Let’s be honest, there are many boring street photos of people using their phones out there but is it possible to take a good street photo with mobile phones?
When you think of a bad street photo with a mobile phone, most of them have someone with a blank expression staring into their screen. Often the worst ones are shot at a distance with a telefocal lens and little context in the image. It’s also a common easy target for beginners in street photography as the subject is often concentrating so much on their phone, they won’t notice the photographer even if they are right next to them.
These factors have lead to the reputation of mobile phones being terrible for street photography, but is this deserved? Is it possible to get a good street photo including a mobile phone? I know this is true and so does X of the candid frame.
In this video he shows us some examples of good street photos which include mobile phones. Personally, there are some of these which I still don’t particularly like but I feel like the message of the video is still true, don’t just write someone off because they are using a mobile phone. One trait I have noticed in the past, is that often the thing which makes a photo of someone with a mobile phone is another person who doesn’t have a mobile phone, that seems to be the case in many of these shots too.
I’m certainly going to keep my eyes more open to opportunities for good photos of people on their mobile phone now and not dismiss them out of hand. However, I still doubt that I’ll come across a great street photo of a person with a mobile phone.
What do you think? Do you take photos of people on their mobiles?
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