Cinematic Street Photography in Tokyo, Japan
Every moment exploring this beautiful city felt like I was watching a movie.
A few months back in April, I took my first trip to Tokyo, Japan. I didn’t prepare too much of a detailed itinerary because I wanted to visit each part of Tokyo at my own pace.
I spent 8 days exploring Tokyo with my Sony camera and using my Sony zoom lens and Sigma prime lenses. Tokyo exceeded my expectations not just as an avid traveler, but as a photographer.
Sony A7R III | Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/125 sec. | f/4.5 | ISO 800
THE BACK ALLEYS IN TOKYO
Tokyo was one of the first cities I fell in love with when I started my journey into street photography. I was interested in the crowded streets of Shibuya and Shinjuku, but I think some of the most cinematic shots of Tokyo were taken in back alleys and around corners where most toursists don’t tend to explore, or walk past without a second thought.
When I look at other people’s perspectives of Tokyo, whether it was through images or video, I was always impressed by how artists were able to isolate a subject in their frame. Discovering the small alleys in the quieter parts of tokyo was a perfect opportunity to put this idea into practice.
Interestingly enough, I found myself using both my Sigma 35mm and 85 mm prime lenses interchangably when photographing these alleys. While I think the 35mm focal length was a great way to photograph an environment that can be somewhat narrow, I think the compression of the 85mm made the overall image look a lot more flattering and allowed me to think more about my composition.
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/400 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 125
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/800 sec. | f/10 | ISO 200
Sony A7R III | Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/400 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 100
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/400 sec. | f/4.5 | ISO 320
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/400 sec. | f/4.0 | ISO 125
LIGHTING
When I first discovered street photography in Tokyo, all of the images that I paid attention to were at night. But after years of dabbling in different styles of photography (especially portrait photography and landscape photography), I realized that experimenting with lighting throughout the entire day was a much more valuable way to spend my time.
Although I was excited to fulfill my dream of doing street photography at night in Tokyo, some of my favorite images from the entire trip came from quick images I took on my way to Shinjuku or Asakuza just because I loved how the light fell on the subject.
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/400 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 200
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/320 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 640
Sony A7R III | Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/500 sec. | f/5.0 | ISO 200
At first, I only considered golden hour as a great time to photograph portraits because of the even lighting on a model’s face. But over the years, I find that golden hour is an incredible opportunity to practice cinematic travel photography not only because the brilliant tones that hit the architecture, but also because of the amount of people that will be walking around.
I would wake up at about 5:00 in the morning every day during my trip to catch the sunrise, and the city was always silent.
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/400 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 125
CAPTURING TOKYO AT NIGHT
One of the things I love about Tokyo are the signs on different storefronts that illuminate at night. I think the overall variety of vibrant colors on each sign plays a huge role in adding to the ambience of the scene.
Before going to Tokyo, I was very fortunate that I was able to buy a second prime lens (the Sigma 35 mm) with a low aperture of 1.4 that would allow me to get some decent shots without having to worry about much noise reduction in post. But I also found myself using the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens when I really wanted as wide of an angle as possible.
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/400 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 125
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/200 sec. | f/2.2 | ISO 640
Sony A7R III | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART | 1/320 sec. | f/3.2 | ISO 400
Sony A7R III | Sony G-Master 24-70mm f/2.8 | 1/250 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 320