Your choice of aperture for street photography is one of the main elements that will determine the look and feel of your images. That’s because it affects your depth of field or how much of your photo is in focus. Having creative control over my field is important as a…

Street photography is an amazing outlet for photographic creativity. But one thing that can get in the way sometimes is keeping up with your camera settings to get the correct exposures. In street photography, moments are fleeting and pass in the blink of an eye, so obviously, you want to…

When shooting portraits, whether they’re of friends, family, or clients, it’s important to get the most flattering photographs possible. Using apertures creatively can lead to some impressive shots, but there’s also an art to knowing when to use which settings. That’s why portrait photographers need to understand the effects of…

Shooting street photography at night can make compelling images, but it’s also very challenging. Obviously, the biggest challenge is that you have less available light to work with. Low light can make it difficult to get proper exposures, and your camera’s autofocus may struggle. Regardless, there are ways to overcome…

I bought the Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS for those times in landscape photography when you’re far away from the focal point of your scene and you need the extra reach to frame things the way you want. Landscape photography is not a big priority for me (my…

There’s a lot to like about Fujifilm mirrorless cameras for street photography with compact form factors, low weight, intuitive manual controls, and sleek designs. Fujifilm digital cameras do a great job of being an extension of your eye and just getting out of the way so you can focus on…

The Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS WR is a wide-angle, 15-36mm full-frame equivalent X-series cameras. It’s an update to the previous version of this lens, which was released in 2013. New to this version is weather sealing, markings to its aperture ring, and slightly lower weight. I haven’t done…

The Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 for Fujifilm is a budget-friendly, compact, lightweight, 85mm equivalent focal length prime lens for Fujifilm’s APS-C cameras that offers excellent image quality when you get the focus right (more on that later). It has a maximum aperture of f/1.4, making it a capable lens even in…

The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS is a wide-angle to mid-range zoom lens that is sold as a kit lens with some of Fujifilm’s cameras. There are very few bad new lenses sold these days but to think of this as “just a kit lens” doesn’t really…

The Fujifilm XF 60mm f/2.4 R Macro is a 90mm full-frame equivalent lens with very good sharpness and image quality. I’ve had this lens for a couple of years now, so I have a good idea of what it’s best suited for. If you’re looking for a lens that can…

The Fujifilm XF 18mm f/2 R is a compact and lightweight wide angle prime lens with a 28mm-equivalent focal length. Its compact size and low weight makes it a great lens for street photography or other types of photography where you’re on-the-go and you need to be light on your…