Street photography is an avenue for photographers to show the most common but not noticed place, people, and day to day events. Here are 10 Basic Street Photography Tips to Consider in easily improving your next street photography adventure.
1. Go wide. Shooting on the streets mean you are taking photos of scenes within your reach so it is advisable to use wide angle lens rather than telephoto. Using telephoto could make you appear suspicious and you don’t want to look like a spy right? If you have a prime lens, let’s say the 50mm, use it in street photography.
2. Pre-focus and make your camera ready at all times. Streets are so busy that the perfect moment might happen really quick that you cannot capture due to setting up your camera and focusing your lens. You could use the autofocus function of your lens. Though manual mode is the best way to take photo, you could set your camera to P mode or use Av mode. Bring only one camera and one lens.
3. Blend in. Do not carry your big camera bag to be unnoticeable. People might walk away or the spontaneous moment could be spoiled. Blending in is getting into the zone. This is why you should not use a telephoto and hide from afar cause if you got caught it is hard to explain.
4. Know when to ask. Asking politely to people is a good way to have a good shot. Thank them afterwards. Some subjects are great to shoot in an instant to preserve the rawness of the moment. You just have to be aware when to ask permission or not. After taking a photo and the subject told you to delete it, just delete it.
After preparing yourself and your gear for street photography, it is time to discuss what to consider in the actual shooting.
5. Shoot with colors. Although it is great to shoot streets in Black and White, you could make use of the colors that are present in the scene. Take advantage of the vibrancy and vividness. Look for vibrant colors in the street. Of course, make a couple of black and white photo to have some “safe shots”. However, you can convert your colored images to black and white in post process.
6. Look for patterns. Some contrast or connections could show the patterns. Another thing I mean by patterns are the patterns of shapes, lines, etc. Some patterns lead the human eye to a certain part in the image. Make use of them to make the image more interesting.
7. Make it simple. Simplicity is beauty. Make your shots as simple as it could be. You could try some minimalist shots. Show some negative space. Sometimes making it simple show the true story that you wish to capture.
8. Show other perspectives. You could experiment with your composition. Some subject are better when some parts are not framed. You could shoot from the hip or shooting from low vantage point. You could go higher and the subject could look a miniature. It really is up to you. For me, composition is half of the image. You can have a ton of images but could not have the same amount of images with superb composition.
9. Take plenty of shots. I always recommend to take many shots. The more, the better. Then, go and edit your best shots but not overdo it. Little enhancements will do. You could post process to make it appear cinematic.
They say we should love what we do, if not, don’t do it.
10. Enjoy and be safe. Enjoying in everything you do makes everything easy. Being outside means your out of your comfort. Taking precautionary measures at all times is a must.
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