16 Superb 'On The Streets' Inspired Smartphone Photos

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The theme of this last weeks Mobiography Photo Challenge was ‘On The Streets’. From the superb collection of images submitted to this challenge I finally managed to select the following entries for this weeks showcase. This weeks selection illustrates how the them of being on the streets has been approached by the different photographers. From street portraits, to architectureal images to candid moments in time. All photos in this week’s challenge show the different ways you can find excellent photo opportunities whereever you are.

Featured photographers this week include: Hishan Mansoor, @ari55, Marcus Walter, Liz Anderson, Ivor Levin, Rosie Karel, Monica Deife, @Agkolatt, Daniel Callighan, @ferzbow23, @yiorgoskouts, Tommy Wallace, Marta Spencer, Fernando Salazar Acha, @eikihosomi, and Cheryl Philly.

Take part in the next Mobiography photo challenge

The theme for the next challenge will be ‘Patterns’. For the challenge think about sharing your best mobile photos that capture patterns in an interesting and imaginative way. Think about the patterns created by shadows, textures, geometric shapes in the urban environment or in the natural landscape.

To enter the challenge simple start sharing your best images on the theme of ‘Patterns’ that were taken and edited with a smartphone by using the hashtag #mobiography_challenge_41 on Instagram.

The best ones will be featured in the next photo challenge showcase, so get sharing now.

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MANGOES

‘MANGOES‘ by Hishan Mansoor @the.r.a.b.b.i.t – “A humble, friendly man who sells mangoes for a living. In case you are looking for juicy reasonably priced mangoes, this man can be found on the streets of Dematagoda, Colombo at the exact same spot daily. On good days he closes up his cart early. Gifting mangoes is a sign of good faith and friendship in Sri Lanka.This photo was taken on a gloomy day which is very common during the monsoon seasons. What inspired me to snap this shot was the beautiful weather, yellow mangoes and his kind smile.

It was shot on my iPhone 8 plus and processed through mobile app Snapseed.”

Love it for less

‘Love it for less‘ by @ari55 – “I snapped this photo walking down Oxford Street in London. It’s always very busy with abundance of characters but this scene caught my eye because of the message this guy was promoting versus the one in the shop window.

I processed the image in Lightroom for Mobile by adjusting brightness, contrast and vibrancy.”

Midnight in Bangkok

‘Midnight in Bangkok‘ by Marcus Walter

Yesterday in the Haight

‘Yesterday in the Haight‘ by Liz Anderson – “I saw this young man standing with a friend at a street corner in Haight Ashbury and I was intrigued by his clothes and his friendly demeanor. We chatted briefly and I asked if I could take his photo. He agreed and he turned and leaned easily against the street sign post. That’s when I noticed the semicolon tattoo next to his eye. The semicolon ; tattoo is often used when the author could have chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence in your life. This is according to Project Semicolon, an organization dedicated to the prevention of suicide and to give hope and love for those struggling with mental illness, suicide, addiction and self-injury. It was reminder to me to that we never know what people are dealing with in their lives.

I shot the photo with my iPhone 7+ in portrait mode and increased the exposure slightly in Snapseed. “

Linesman

‘Linesman‘ by Ivor Levin – “I like to position a human element within interesting geometry. The silhouette of this passerby worked well within the geometry and gave the frame the curves it needed to break the straight lines. I desaturated the image using the iPhone software to create the black and white tones.”

Buy a paper?

‘Buy a paper?‘ by Rosie Karel – “This image was taken in downtown San Diego on St. Patrick’s Day. As I was navigating a somewhat lively crowd, I spotted an interesting street vendor selling a local downtown neighborhood paper. I stopped to observe the man from a distance for a while. Although quite animated in his approach, I noticed that nobody was buying his papers. As I then walked over to him he, of course, asked me if I wanted to buy one. I answered, “Yes, but more than that, I would love to take your photograph”. He nodded and smiled. As we exchanged money, a paper and thank you’s, I shot his image. It was a total win-win.

Shot with an iPhone 6S, edited in my go-to app, Snapseed, for perspective correction, cropping and tuning and Photoshop Fix to increase the blurred background. “

Wait for people to walk by

‘Wait for people to walk by‘ by Monica Deife – “I used to be quite bored while waiting at the hospital, but now I look at it as a chance to find some unique photo opportunities. This was taken in an atrium from the top of an escalator looking down to the open space below. A big window provided a perfect backdrop for a minimalist photo. I set my focus at the bottom of the window and waited for people to walk by.

I took this with the native camera in my iPhone X using the burst mode, processed in Enlight, (-saturation, then +contrast and exposure). Then I removed a post at the bottom of the escalator in touch/retouch and flipped the photo to place the people on the left.”

Untitled

‘Untitled‘ by @Agkolatt

C a n d i d . S t r e e t . P o r t r a i t

‘C a n d i d . S t r e e t . P o r t r a i t‘ by Daniel Callighan – “Drawn to his impeccable classic style, like a relic of a time gone by, I candidly framed my phone to capture a photo of this gentleman. As I took my shot, he looked up directly at me. Edited with Lightroom CC for mobile.”

