A street photography lens challenge

In street photography anything can happen. Incredible photographic moments can appear as if from nowhere and be gone just as quickly. It's the ultimate challenge for a photographer. You need to be ready for anything and have kit that can deliver results.

Andres McNeill, who is based in Glasgow in the UK, has built an impressive social following for his unique style of street photography which takes the ornate, historic architecture of his city as its starting point. "I've always enjoyed people watching," he says, so when he got seriously into photography in 2020, he naturally gravitated towards the street.

Andres tends to walk the pavements until he finds a great frame and then waits until the right person appears – a final but essential element that completes the composition.

Like many contemporary street photographers, Andres is not wedded to the classic fixed 35mm focal length that was favoured in the early days of the genre, instead experimenting with whatever works for his subject matter. Usually, he'll head out with his Canon EOS R5 or EOS R6, and a Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R for his EF lenses.

To see whether it was possible to replicate his signature look with a minimal setup, he paired Canon's full-frame mirrorless EOS R8 with just one wide-angle prime lens – the super-compact Canon RF 28mm F2.8 STM. Here, we find out whether the kit was up to the challenge.

The best lenses for street photography are those that allow you to be nimble so you can adjust quickly to follow fast-moving action and a key feature of the Canon RF 28mm F2.8 STM is its slim pancake design.

At just 120g, the RF 28mm F2.8 STM is light compared to zoom or faster prime lenses, ideal when you're nipping around a city such as Glasgow on foot. "It's incredibly small," Andres says. "Paired with the Canon EOS R8, I just couldn't believe the size of it. It felt like you were almost invisible."

For Andres, who is over 6ft, being able to melt into the surroundings is a huge benefit. "You can be really close to the action, and still get candid moments – and I was less noticeable than I would have been if I was walking around with my usual setup."

Andres stayed in Glasgow city centre for the shoot, "because that's where it's all happening," he says. "You've got such an eclectic mix of people so it's the best place to go for photos."

The wide-angle 28mm focal length was a new experience for Andres, who embraced the opportunity to bring more of the architecture into the frame. "I was able to get really close to people because the footprint of the camera and lens setup is so small but I was also able to capture the width of buildings," he explains.

Andres captured a variety of pictures, showing people crossing between the architectural gems, within pockets of light, casting long shadows. "I also made some longer exposures, with cars passing and creating trails," he adds.

Scotland is not generally known for its sunshine, so having a lens that can deal well with duller, overcast weather scenarios is vital for Andres.

"My favourite time to shoot is the 'blue hour', just after the sun has set but late enough so it looks like night," he says. "Having that f/2.8 aperture was perfect for those situations. I didn't have to push up the ISO too much to achieve a decently exposed image. You can rely on slightly lower shutter speeds at f/2.8 to get a really crisp photo."

For the visual look he strives for, Andres draws inspiration from cinema, referring to the distinctive blue-purple-turquoise tones present in the cinematography of the 2016 film Moonlight as an example of the kind of colour palette he loves in his own shots.

When shooting at night, Andres uses available light from office windows and fast-food signage to enhance his images. After dark, he was especially impressed with the bokeh produced by the Canon RF 28mm F2.8 STM.

"The greater the number of aperture blades, the smoother the bokeh and the more perfect and circular it looks," he says. "That was important as I had street lights and car headlights all going on in the background. Having that bokeh, which is so pleasing to the eye, really added to the images."

In addition to shooting stills, Andres is also a videographer. The RF 28mm F2.8 STM is an ideal lens for content creators working with motion and for making movies as its focus breathing correction delivers consistent framing when switching between focal points.

This was the first time Andres had used the Canon EOS R8 and he found it was a great camera for street photography. He particularly appreciated the intelligent autofocus, which enabled him to keep his subjects in sharp focus. "It almost felt like cheating a little sometimes. It's almost as if I was just telling it what to do with my mind and it was just happening."

A successful street picture tells a story within a frame. Andres remembers one particularly powerful example of this – a man seated in a pool of light, taking a break (above right). Thanks to his inconspicuous setup, Andres was able to take the shot while the man continued his moment of calm, undisturbed. For his subject, it was probably just another ordinary day but, seen through Andres' lens, it became something magical.

"My one piece of advice to street photographers is just to go out and do more," urges Andres. "I could list techniques, but really it's about training your eye to see the kind of moments that you're looking for. And that will make you a better street photographer."