Street photography is a lot of fun and challenging at the same time. Requires a bit of courage, a good eye for observation and some basic photography skills. It is not overly technical since street photography is capturing the moment, composition and technical perfections come second. Here are my street photography tips from my recent workshop.

Street photography is catching irregular, unusual, contrast, sometimes awkwardness

What we look for is catching a moment which is unusual. For example, someone smoking in front of the ” no smoking” sign. A very tall person walking along a very short person or twin brothers, sisters looking very similar. Simply a composition which is interesting to look at!

Tell stories

Telling stories might be the main goal of photography in general and holds its place at Street Photography as well. You need to be a good observer to tell stories with your photography. Seeing people expressing love or affection, love, kindness or generosity and capturing the moment in your composition will make it truly timeless.

Don’t take pics of homeless people

This is the first thing many street photographers do when they are new to street photography. It might look interesting to take pictures of homeless people but actually, we need to be a bit more creative than this. Also, they are not like to be photographed most of the time in my experience.

Make the picture rather than taking the picture

Making the picture means, setting the scene and your framing in your mind and waiting for the right person in the photograph to be in. I sometimes wait for the right person to be in the picture for more for quite a long time and wait is totally worthed! This is what Steve McCurry and Henry Cartier-Bresson did to create their masterpieces.

Equipment

Equipment is usually taken care of too seriously at photography. It is a fact that high-end fast gear is helpful but it is very easy to take great pictures with your mobile camera these days. Also, being invisible is very easy with a mobile. When you point your camera with a Tele-zoom to someone you will be noticed which is not wanted at street photography. light! Using shadows to create drama and artistic approach.

Light and using shadows

Light makes the photography obviously! We can also use strong shadows when the sun is on top, around noon time to make our composition stand out.

What is your favourite street photography tip? Share below with other fellow photographers!