Mirror City…

‘Mirror City…‘ by @ferzbow23 – “It was a normal day a couple of months ago. I went for an after work walk as I usually do, and came across this building. It had just been built, so it caught my attention. I grabbed my Moto e4 plus and decided to take a photo of it while it was still “new” and went for this “bottom to top” perspective I really like. I feel like a kid looking up, amazed by the height. The photo was supposed to be a part of a mobile street photography course I had just finished.

Regarding the edits, I used PicsArt to mirror the image and achieve some level of symmetry. It was a cloudy day so I went to Pixlr and used the touch up option to erase a sort of cloud-ish mass that was not really working for me. I do most of my editing on Snapseed, though. First tool I use is Tune Image to add ambience and enhance the textures a bit. I also reduced highlights to keep the gray cloudy day feel. Then I added contrast and reduced shadows. My favorite Snapseed tool is Grainy Film. Who doesn’t love the warm feel of vintage film textures? Once I choose a filter, I always go to Double Exposure. I take a lot of close up photos of walls and graffiti and add those as double exposures. I try to imitate the texture of old photos found 10 or 20 years later, you know? ”

Cracked

‘Cracked‘ by @yiorgoskouts – “In my personal street photography I am always looking for an interesting background. I found this cracked wall amazing because everyone can find different meanings of that “crack”… So I framed it and waited for the right person to complete the scene. Luckily enough that beautiful old man with the “tired “ body language, slowly but steady, came across that “crack “. I couldn’t imagine a better fitting for the scene! So I took the picture.

The image edited in hipstamatic with John S + Blackeys Supergrain combo. No further editing.”

Rick

‘Rick‘ by Tommy Wallace

The things you find while exploring

‘The things you find while exploring‘ by Marta Spencer

Untitled

‘Untitled‘ by Fernando Salazar Acha @the_shadows_and_light – “This photo was taken at the entrance hall of Copan building in the city of Sao paulo, Brasil. The Copan building was desinged by well known architect Oscar Niemeyer.

I was taking a short vacation in the city just to make streetphotography and after a long day the sun was setting in and I was attracted by this nice sunlight that relflected brightly on the main hall of the building. I started to shoot, mainly people coming in and out of the building. The light was great but I felt that the photos were just regular and they did not convinced me, and I was about to giving up but I decided to stay since I knew that the sunlight would not last anyway and out of nowhere this little man rushed in. He started to play with his own shadows and I remember him saying to his mother….look mom it is I ,it follows what I do… and he started to move his tiny body and following the shadows movements, like and improvised dance. The kid was really into it, he was 100% there and I was there taking photos as his mother was trying to keep him moving along but the little one was so fascinated with his shadows so his mother gave him some space. Few moments later they were gone, almost with the sun. Later on I realized why I love photography so much. For just a moment I was dancing along, and the whole world stoped for a fraction of a sencond and I realized that I was once that kid too. We take for granted simple things like shadows or the amazment of a kid while he discover the world but photography take us thru time and helps us to value and be graceful for little moments like this. The photo was taken with a samsung mini 4s, and I used snapseed to edit the photo. I forced a little bit because I wanted to show the kid face while discovering his, our world.

Apart from this, I wanna say that my father passed away in November and he loved this picture so much, so it a very special one for me.”

Untitled

‘Untitled‘ by @eikihosomi – “Because there are a lot of splendid buildings in Japan, I wanted to convey this in an image.

This photo is about the architecture. the design characteristics of the architecture and the grandness of it. To convey this, I captured someone at the foot of the building to try and convey size.

I took this photograph with iPhone X, the Moment wide angle lens and Procam app. The editing app is Lightroom and VSCO.”

Man’s Best Friends

‘Man’s Best Friends‘ by Cheryl Philly – “I met Anthony ‘Tony’ Smith and his well-dressed fur babies a few years ago. He ferries them around in his bicycle basket to events big and small around Philadelphia, charging passersby fans a ‘$1 donation’ to take their photo, the money funds their wardrobe. On the right is the well traveled Miss Diva.

Tony and his fur babies go to visit with elderly residents at a nursing home every other week. There, people are more interested in petting and interacting with the dogs than they are in taking their pictures.

The photo was photographed with an iPhone X and edited with Instagram filters.”

Don’t forget…

The theme for the next challenge will be ‘On The Streets’. For the challenge think about sharing your best mobile photos taken on the streets. Think about street photography, candid moments, street portraits or shots of architecture and the urban environment. Think black and white, dark and gritty or vibrant and colorful moments.

To enter the challenge simple start sharing your best images on the theme of ‘On The Streets’ that were taken and edited with a smartphone by using the hashtag #mobiography_challenge_40 on Instagram.

The best ones will be featured in the next photo challenge showcase, so get sharing now.

If you haven’t already done so, follow Mobiography on Instagram and hashtag your photos with #mobiography. Don’t forget to sign up to the Mobiography email list to get the latest news and updates direct to your inbox.