Street Photography: 17 Tips and Tricks You Can Use Right Away

What Is Street Photography?

Street photography is one of our favorite photography genres. The definition isn’t all that simple, though. In general, it’s about photography in public spaces — in cities and on the streets.

People are often a direct or indirect part of the subject matter. It’s not about portraits, but rather about stories, a bit of social commentary, and life in general.

Subjects can also simply be funny scenes, quirky buildings, cool street art, and much more. The goal is to capture the lives of people and society.

To get started in this genre, all you really need is a camera with a lens and our street photography tips.

Composition in Street Photography

Street photography thrives on composition and visual design. That’s great news, because it means it doesn’t really matter what camera you use or which lens you have attached.

What matters is how you execute your street photography ideas. With the following tips on composition in street photography, you can easily achieve great and interesting results.

Black-and-White Photography

Black-and-white photos have a very special appeal. The absence of color puts your main subject even more front and center, because there’s no distraction from color.

Black-and-white photos do require a small adjustment in the way you shoot. It takes practice to think in “black and white” when looking for subjects.

Most cameras have a function hidden in the menu that lets you shoot your photos directly in black and white. This way, you can already see in your camera’s live view how your subject will look in black and white.

It’s best to set your camera to capture JPEGs and RAWs simultaneously. If you don’t like the black-and-white image, you can still save it as a color image thanks to the RAW file.

Contrast

Contrast is a simple tool for showing opposites in your photos. This increases tension and, in turn, draws more attention to your photo. There are several different types of contrast. Here are the three we’ve picked out:

Color Contrast

Color contrast involves the colors in your subject. Do you vaguely remember the color wheel from art class?

Colors that sit opposite each other on the wheel have a high contrast with one another. If you capture a scene featuring two highly contrasting colors, you’ll draw a lot of attention to your photo.

Light-Dark Contrast

Light-dark contrast works great in combination with your camera’s black-and-white mode.

This type of contrast is about the difference between the bright and dark elements in your photo. A sunny day is ideal for this — you’ll find strong shadows around every corner of the city.

Maybe you’ll find a building facade with an interesting texture that’s enhanced by the shadows. Or look for a shadow that someone is just stepping out of, already lit brightly by the sun.

Content Contrast

Content contrast is about contrasts within the subject matter of your photo. Makes sense, right?

An ice cream melting on the pavement in the midday heat, an elderly grandpa out for a stroll with his young granddaughter, a person in a suit standing in front of a trash can, or the reflection of an old church in the glass facade of a modern office building.

All of these scenes are forms of content contrast. There are endless variations. Maybe you can think of a few more?

Background

Another tip for street photography — and photography in general — is about the background. It plays an important role in many shots, yet it’s all too easy to lose track of it.

When you’re photographing something, you automatically focus on your main subject — say, a person playing on their phone. In the moment of shooting, it’s easy to forget about the background entirely.

Before you press the shutter, it’s worth glancing at the background. That way, you can slightly adjust the framing to eliminate a trash can or another distracting element in the background.

When you look at the image later, you’ll have much more time to take in the whole picture — and notice a background that didn’t quite work out. That’s why you should pay attention to it while you’re shooting.

Reflections

Reflections are a great way to create creative photos. And you’ll encounter them more often than you might think.

In the city, there are of course plenty of glass facades you can use for reflections. Grab a friend and have her stand next to the window of your favorite café. Focus on her reflection in the glass and you’ve already created an interesting portrait photo.

When it rains, the puddles on the ground offer lots of opportunities for reflections. By the way, you don’t necessarily have to wait for rain to get a puddle. Just bring a bottle of water with you and you’ve got a puddle on the go.

Tip: When photographing reflections, you should set a large aperture number to achieve the sharpest possible image.

The Right Moment

Patience is one of the most underrated street photography tricks — and it’s absolutely worth taking to heart. Maybe you’ve found a spot in the city with interesting street art.

But the street art alone feels a little boring? Then wait for the right moment. Eventually, someone will walk by who fits perfectly into the scene.

You’ll encounter many similar situations during a street photography outing. If a scene is interesting but just missing one small element — a person, a passing car, or a pigeon — then wait a little. That’s how you get truly extraordinary shots.

Storytelling

Storytelling is about making your image tell a little story.

Imagine an open bottle of champagne with two glasses in the foreground. In the background, you can see the silhouette of a dancing couple.

Your brain immediately starts weaving a story — that something is being celebrated here. Maybe an engagement, a birthday, or just life itself.

That’s storytelling: cleverly connecting the elements of your subject into a little narrative.

Everyday Situations

Many great subjects in street photography are hidden within completely everyday situations. That’s exactly what how to shoot street photography is all about.

Don’t get caught up searching for the perfect scene or situation. Also keep an eye out for seemingly ordinary actions, activities, and circumstances. And it’s not even strictly necessary for people to be in your photo for it to feel alive.

Camera Settings for Street Photography

In the following sections, we give you an overview of the most important camera settings for street photography.

