5 Street Photography Tips
Introduction
There are no shortcuts to getting better at street photography. It’s a genre of photography that consists mostly of failure and repetition. It’s not easy, especially for a beginner, but regardless of your expertise, we all have days where we come back empty handed. Trust me, I know it all too well. I want to share a few tips that have helped me with street photography over the years, and I hope they can help you as well.
1. Keep the Camera in Shooting Position
This is a habit I’ve developed throughout my time shooting street photography, looking at how others shoot, and also through learning the hard way.
That’s simply keeping the camera always in your hand, and in a readied position to take a photo.
It sounds obvious, but I see a lot of beginner street photographers carrying their cameras around their shoulders or around their neck using a camera strap.
That’s totally fine. Wear your camera how you feel it is most comfortable. However, in my own experience I’ve found that it puts you at a disadvantage when it comes to reacting quickly in taking a photo on the streets.
Having the camera always in your hand, raised up, ready to shoot, it’s really all about putting yourself in the best possible position to take a photo at a moment’s notice.
I’ve lost track of the amount of great photos I’ve missed simply because I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have my camera ready, it was around my shoulders or stowed away.
Street photography is unpredictable. Anything can happen, at anytime. The second you put your camera away like that, you’re basically signing off on taking any photos for the day. Think of yourself like a sports photographer with their camera positioned ready for that critical play.
Another benefit of having the camera raised up and ready to shoot is that it actually draws less attention to you. The act of grabbing your camera from your side and raising it up to your eye to take a photo, signals to everyone around you that you’re about to take a photo.
When you’ve already got the camera raised up, there’s less movement that can draw attention to you. And when it comes to documenting moments in a candid fashion, we don’t want to alter reality, so being as discrete as can be is a must.
Now, you obviously can’t have your arm raised up all the time, otherwise you won’t have any blood left in your forearm, but just pay attention to your environment.
When it feels like a potential photo is brewing in the area you’re in, bring your camera up, ready to take a photo.
2. When Feeling Overwhelmed, Leave the Chaos
When shooting street photography, you might be looking to photograph people, so you go where the people are.
Sometimes though, you can have too much of a good thing, and when I’m shooting in huge crowds, I tend to feel way to overwhelmed and sort of lose my ability to notice anything worth photographing.
It’s almost like I get an overstimulation, a sensory overload where my senses just shut off.
I’ve had this feeling in really busy places like Santa Monica Pier, Coney Island, or Times Square. Or even when photographing large crowds at a protest.
When you feel this overwhelmed it’s a good idea to actually get out of there, and move somewhere less crowded, not necessarily leave the area, but just right outside of the large crowd.
Funny enough it’s usually when I leave the crowd and move to the less busy areas, the photos sort of reappear. Moments worth photographing sort of present themselves to you again.
You also will feel reenergized by leaving the craziness of an area, especially if you’re an introvert like me. Recharge, and if you’re still up for it, you can throw yourself back into the madness. Or maybe you don’t, and you stay just outside of the crowd and observe from a distance.
When I shot Santa Monica Pier during one of the first weeks that restrictions were dropped from the pandemic, the crowds were intense. I often had to go in and out of the crowd, shooting the moments I would see happening right outside of all the craziness. It helped me not get so overwhelmed and I ended up getting some photos I really enjoyed.
Be aware of your own physical and mental energy when you’re shooting in very intense, overwhelming environments. Don’t underestimate the power of taking a quick break from the action, it will help you sustain your shooting time much longer and you will enjoy the experience that much more.
3. Limit Your Distractions & Shoot by yourself
If you’re a complete beginner, do not shy away from shooting with other people. It’s a great way to make new connections as well as push yourself out of your comfort zone in street photography. There’s a magic to shooting with others, as you feel less anxious and more confident when you shoot.
I often shoot with other photographers, but most of the time I’ll shoot alone. The reason being is it reduces distractions from your ability to observe.
When you shoot with another photographer, your mind will be in two places. You have your friend which you need to keep track of and also talk to and then you have everything else going on around you and you’re trying to take photos. It’s just not possible to be that connected to your environment when your mind is in two places. Multitasking has actually proven to be a fallacy. The human mind can only focus on one thing at time. It’s just the speed at which it switches. Better to be focused on one thing- your subject matter.
