A whole book could be written about this genre, and even then, it wouldn’t be able to contain everything that street photography is about. This is photography’s most natural genre, without formalities or filters; everything here is real—people, the city, time. The chaotic, ever-rushing everyday life suddenly pauses here, ordinary people become extraordinary characters, and their daily actions are immortalized in time. In this genre, streets transform from mere environments into main characters, with their own soul and character.
This is perhaps the most challenging genre of photography. Simply going out onto the street and taking pictures while strolling isn’t enough to get good shots. You need to have enormous patience, constantly search for and see what stands out, and when you finally find yourself in that magical moment, react instantly—the window of opportunity here is mere seconds. You must not only photograph but also tell a story, pose questions or answer them, and go beyond the confines of the frame.
An elusive definition of street photography
So, what exactly is street photography? I can’t say for certain. I don’t think anyone truly can. It might feature a clear subject, or just their shadow, or an object belonging to them. It could be taken on the street or in a shop, be in color or black and white. There’s no precise definition, but when you look at such a photograph, you can undeniably recognize it. Street photography is complex and multifaceted.
Before we dive into the technical aspects, let’s look at street photography from a slightly different angle. These are very important details, and perhaps their presence or absence is precisely what gives those crucial qualitative characteristics that transform an ordinary photograph into an exceptional one.
Cultivating Your Vision
To start, slow down. No, this doesn’t contradict being lightning-fast when you capture the shot. I’m talking about the time before you photograph, when you’re simply looking for the right frame with your eyes. A street photographer spends an enormous amount of time just looking around and searching for the unusual. And seeing that unusual in the chaotic, always-rushing urban rhythm isn’t easy, which is precisely why you need to slow down. Simply observe the city, try to feel its pace: when cars move and when people do, where they walk or often stop. Slow down so much that you become a part of the city.
Employ the gaze of a stranger. When you’ve lived in a city your whole life, it’s hard to see the unusual in the familiar streets and buildings at every turn. To trick your brain, imagine you’re seeing this place for the first time; look at the familiar city with the eyes of a stranger. Try it, and you’ll be surprised how many new things exist in an environment you thought you knew so well.
Find your idea.
Unlike many other genres, street photography can have continuity. Here, many shots can be connected by an invisible thread and become an entire story. The core of that story might be time (an evening or a week), location (a specific neighborhood, a city), or characters (people with distinctive clothing or similar occupations). This is street photography’s superpower; this is what makes this genre so different and gives it a new dimension. So, if you’re experiencing a creative block and don’t know what to photograph, embarking on a project can be a way out. The topic of the project doesn’t matter at all; any reasonable idea will work—just focus on it, and you’ll start noticing it everywhere.
Composition
In street photography, composition is extremely important. Urban life is quite chaotic. You will rarely encounter any patterns or arrangements (though your goal is to find or create them). Anyone can simply photograph chaos, but that won’t be street photography. The latter doesn’t forgive carelessness; it demands a certain composition, certain boundaries and rules.
Just like in portraiture, the background here is very important—even more important. Before photographing anyone, just pause for a moment and see what else will appear in the frame besides your subject. The probability of there being unnecessary objects is very high, and these, in turn, will distract from the main focus: the subject.
A common way to solve this problem is to approach it from the opposite direction: first find the background, then the subject. You spot an interesting environment (a wall covered in graffiti, an underpass or overpass, an entirely mirrored window), position yourself like a hunter, and start to wait. Sooner or later, someone will pass in front of you, and all you have to do is manage to press the shutter button.
Ethics and invisibility in streets
Since we’ve discussed photographing strangers, let’s also touch upon the ethical side of street photography. In any case, most of your shots will feature people. They might be part of a general scene, and in that case, there’s usually no problem. But when you quite obviously photograph a specific person, especially in a close-up, they might not like it.
In such a situation, there’s no need to engage in conflict or immediately delete the captured shot. Try to explain that you’re simply shooting for a project and that your “subject” looked very striking. You can show them the resulting photo, ask for their opinion, thereby making them a participant in the process, and promise to share the photo with them. If, however, this doesn’t help, delete the photo in front of them—the right to privacy should never be violated.
With children, you need to be especially cautious and only photograph them after asking for permission from a parent beforehand. In almost all countries around the world, children’s right to privacy is more strictly protected, and violating it can lead to serious trouble.
Be invisible, be part of streets
And if you still want to remain unnoticed (which all street photographers want), there are a few techniques. First, you can shoot without raising the camera to your eye, instead shooting from hip-level. If you manage not to even look in the direction of the camera during this, the probability of being noticed significantly decreases. Of course, this requires immense practice and a perfect understanding of your equipment.
Another good option is not to lower your camera immediately after shooting. It’s a very natural urge: you shoot, then lower your camera and look at the result. Everyone knows this, so when someone walks past you, and you immediately lower your camera, they understand that you’ve already got your shot. Try to keep the camera up for a bit longer, and in that case, people will think you’re photographing something behind them, not them.
Technical Gear
Now let’s move on to the technical side of street photography.
