As with the squared format, I got very much used to converting my pictures to monochrome, which is probably most often described as being the setting for street photography. But for several years now, street photography with colors has gained some momentum. The work of Saul Leiter is one of the examples I personally appreciate a lot. Some pictures seem to shout at you to leave the colors in. In this week’s post, I would like to show a couple of examples of pictures, where the colors are essential to the captured atmosphere or moment.

In this first picture, two workers of a nearby construction site were just crossing the street. The interplay between the orange clothes, the yellow crosswalk, and the red signal in the back is essential in this picture.

The second picture above was taken during a garage sale during the late afternoon and its characteristic warm light. Due to the still summer-like temperatures, people were still dressing quite colorful. I used an HDR filter to add to the atmosphere.

But colors can also be used to accentuate specific parts of the picture. In the third picture below, I only kept red tones to put the main focus on the man under the red umbrella – ready to get clients for his city tour. The use of colors here is exaggerated to make the example quite clear.