11 What is the most common mistake beginners make when photographing street art?
A using the wrong lens
B excluding the background environment
C shooting at the wrong time of day
12 According to the speaker, the best weather for street art photography is
A bright sunlight.
B heavy rain.
C cloudy conditions.
13 When editing photos, the speaker advises against
A increasing the contrast too much.
B changing the authentic colours.
C cropping the image too tightly.
14 What equipment does the speaker consider essential?
A a tripod
B a glare-reduction tool
C a wide angle lens
15 How should photographers handle people walking into their frame?
A Wait for them to leave the area.
B Ask them politely to move aside.
C Use them to show scale.
Questions 16–20
What specific technique does the speaker recommend for each of the following types of street art?
Choose FIVE answers from the box and write the correct letter, A–F, next to Questions 16–20.
Techniques
A shoot from a low angle
B focus on texture
C capture reflections
D use a fast shutter speed
E stand completely parallel
F take multiple detail shots
Types of Street Art
16 Large murals
17 Stencil work
18 Paste-ups
19 3D illusions
20 Moving installations
Keys
11 B
12 C
13 B
14 B
15 C
16 E
17 F
18 B
19 A
20 D
Transcript
Part 2: You will hear a monologue about photographing street art.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the weekly meeting of the city photography club. As promised, I’ll be sharing some top tips on photographing street art. It can be surprisingly tricky to capture well.
The most frequent error novices make is failing to include the wider environment. People often walk right up to a piece and fill their entire frame with paint. While that’s nice for brushstrokes, it removes the urban feel entirely. Remember to step back and include the sidewalk or a streetlamp for context.
Next, let’s talk about lighting. Beginners assume a sunny day is ideal for taking pictures. For street art, this is the opposite of what you want. Bright sunlight creates harsh shadows from nearby buildings across the artwork. Instead, you should aim for heavy cloud cover. The grey sky gives beautifully even light.
When editing your images, you might be tempted to enhance them. Basic editing is fine, but I strongly advise you against adjusting the natural shades. The artist chose those specific colours for a reason. Feel free to tweak the contrast, but keep the overall palette authentic.
As for gear, a wide-angle lens is helpful, but isn’t strictly necessary. However, I never leave home without a specific accessory to reduce surface reflections. Spray paints have a glossy finish which creates ugly white hotspots on photos. A simple glass attachment eliminates that glare instantly.
Finally, pedestrians will inevitably walk in front of your camera. Rather than standing around waiting for the street to magically clear, use those passers-by to demonstrate the artwork’s actual dimensions. A person walking past instantly tells the viewer how large the artwork really is.
Now let’s look at specific techniques for different styles.
Starting with large murals. The key here is to position yourself perfectly straight-on. If you shoot from an angle, the image suffers from perspective distortion. Find the exact center point and square up your camera.
Next is stencil work. These are incredibly intricate. Because they rely on precise cutouts, you’ll want to capture several close-ups of the finer elements. Don’t just take one wide shot; get right in there to show the fine lines.
Then we have paste-ups, essentially paper artworks glued onto walls. To capture their essence, you must highlight the rough feel of the paper. Show the gritty surface and the curling edges where the glue has started to fail.
For 3D illusions painted on the pavement, you need to get down near the ground. Crouching or lying flat aligns the perspective properly so the flat image leaps out at you.
Lastly, for moving installations that spin rapidly in the wind, you must adjust your camera settings to freeze the rapid motion. Doing this gives you a crisp image rather than a blurry mess. Let’s head outside now.
