One way of holding the phone with HiLO Lens is at hip level, then look down at the screen while the camera is directed away from you by the HiLO Lens. This shooting position is similar to the classic Brownie camera. The direction we look attracts attention, if you are looking down at your phone people will pay less attention to you.

Another way of holding the phone with HiLO Lens is in a comfortable position for viewing the screen with the HiLO Lens redirecting the camera to the right (or left if you hold the phone upside down). Because your regard and your body is not aligned with the scene you will attract even less attention.

If you hold the phone at a comfortable viewing angle then it will be tilted. With the HiLO Lens attached and facing the right this rotates the scene. It is possible to rotate the preview in the HiLO Lens app to correct for this. In the HiLO Lens app options turn on Gesture Support > Rotate. Then a two finger rotation gesture will rotate the image for preview. I find the easiest rotation gesture is to place my index finger and thumb tips on the screen then twists like taking the cap off a bottle.

You can also turn on the HiLO Lens app option  Gesture Support > Pinch so that a two finger pinch gesture will zoom in. The combination of the pinch and rotate can help frame the scene. When touching the screen to perform a rotate or pinch gesture the separated focus and exposure controls may be shown. You can reposition these icons to set the focus and exposure or single tap the screen to set the focus and exposure at one point or double tap to enable continuos auto focus.

The HiLO X Grip case allows the HiLO Lens to snap fit and swivel in place. This helps to change the camera orientation without drawing attention.

Be sure to know the laws regarding public photography in the country where you are. Also be aware of the local culture in regards to photography. In many places street photography is a recognised and appreciated art form but that is not the case in every country/culture!

Apps for the iPhone include 6×6 which takes 6cm square images, this size was popular with old medium format film. Squara takes square photos too. Both apps has some advanced features and positive reviews.

There is a wide range of camera apps that will apply retro filters such as Instagram, which also offers sharing and is free.

HiLO Lens allows lets you “shoot from the hip” which is a similar position to looking down on the old Twin-lens reflex camera. So we claim our piece of the retro pie ! Shooting from the hip while being able to frame your shot is fantastic for Street Photography.

Twin lens reflex camera

I prefer wides because I like to capture as much of the scenery around my subjects as possible, close up head shots are nice and all, but street photography is about telling a story….

The article had some success which resulted in a follow up.

Street photography is about making and capturing fleeting moments of life to create a photographic record of our society. Some people won’t understand or appreciate that, but in the end, that’s no reason for accusing you of doing something wrong….

You may be wondering how the lens is holding on to the iPhone ? A magic material know as polyurethane gel has a tacky surface structure. One side of the gel pad is stuck permanently to our lens. The other side sticks temporarily to the iPhone. It does not leave any traces when you remove it. If the gel pad gets dirty then clean with soapy water and after drying it is as good as new !

The optics container is machined from a block of aluminium, then powder coated in matte black. Matte black helps reduce stray light.

On one hand, countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia allow street photographers to freely practice their craft. Most of the time, street photographers here only have to worry about staying in public places as they photograph, getting permission to photograph in places that are not open to the public, keeping their photographs from being used for commercial or illegal purposes, and being careful not to break any law as they photograph. For anyone whose sole intention is to take street photographs, the legal restrictions on photography in these countries are simple enough to understand.

On the other hand, some countries can be very strict with people who practice street photography. Let’s take a closer look at Saudi Arabia: It was only in August 2006 that photography was allowed in the country. But even now certain places are off-limits to photographers. Flout the rules and be apprehended by the police. Honestly, this strictness isn’t a surprise considering how conservative the society is and how much a person’s image means there. A photograph could be used to damage their images. This might be odd or even hard to accept for street photographers, but that’s the way things are.

It’s important to stress that laws in other countries are different—some just slightly, some significantly. And whether the difference is small or not, it’s a must to do some research before whipping out a camera anywhere. By being aware of other cultures, you protect yourself from unnecessary trouble and treat other people with respect.

Anna likes shooting strangers and including their photographs in her exhibits. Some of the subjects in her photos are obviously distraught, but as one character in the movie points out, it’s not the suffering that the viewer sees but the beauty that they expect to see. Thus any expression of pain is admired rather than pitied, and whether it is Anna’s intention or not, the photographs reassure the viewer that life is beautiful despite all of the suffering there is to be experienced.

Not everyone is pleased with Anna’s exhibit though. “Everyone loves a big fat lie,” says Alice Ayres, another character in the movie. She candidly refers to Anna’s photos as lies, insinuating that Anna is a liar for taking photos reassuring people that life is beautiful.

But, honestly, no one can tell for sure what Anna’s intentions are when she takes photographs—or whether she wants her work to lie about life or not. We can be sure of only a few things about her: She is an American photographer who’s far away from home. She likes going to the aquarium to shoot strangers. And when she takes photos, she usually maintains a certain amount of distance between her and her subjects.

I certainly don’t think Anna ever wanted her photographs to lie about anything. Seeing her interact with her environment, I sense a deep loneliness and insecurity that has completely taken over her life, and the emotions inevitably permeate her work. The way she forms her relationships is comparable to the way she takes photographs of total strangers—the way she takes a part of other people’s lives without bothering to completely know them. She wants to be close with others, but she can’t help building a wall between her and everybody else.

The very same wall that Anna builds exists for some of us, but its purpose isn’t always to create a lie. Street photographers, for example, will get closer to their subjects but avoid being too close: to guarantee the spontaneity of their subjects’ actions and expressions, both amateur and professional street photographers often limit their interaction with whatever they will photograph. And, really, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

In the scene, Maddy uses a camera (and a smile) to earn the trust of militiamen alarmed by the presence of her ragtag team composed of Rhodesian gunrunner Danny Archer and Mende fisherman Solomon Vandy. Speaking no word of the militiamen’s language, Maddy manages to allay any suspicion about her team’s motives; she even manages to get the militiamen to pose like hunks in a bodybuilding competition. And all thanks to her camera.

