Street photography is both one of the easiest, and most challenging. genres of photography to get into, so we've put together a simple list of 10 tips for Successful Street Photography.
1: Travel light
Whether it's at one of our meetups, or some other street photography event, it’s amazing how much gear people bring with them ‘just in case’ - a big heavy camera bag, multiple lenses and so on, and that’s great if you’re working from the boot of your car.
But if you’re out on the street for hours at a time having to carry a bunch of gear can be exhausting. But not just that, you’ll stand out and draw attention to yourself - and not necessarily in a positive way, particularly in more ‘risky’ locations, after all you’re out to have fun, not get mugged.
So travel light, carry a ‘normal’ bag (some sort of satchel is usually great) for your ‘stuff’ (water, a rain jacket and your phone etc.), with only enough camera gear to hold in 1 hand… see below.
2: Always be ready
Moments in street photography can happen fast, if you have to fossick in your bag for your camera or a lens, or mess with the settings because you’re shooting manual, you might just miss the moment.
Even having your camera hanging around your neck, or on one of those fancy Peak Design Capture Clips might still be too slow when the moment comes.
Ideally, you want your camera in hand, turned on and all set and ready to go, ideally at about chest level and pointing forward as you move about the area you're photographing. Then when you see a composition it's a simple move to lift the camera to your eye, frame up composition and shoot.
And as you get better you mightn’t even have to lift your camera to your eye to compose your shots, being able to visualise the composition without the need for the viewfinder.
If you’re worried about security or dropping your camera a Peak Design Cuff, or similar, can secure your camera while keeping it at the ready.
3: Always be on the lookout for compositions
One of the great things about street photography is the lack of control, being part of an ever changing sea of potential compositions, but you need to keep your eyes open and think outside the box. A key to creating great images is to instead of taking photos ‘of stuff’ instead aim for photos about what's happening around you - telling a story in each image using light, framing and composition.
Plus street photography is a numbers game, a case where it’s better to take the shot and ‘judge’ it later, rather than aiming for the perfect composition each time. The more you practise the better you’ll become, but it’s also not uncommon to spend a day shooting and yet not come away with a ‘keeper’ image - such is the ever changing tableau of the street.
4: Take your time
As you move about don’t just snap as you go. If you see a composition that could use a human touch, settle in and wait for the moment.
Whether it’s someone crossing a road, moving through a pool of light, or climbing some stairs, people in action can help tell a story of a location or a scene. Likewise waiting for the right light - revisiting a location at different times, or in different weather can transform a scene from the mundane to awesome.
5: 1 lens ‘to rule them all’
Unless you want to carry multiple bodies (you don’t - see point 1 above) pick a lens and stick to it. Whether it’s a standard zoom (I use an 16-80mm f4 zoom) or your favourite prime lens, you want a lens that gives you your favourite view and allows you to compose and shoot quickly.
You don’t want to miss shots changing lenses, but even better, limiting yourself to one lens provides a challenge in composition that forces you to think and consciously compose rather than just falling back on a point and shoot methodology.
6. Set and Forget
In the fast paced environment of street photography often you only get one moment to capture an image, before that moment passes. You mightn’t have time to mess with your settings.
So, as well as getting to know your camera as an extension of your eye, with street it can pay to preset your camera before you go out to shoot.
Rather than shooting manual, and having to mess with your settings with every shot, dive into your menus, preset your camera and (if you do street photography regularly) set a custom function to your chosen ‘street’ settings.
For me, I keep it simple:
For the exposure triangle - I use aperture priority (choose the aperture I want to use (usually f5.6 or f8), set the shutter speed, and let the ISO run wild, while setting a maximum ISO (3200) in my camera settings.
For focus - I use high speed single shot (this is a bit of a Fuji thing) for other camera brands I’d probably use continuous focus mode. Or I zone focus (see below) for even quicker capture.
For metering (photometry) - I use centre weighted or spot (with a custom button set up to switch between the 2). I’m also a huge user of exposure compensation, mainly because it's so quick and easy of Fujifilm XT bodies
For image capture I shoot RAW even though Fuji cameras have a great range of film simulations in their jpeg mode. This lets me mess with the images far more in post processing, and Capture One has the Fuji simulations built in as presets so I can add them later when processing the image.
7. Zone Focus
If you’re using an ‘older’ camera, a manual focus lens, or just not trusting the autofocus system of your camera (Panasonic Lumix) then zone focusing may be the way to go.
With zone focusing you switch your camera to manual focus and set a predetermined focal distance (say 5m) and use a wide(ish) aperture (f8 or f11 for example) for a fairly wide depth of field, although these will vary based on the lens, camera format (micro 4/3, aps-c, or full frame) and your style of photography.
Then when you shoot you can just compose the shot ‘knowing’ that everything around 5m away will be acceptably in focus, thereby taking focus out of the composition equation.
8. Be unobtrusive
Unless you’re doing street portraiture (where you’re capturing people's portraits), street photography is about documenting the world around you, ideally with a little influence on the scenes that you capture, so with street photography it often pays to be unobtrusive - to blend in.
That doesn’t mean sniping from 100s of feet away with a long lens, but instead blending in so people don't pay attention to you, even though you’re in plain sight.
This can be achieved by travelling light - looking like a ‘tourist’ with a simple kit, rather than a ‘professional photographer’ with a massive amount of gear.
It also comes with confidence, ‘owning’ the space you occupy within the location, making eye contact with people (particularly after you’ve taken a photo of them) rather than trying to hide and not being noticed. If you’re confident in what you’re doing people will be more accepting, whereas if you are looking surreptitious people will think you’re up to something and act accordingly.
9. Be ready to show your work
Whenever you’re out shooting in public people are probably going to know what you’re doing, and being prepared can make the difference between a pleasant encounter and an aggressive one.
One of the best ways to engage with people who question what you’re doing is to be ready and willing to show your work. Whether it’s in Instagram or your own website, having a portfolio of work available to show people can take them from confrontational to excited.
Have a link on your phone's home screen that you can click to open your portfolio, offer to share images with your subjects, and have ‘business cards’ so people can get in touch with you. All these will help people have confidence that you're not some ‘crazy’ person, but rather a legitimate artist.
10. Accept Failure and Self Doubt
In theory street photography is easy - just go out into the street with a camera and shoot, but in reality it can be one of the most challenging and exciting photographic genres out there.
From finding and capturing stories as they happen around you, to interacting with people, and the low ‘hit’ rate compared with more controlled photographic genres like studio portraiture, still life, or even landscape photography, street photography is one of the most challenging and confronting photographic mediums out there. Failure and self doubt are integral with the pursuit of ‘the street’, but so are some amazing images and great life experiences that make the pursuit of street photography one of the most fulfilling photographic genres.
With street photography, even when you’re having a ‘bad’ day out, it can turn in a moment to deliver the ‘banger’ of a lifetime.
Are you ready to take great photos?
Get out there and create great work, and have fun going it.
And if you're interested in getting new experiences and hanging out with other photographers, learning new things and making great images check out or upcoming events below:
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