28mm: in the middle of the situation
With 28mm you capture a lot of your surroundings. This is interesting when you want to capture not just a person, but also the street and the environment around them.
The wide image does have a consequence: you need to get relatively close to your subject if you want a person to be clearly present in the image. If you stand further away, that person quickly becomes a small part of a much larger environment.
This can take some getting used to at first. With 28mm, it’s difficult to stand across the street and simultaneously isolate one person prominently. You are more or less forced to get closer to the action.
At the same time, this gives you many opportunities to incorporate multiple layers into your photo. People in the foreground, a subject a bit further away, and buildings in the background can all become part of the same shot.
What do you learn with a wide-angle?
working close to your subject;
making the environment part of the story;
paying attention to the entire photo and not just the main subject;
dealing with many elements at once.
35mm: a middle ground between person and environment
35mm is a popular focal length for street photography. The field of view is clearly less wide than with 28mm, but you still retain a good amount of the surroundings. This allows you to present a person more clearly without the location immediately disappearing. You also usually don’t have to get as close as with 28mm.
This makes 35mm a fairly flexible focal length. You can capture a complete street scene with it, but also bring a person or a small group of people more clearly into focus.
This can be pleasant for beginners. You are still forced to think consciously about the background, but you gain a bit more control over how many elements you bring into the frame at once.
What do you learn with a moderate wide-angle?
seeking balance between subject and environment;
more consciously determining how much context you need;
working close without being extremely close to someone;
switching between overview and a more specific moment.
50mm: more focus on the subject
With 50mm the field of view becomes narrower again. This means that a larger part of the environment disappears, making it easier to direct attention to one person, detail, or event. You can also work from a slightly greater distance. This can feel comfortable when you are not yet used to photographing close to unfamiliar people.
But this extra distance also changes how you view street photography. With a wide-angle lens, you often have to stand right in the middle of a situation. With a longer focal length, you can more easily extract small moments from a larger scene or maintain a bit more distance.
What do you learn with a longer focal length?
looking more selectively at scenes;
isolating details and small events;
seeking simpler backgrounds;
recognizing moments within a larger situation.
Focal length in street photography is also about distance
It is tempting to see focal length only as more or less in the frame. But for street photography, your working distance also changes. If you want to have someone approximately the same size in the frame with 28mm and 50mm, you will need to get much closer with 28mm.
This distance then influences the appearance of your photo.
The closer you get to your subject, the more pronounced the differences between foreground, subject, and background can become. If you stand further away, these distances may appear smaller in the final image.
This is often referred to as perspective compression. It is important to note that it is not the focal length itself that changes the perspective, but the position of the photographer. The focal length primarily determines how much of the scene you capture from that position.
The background changes too
This principle applies to every focal length. You don’t need to have a 28mm, 35mm, or 50mm lens to experience it yourself. With a zoom lens, you can easily see the same difference.
The longer the focal length, the less of the environment you capture from the same position. But when you want to photograph your subject approximately the same size at different focal lengths, you need to move yourself. This also changes the relationship between subject and background.
With a shorter focal length, you stand closer and the background can appear smaller and further away. With a longer focal length, you stand further from your subject and that same background can appear larger and closer.
This is important in street photography. A billboard, building, or person in the background can appear much more prominent with a longer focal length than in a comparable photo with a wide-angle lens.
Therefore, focal length is not only about how much you see, but also about how different parts of a scene visually relate to each other.
Which focal length suits your street photography?
There is no single focal length that is automatically the best for street photography. It completely depends on what you want to show.
If you want the environment to play a large role and don’t mind being close to the action, then a shorter focal length can be interesting.
If you want a balance between environment and subject, then something around 35mm can be a logical middle ground. That is also one of the reasons why this focal length is so popular in street photography.
If you enjoy extracting isolated moments from a busy environment or keeping a bit more distance, then a longer focal length can work well.
You don’t need to buy three separate lenses for this, of course. With a standard zoom like a 24-70mm, you can already experience how much influence focal length has on your way of photographing.
Pay attention to what your focal length does to your position
The easiest way to understand these differences is to become aware of your own position while photographing. Don’t just look at how much you zoom in or out, but especially at what happens when you then move forward or backward yourself.
For example, try to keep a subject approximately the same size in the frame at different focal lengths. You will notice that you have to move yourself for that.
Then pay attention to:
how much environment you bring in;
how close you are to people;
how much attention the background receives;
how easily you can isolate individual subjects;
how the chosen focal length affects your position as a photographer.
The interesting difference between focal lengths ultimately lies not only in how much fits in the photo. Your choice also determines from what distance you work and thus how subject, foreground, and background relate to each other.
