PT Photography School Tip of the Week: Simple Street Photography Techniques
- Nervousness is a good thing when it comes to street photography. That tells you that you understand the importance of photographing others without their permission.
- Have a clear plan of attack for your street photography shoots. Look for areas with lots of people and room for you to work.
- Keep both eyes open when your camera is raised to your face. Doing so gives you a greater field of view that helps you identify your next subject.
- Shooting from the hip is hard to do but is useful in times when shooting at eye level is difficult or impossible.
- Use a small wide-angle or traditional lens. Street photography is about being discrete, and these lenses allow you to do that.
Street photography is a fun challenge to undertake. There’s a wide array of subjects to photograph, the split-second decision making regarding where to focus your camera, and the initial fear of taking photos of strangers. So the question becomes, how do you rise to the challenge, overcome your fears, and take great street photos without disturbing your subjects?
This week’s Tip of the Week addresses that very question!
Deal With Fear and Nervousness
Taking photos of strangers most likely induces a bit of nervousness, at least it should. What if someone gets angry and demands you delete the photo? On the other hand, what if someone desperately wants to be in the shot and ruins the candid nature of the street scene you wish to capture?
These and many other concerns plague street photographers. But that nervousness is a good thing because it indicates that you are sensitive about people’s privacy and that you want to go about your work in a moral and ethical way. At the end of the day, you’re documenting what’s going on in someone else’s world without their permission, and that is a heavy burden to bear, as it should be.
So, the first step to getting solid street photography images is to work with that fear and nervousness. At first, you may feel as though you need to force yourself to raise your camera while you’re on the street. After you take a few images, you may feel like you need to hurry away before someone catches you. Those feelings are totally normal, and, with time, will fade to the background. But as those fears fade, ensure you don’t forget them because that is what will keep you grounded and working in an ethical space
Make a Plan
Wandering around aimlessly might seem like a great way to get the most authentic street photography results, but it definitely is not. By making a specific plan to visit lively areas, for example, Times Square in New York City, you will improve your chances of getting the kind of street images that you want. The more crowded a location, the easier it will be for you to blend in and capture the authentic moments you seek.
When making your plan, also think about locations that afford you enough room to work. Again, Times Square would be a good choice because it’s quite large and you have freedom to move about. But a tiny sidewalk on a little street in Tribeca might not be the best idea.
Use Both Eyes
It’s common for photographers to bring their camera to their eye and close the other one as they take photos. However, if you want to improve the photos you take, keep both eyes open.
By keeping your non-camera eye open, you can more easily see what’s going on around you, which is advantageous for a couple of reasons. First, if you’re on a crowded street, it can help you avoid running into someone that isn’t in the field of view of your camera. Second, it allows you to scan a larger area for your next subject matter. With your non-camera eye closed, you have a lesser chance of knowing when something much more entertaining or photo-worthy is going on out of your camera’s field of view.
Or Try Shooting From the Hip
Some photographers abhor the idea of shooting from the hip. It’s more difficult to frame, more difficult to focus, and you’re more likely to get bumped by a passersby if your camera and arm are sticking out to the side.
That said, shooting from the hip is much more discrete than raising the camera to your eye and taking a photo. If you find yourself in a situation in which you feel like the presence of your camera to your eye would cause a disruption, give a hip shot a try. It will certainly take practice, but over time, you will be able to develop a pretty good feel for the best angle to hold your camera from the hip to get the shot you want.
Use a Discrete Lens
No street photographer will tell you to use a telephoto lens. That’s certainly one of the best ways to get noticed and ruin the candidness of the street scene. Instead, try a wide-angle or traditional lens with a focal length of 50mm or less. These lenses are fast, lightweight, and versatile so you should be able to photograph most of the situations that you encounter.
Whatever lens you use, get some use out of it. Although there is a need to work quickly, reacting to the slightest stimuli, there is also value in taking a lot of snaps of the same subject. Avoid the temptation to flee the scene after you’ve taken a single shot. Instead, stick around and watch as the scene unfolds. Waiting a few seconds may get you a far better photo than the first one you take.
Conclusion
A large part of your success in street photography will be those technical aspects of photography that we all must worry about. Depth of field, shutter speed, composition, and framing will all impact your street images just like any other. But, just as you need to perfect the operation of your camera, you need to perfect the art of taking a street shot. Learn how to plan your routes to maximize the subject matter. Work on keeping both eyes open and shooting from the hip. Above all, learn to overcome the nervousness of photographing strangers without losing your desire to remain a moral and ethical photographer.