The choice of camera should be approached with utmost seriousness. The primary and most important criterion is to be inconspicuous. This is one of those rare cases where APS-C and Micro Four Thirds sensors offer a big advantage: they are smaller, and their lenses are also smaller. Mirrorless cameras give us another advantage: they have an electronic shutter, which means no sound comes from the camera when taking a shot (unlike their DSLR counterparts, where the mirror mechanism closing and opening is accompanied by such noise that you can simply forget about remaining unnoticed).
There are also cameras on the market designed specifically to maximize the ease of street photography, such as Ricoh and the Fujifilm X100 series, as well as certain Sony models. These cameras are small, lightweight, and quite inconspicuous in their dark color schemes, which makes them ideal for this genre. Of course, let’s not forget that these are bridge-type cameras, meaning the lens is an integral part of them (it cannot be changed), and they usually have a fixed focal length (28mm or 40mm).
Important feature of fixed lenses
Large and heavy lenses are not very applicable in street photography, and this primarily applies to zoom lenses. Although they will give you some freedom, they will also attract too much attention and immediately show everyone that you are a professional. Street photography favors fixed standard focal length (prime) lenses: 28mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm. The choice is yours; you decide which focal length gives you the most aesthetically pleasing image. For general scenes, and to show the environment as much as possible, up to 35mm is more suitable. If you want to keep a little more distance, then something above that. Let’s also not forget that if the camera’s sensor is not full-frame, the focal length effectively increases by the crop factor; consequently, the same 50mm will give magnification equivalent to 75mm (and not as much will fit into your frame).
In the post dedicated to lenses, I didn’t mention one important non-technical feature of fixed lenses: when working with the same lens for a long time, you start to visualize the future shot beforehand. You understand whether the composition will work or not, what will fit into the frame, and what will be left out. It might seem like this isn’t that important, but in reality, thanks to this, you won’t constantly raise the camera to your eye every second and attract unnecessary attention. And remaining unnoticed is clearly one of the most important components of street photography.
Practical Tips & Settings for street photography
Here’s another unusual tip: pay attention to your shoes. Yes, your shoes! When you get caught up in street photography, hunting for shots, walking 10-15 kilometers in a day isn’t fantasy. In that case, you need comfortable, lightweight, and breathable shoes.
It’s best to choose your settings beforehand; you definitely won’t have a few extra seconds to prepare your camera before getting the shot. ISO selection can be left to the camera, of course, after setting its upper limit quite high. Street photography is one of the few genres where noise in the image isn’t necessarily perceived negatively. From the other two exposure parameters, you choose the one whose effect is more important to you; there’s no right or wrong option here.
- If you want to control motion, go into Shutter Priority (S mode), leaving aperture control to the camera.
- Conversely, if depth of field is more important to you, switch to Aperture Priority (A mode). In this case, it’s important to ensure the camera doesn’t slow down the shutter speed too much, as no one needs a blurry shot.
When choosing your focusing mode, it’s important to consider that almost everything in the frame will be in motion. The preferred options are Dynamic Area AF and 3D Tracking autofocus modes. These not only increase your chances of not losing your subject but also allow you to focus on any part of the frame without looking through the viewfinder.
Final Tips
And finally, a few short tips. Street photography has no rules. What works in other genres might not yield the desired result here, and conversely, a complete breaking of rules can lead to unexpectedly good and interesting shots. So, don’t be afraid to experiment. Go up high or get down low, find interesting plays of light and shadow, reinterpret the normal, make the city part of your composition, give it a face and make it a character, rather than just an environment.
Also, don’t forget about the city’s nocturnal side. Every city completely transforms at night, gaining new life and a new rhythm. Low light shouldn’t be an obstacle; you can always raise the ISO, and with a fast lens, you have even less to worry about.
Street Photography: Key Takeaways
- In this genre, most of the work happens outside the camera. Learn to slow down and observe the world, notice the unusual, and see what stands out.
- Dozens of shots can be united into one project, sharing a common idea.
- Composition is especially important here. Be mindful of what appears in the frame and what doesn’t. A good approach can be to work backward: first find a suitable background, then wait for the subject.
- You need to become an urban ninja—invisible and attracting as little attention as possible with your attire and actions.
- When photographing strangers, don’t forget the rules of ethics and people’s right to privacy. Although legally you can photograph individuals in public spaces, not everyone will appreciate it.
- Try to be as inconspicuous as possible.
- Your equipment should be small and lightweight, less like professional gear. This is one of those cases where a full-frame camera might yield its place to smaller counterparts.
- Prime lenses with fixed focal lengths are preferable. They have large maximum apertures, are small, have faster autofocus, and usually produce sharper images.
- Prepare your camera settings beforehand. Use one of the semi-automatic modes, prioritizing the parameter that is more important to you.
- Focusing needs to be fast with as few missed shots as possible. Therefore, a large number of focusing points is preferable.
- There are no rules etched in granite here. Experiment, experiment, and experiment again. Different situations require different approaches, and there are no definitively working or non-working options.