“Street” is photography in one of the purest forms. We capture the environment as-is; people going about their business is the subject, rather than moody hills, the relentless sea, colourful birds or clever lighting and posed models.

Candid or Interaction?

We can interact with the people or shoot candidly.

Candid is more random, and because the people are unaware of being photographed you capture them completely naturally.

If you interact, it may just be a smile and wave, or a long conversation, you will get a “connection” with the person – usually eye contact and a smile. It’s still “street” as you still capture people in their usual environment.

Many street photographers present images as black and white – it releases the viewer from the distraction of colour, leaving the story bare for all to see. Hence the creation of this action… to create a consistent black and white look and feel to my street photos.

The McFade-Street action

There are so many ways to go “black and white”.

I’ve created a “Street Action” which I’d like to share with my readers. It takes in a colour photo and gives a quite “punchy” mono version a look which suits many street scenes.

It was created with Photoshop CS5 using standard filters and adjustments, so hopefully it’ll work on all versions (apologies for those for whom it doesn’t work).

Install the Street Action

To get and install it, do the following:-

1. Send an email to [email protected] asking for the Street Mono Action
2. When you get a reply, we’ll send you “MCFADE-STREET.atn” – a photoshop action file
3. Open Photoshop and drag MCFADE-STREET.atn into the Actions panel – it should be on the right of your screen
4. MCFADE-STREET will now appear in your Actions panel

Ok it’s ready to use now… or should be!

Use the Street Action

Now you can give it a go on a photo – so:-

1. load a photo into Photoshop
2. open up the MCFADE-STREET folder
3. highlight the STREET_MONO action
4. Hit the Play button

IMPORTANT – READ THIS!

• The action flattens your image, so DO NOT USE it on files where you need layer information
• It works best with unedited, single layer images – straight out of the camera
• Use the photos created where ever you like, but please credit the action to mcfade photography 

Here are some more before and after shots…