That part of Blood Diamond is quite interesting because there are other movies that feature similar scenes—scenes that show photographers pandering to the vanity of other people. And it got me thinking about the effect photographers, particularly street photographers, have on other people: Do they make other people eager to get in front of the camera?

The answers may vary, but in my experience, many people are eager to get in front of the camera, especially if the photographer talks with them nicely first. Some people will even help photographers get the shots they envision. And by help I mean pose, which is one reason street photographers are divided when it comes to asking others for the permission to photograph.

I’ve seen it before: people fixing themselves up and acting differently once they realize they’re being photographed. Most of the time, they instinctively sit up straight or tuck their hair behind their ears after you ask them “May I take your photograph?” And I completely understand this reaction. Back in high school, everyone in my class would spend more than an hour in front of the mirror to prepare for picture day, and once the camera was there, our postures and facial expressions changed. Drastically.

I guess primping is too much of a natural impulse to be shaken off easily. When people are aware of the camera, they just can’t help trying to look nice in front of it. And this desire to look nice can mean the restraining of a person’s actions or the concealment of his or her true emotions—things that the iconic Henri Cartier-Bresson himself tried to avoid with his camera. Good thing he wasn’t the photographer in my high school.

It’s not uncommon for street photographers to blend in with the crowd; they don’t bring along an entourage or act as if they’re celebrities walking down the street. Many street photographers work alone, dress in casual clothes, and carry smaller cameras—all to ensure that their photographs show people just living their lives. And nothing stops people in their tracks more than an extremely large camera pointed at them by a person in full photography gear.

An incident I witnessed recently explains my point well: When I visited a botanical garden a few weeks ago, I saw a photographer shooting a couple of otaku messing around by the garden gates (in case you’re wondering, the italicized word refers to avid fans of Japanese comic books, Japanese animation, or Japanese culture in general). The otaku were wearing costumes and play-fighting with plastic weapons, so they really stood out from everybody else at the garden. You’d think that any person wearing such clothes or engaging in such activity would be okay with attention, but no. The moment the costume-clad duo realized someone was photographing them, they suddenly stopped what they’re doing and just stared at the photographer. For a moment the photographer continued taking pictures, but when the staring wouldn’t stop, the photographer knew he had to go. And go he did, photographing some nearby street musicians afterward.

So what did the photographer do wrong? Well, he was kind of hiding behind some shrubs, and he used a very big camera with long lenses. Most likely he looked suspicious, even to people wearing costumes and play-fighting with plastic weapons in the middle of the day.

Recalling the incident now, I can’t help thinking that things would have gone more smoothly if the photographer had been more natural. Using a zoom lens as you keep yourself hidden is unnatural and closer to secret photography than it is to street photography. Not many people appreciate getting their photographs taken in secret; therefore, blending in with the crowd, not hiding from them, is crucial. Street photography entails being physically close to the people you photograph. It’s more honest that way because even if they don’t notice that they’re being photographed, they are aware someone could easily see them.

Among the techniques used in photography, taking pictures at waist level (or “shooting from the hip”) can be one of the most frustrating to master. Regular point-and-shoot cameras have their screens behind the lens, so if you use them to shoot at waist level, you can’t simultaneously see the images you capture. This could mean a lot of outtakes for you. With the 16.1 megapixel Samsung MV800 digital camera, however, you could significantly decrease the number of wasted shots.

Why ?

The MV800 has one three-inch screen, its most advertised feature, that flips up to 180 degrees. With it, you can position the camera way high up or way down low and still see the screen before you hit the shutter release buttons. Yes, buttons. One at the top and another at the back of the camera’s main body. The adjustable screen, on the other hand, has the Home and Playback buttons.

What we love

Ground-level photography is easier with the MV800. Its fun screen effectively takes the guesswork out of ground-level photography by allowing you to easily view ground-level pictures and videos before they are captured, which is also what HiLO Lens is especially designed to do. And you don’t have to tilt your head more than you should when looking at the screen—even if it’s flipped at a 180-degree angle. The screen detects its position and automatically adjusts the display to suit the angle you set it at (a similar auto-rotation feature is provided by the HiLO Lens app).

Surprisingly, the rotating LCD doesn’t add a lot of bulk to the MV800. Having dimensions of 3.62″ × 2.21″ × .72″, the camera is nice and compact, which is nice if you want something not too obtrusive. And it only comes in classic black, so that’s a plus for those who dislike cameras that look like flashing neon signs.

MV800 also offers some nice customization options. You can change the wallpaper on the screen’s display, use art filters and frames, and manually edit your pictures with Funny Face. Funny Face lets you bend and stretch (and ultimately mess up) your friends’ faces as well as your own with just a tap of your finger. Kids will likely enjoy these options most.

What we don’t love

Apart from the rotating LCD, nothing really sets the MV800 apart from other compact cameras. Picture quality is average; it’s slightly better than what you get with cell phone cameras. And so the $280 price tag may not please some buyers.

Moreover, the rear shutter release button should probably be elsewhere; being at the middle of the camera’s posterior side, it isn’t always easy to press. Holding the camera very high or very low can make the button trickier to reach.

The end game

If you have ever used the bathroom mirror to take a self-portrait you will love the MV800. It’s designed for people who want to see the screen no matter which angle they point their cameras at. The screen is MV800’s main selling point, and it’s the standout feature of the camera, a rare feature for a point and shoot camera. With this camera you can take photos from new angles and capture more memorable moments. But if you own an iPhone then we suggest waiting for HiLO Lens !