In street photography, we need to give our full undivided attention to what’s going on around us. When I shoot alone, I’m fully focused, and I always find I make my best work when I am in that state.
When you shoot with another person you might also feel a bit held back. There could be a potential great photograph, but it might require you to wait around for a great subject to appear. You’re less likely to wait 10-15 minutes for your photo when your buddy is standing right next to you waiting to move on.
When you shoot alone, there’s no one holding you back. No one is going to care that you’ve been waiting half an hour for that yellow school bus to drive in front of that yellow painted building.
4. Don’t be ashamed of Auto Settings
I used to always shoot manual, no matter the camera. I just liked the full control I had over the camera settings, but nowadays, digital cameras are getting better at judging exposure automatically that it’s actually very advantageous to use auto settings.
You shouldn’t be ashamed if you shoot auto. I think a negative stigma around that formed over time, but it’s really all about making the shooting experience work in your favor and lighten the workload on yourself.
I do still think its important to understand shooting in manual, and how the exposure triangle works, that way you know what your camera is doing even when set to auto.
Shooting with auto settings lets you put more attention to the actual photos your taking- the moment in front of you. You don’t have to feel as caught up in making sure your shutter speed, aperture, ISO, are all set. Sometimes it can be a hinderance if you’re constantly consumed by all the settings of your camera, that it’s actually getting in the way of what you want to do.
I’ve recently been shooting in P mode on my X-E4. This is basically the equivalent of fully auto. I can still manage the exposure by always using spot metering combined with a easy to access button programed to Auto Exposure lock.
That means I can point my camera at any point, have my camera read for that spot, automatically expose, and then I have the option to lock in that exposure by hitting the AEL button I’ve programmed. When I say “lock in that exposure” I mean by hitting the AEL button, the exposure is locked and the camera no longer automatically exposes. The settings are in place until I hit the AEL button again and release it.
I’ve found this to be a really freeing way of shooting digital. It gives me the convenience and speed of auto exposure, but still gives me control over it at the same time.
5. Accept failure and doubt and learn from it
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve gone out to shoot and have literally gone the whole time without taking a single photo, or at the least, come away with a photo that I thought was good at the time.
And there’s a good chance you’ve probably been in a similar situation, no matter how long you’ve been doing this.
There is this cloud of doubt that might cross your mind. And you think to yourself, that maybe you’re not good at this. “These photos are terrible! There’s no way I’m going to get better! There’s no way I’m going out and doing this again! I’m going back to taking pictures of my dog!”
It’s easier said than done and it took me a long, long time to come to fully understand this, but you need to accept those fears and doubts and realize that it’s all part of the process at getting better at something you care deeply about.
If you’re frustrated that’s a sign that you care about this thing we call “street photography.”
I remember when I would come back from days where I went out to shoot, didn’t see anything and just ended up window shopping. I’d ask myself “what are we doing here?”
Back then in the moment, I thought I was wasting my time when in reality it was just another day of practice. Those days of failure add up over time and that has helped me become a better photographer.
Maybe there was a moment where I saw this beautiful moment but I wasn’t paying attention. I had my camera turned off, not ready to go. I missed the shot because of that, but I learned something there.
Or maybe I went out to shoot with no plan and didn’t take a single photo that day. I learned a lesson there.
Or maybe I went out to shoot with too many intentions about making a really good YouTube video that my mind couldn’t focus on what was happening around the streets. I learned a lesson there.
These are all learning moments and it might seem like you’re just suck, but don’t worry you aren’t, you’re actually making progress.
Self doubt will stop you every time from achieving anything of value for yourself. Take whatever doubt that’s in your head, accept its existence, don’t dwell on it; just keep moving forward.
I hope these tips will help you improve your street photography. These are things that have helped me and while not all of these are these can just be instantly implemented and result in taking good photos all of a sudden, they are things that you should put into practice every time you shoot. Over time they’ll help your get better. They’ve helped me become a better observer and a better prepared photographer, and that in return has lead to me getting photos I’m a lot happier with.