Camera Mode

For your camera mode, you can use A mode. This stands for aperture priority.

In this mode, you set the aperture and your camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed and ISO. This works well for many situations, because changing the aperture number lets you quickly and significantly influence the look of your image.

Aperture

Aperture controls the depth of field in your image. Depending on the aperture you set, a larger or smaller area will be in focus.

A small aperture number creates a shallow depth of field. For example, a person photographed at f/2 will be sharp, while the background blurs out. This is great for putting a person front and center in your street photo and letting a distracting background melt away into blur.

With a large aperture number starting at around f/8, a larger portion of your image will be in focus. If you want to photograph people in both the foreground and background sharply, for instance, a large aperture number is the better choice.

Tip: You can learn more about aperture in our article on aperture.

Shutter Speed

With shutter speed, you can freeze moments or render motion with a slight blur.

If you want to photograph a pedestrian walking with a slight blur, for example, use a longer shutter speed of up to 1/30 of a second.

To freeze things like the water from a fountain or the action of a street dance performance, you need the shortest possible shutter speed. At 1/250 of a second or faster, the motion in your street photo will be frozen.

ISO

For the ISO setting, your best bet is to use Auto ISO. With this setting, your camera automatically selects the appropriate value based on your chosen aperture and shutter speed.

You can then focus on aperture or shutter speed as creative tools for your shot, and your camera will adjust the ISO accordingly.

Keep in mind, though, that at higher ISO values — around ISO 6400 and above — image noise becomes a factor. This hurts image quality. On some camera models, you can cap the Auto ISO at a maximum value, so the camera won’t go above, say, ISO 6400.

Autofocus vs. Manual Focus

Autofocus gives you a lot of freedom. For us, manual focus is part of street photography — you set the focus yourself.

Of course, autofocus lets you react to new situations much faster. So there’s nothing wrong with using it.

When it comes to autofocus, you can decide whether you want to use AF-S mode or AF-C mode. In AF-S mode, you designate an area on your display and the camera focuses on it. The autofocus activates as soon as you half-press the shutter button.

The C in AF-C mode stands for Continuous. This means the autofocus continuously adjusts focus. This is useful when people or objects are constantly moving within your frame but should remain sharp.

What Is Allowed in Street Photography?

Even before the GDPR, you had to be a little careful when photographing people.

Don’t worry! If you shoot mindfully, street photography is no problem at all. We’ll walk you through the most important ground rules.

Right to One's Own Image

What is the right to one’s own image? This isn’t about your rights as the person who took the photo. No — when you photograph someone, that person has rights regarding the image.

In many countries, similar principles apply: you generally may not simply publish images in which individuals are clearly recognizable without their consent. Doing so can violate their personal rights. However, this doesn’t mean you have to pay for every photo.

Simply ask the person you photographed — before or after you’ve gotten the shot — whether you may use it.

Asking People

Regardless of the legal situation, you should generally ask people when you take photos of them or plan to publish them on Instagram and the like.

Some scenes live in the moment, so it’s perfectly fine to ask after you’ve taken the photo. In fact, that way you can show them the result right away and even share it with your subject on the spot.

Many people are happy to see a great photo of themselves — so this street photography tip is doubly worthwhile!

Respect and Decency

Not every interesting subject is worth photographing. This is especially true in situations where people need help or are in difficult circumstances.

Children may have seen a camera before and understand that it takes photos. Still, they can’t grasp what it means to have an image published online. Always ask a parent or guardian before taking a photo.

Similarly, you shouldn’t just photograph homeless people without a second thought. They may be part of many street scenes, but they’re often not willing subjects. Here, too, you should seek out a conversation.

In doing so, you’ll likely hear fascinating stories, and if a great photo comes out of it too, you’ll both get something out of the exchange.

With decency, respect, and a smile, you’ll go far in street photography!

Camera Gear for Street Photography

Right at the start of our street photography guide, we mention that gear isn’t all that important in street photography. That said, there are cameras and lenses that are particularly well suited or offer technical advantages that can benefit your street photography.

Cameras for Street Photography

You can do street photography with any camera. You don’t need a special one. In fact, it can sometimes even be an advantage to use a small compact camera for this type of photography — or even shoot with your smartphone.

Lens Tips for Your Street Photography

In street photography, prime lenses are most commonly used. These are lenses that cover only one focal length. What sounds like a limitation is actually a boost for your creativity.

By restricting yourself to one focal length, you’ll shoot much more deliberately and think twice about your subject.

On top of that, prime lenses are generally faster and offer better image quality. Both of these things work in your favor.

Popular prime lenses for street photography fall in the range between 24mm and 50mm.

With a shorter focal length like 24mm, it’s easier to photograph entire street scenes with multiple people and the buildings behind them.

If you prefer to have individual people as the focus, you should lean toward 50mm. We personally use a 35mm prime lens — the sweet spot in between.

Tip: In our comprehensive lens guide, you’re sure to find the right lens for your camera.