Take Your Urban Photography to the Next Level

Street photography is a unique and exciting form of photography that involves capturing candid moments of daily life in public spaces. It requires a combination of technical skills, creativity, and a keen eye for seizing the right moment. Whether you’re just starting out with urban photography or looking to improve your candid photography skills, these 10 tips will get you on track to becoming a better street photographer.

1. Know Your City Street Photography Gear

Street photography can be characterized as a hunt for a moment that cuts through the monotony of everyday life. In order to capitalize on these split-second street photo opportunities, it’s important to familiarize yourself with your camera equipment and settings so that you can quickly and easily make adjustments on the fly. A successful street photographer is a prepared one, and oftentimes you won’t have time to make major settings or equipment adjustments when out in the field. Understanding your own photographic preferences and how best to achieve them with your gear is integral to taking successful street photos.

2. Great Candid Photography Means Being Ready at All Times

Nothing is worse than setting out for a day of city street photography and realizing you’ve forgotten a piece of your kit that you can’t do without. It’s important to always have extra batteries, memory cards, film, and any other necessary accessories with you. While weight and portability are important things to consider when deciding what you bring with you on your city street photography mission, none of those factors matter if you are unable to take a shot due to being unprepared. You never know when you'll come across the perfect shot, so be ready!

3. Simplicity is Beauty with Urban Street Photography

As with everything, urban street photography has a wide variety of styles, tropes, and trends that inform the genre. With social media apps like Instagram and TikTok, it can be easy to be inspired by a swath of sources. Though there is nothing wrong with this, when shooting, try to focus on one or two styles of street photography rather than trying to do everything at once. This will help you develop your own candid photography style and will allow you to excel in different techniques.

4. Keen Observation Helps You Capture Stunning Candid Street Photos

Street photography is all about observation. The skill comes from waiting for a moment to arrive and knowing exactly when to click the shutter. When you are out shooting street photos, look for interesting scenes and people, and pay attention to the details of your surroundings. Allow your lens to follow your eye and be interested in the things you’re interested in. While there are many great street photographers, the best ones let their own voice shine through in their street photos by sticking to the subjects that interest them, no matter what they are. You can practice this by searching for interesting details during your day-to-day life when you’re without a camera.

5. Anticipate Your Next Street Photography Opportunity

Once you become adept in street photography observation, you’ll be able to better predict what might happen next and be ready to capture the moment. Like anything, practice makes perfect, and after studying the street for long enough, you’ll be able to catch a clue of a street photo moment before it even transpires. It’s important to always be paying attention, because especially in urban settings, moments can appear and disappear before you even realize they’ve happened. Keep your camera ready and train yourself to be able to focus on what you're doing and where you’re going while searching for city street photography opportunities.

6. Urban Photography Requires Patience

Often taking street photos is a war of attrition. There will be days where it feels like nothing of interest is revealing itself to you, or even worse, it feels like you can’t take a good photo to save your life. It’s in these moments where exercising patience is most important. Some days you’ll head home with nothing good, other days, you can’t take enough photos, and both scenarios are entirely normal. Stay consistent, take your time, and eventually you'll find something that fills you with the excitement only a good street photo can. Patience and persistence are essential if you want to become a better street photographer.

7. City Street Photography: Bravery and Respect

Taking pictures in public is a daunting task. Often people are interested or concerned with what you're photographing, what you’re using the images for, and generally why you’re doing what you’re doing. The best rule of thumb is to exercise your best judgment in who and what you’re photographing. Understand that, at the end of the day, people and places in public aren’t there to be the subject of your street photo. Respect others and if someone approaches you asking about what you’re doing, be honest.; 9 times out of 10, people will understand. If they don’t, respect their request for privacy. No photo is worth putting yourself at risk or making others uncomfortable. Don't be afraid to approach people yourself and ask if you can take their photo. Be sure to explain what you do and why you take street photos. Make it clear that they do not need to say yes, and you’ll abide by their decision. Most people are willing to cooperate. If they aren’t, look for another street photography opportunity.

8. Shoot Street Photos from the Hip

Shooting from the hip is a technique of shooting photos where you keep the camera away from your eye and fire the shutter without looking through the viewfinder. Though the name suggests your camera needs to be at your hip, you can use this method to get higher angles, lower angles, and closer or farther from your subject, anywhere but at your eye level. An added benefit to this candid photography shooting style is that often you won’t draw too much attention to yourself in public. However, you won't be able to focus your camera or compose your image, so make sure you practice this method before using it in the streets to ensure you get solid results.

9. Play with Light with Your Urban Photography

As with all forms of photography, good light is essential for good photos. In street photography, you’re often working with natural light, which has its own benefits and drawbacks. Because you don’t need to worry about carrying and implementing artificial lighting, this can make your life easier as you only need to focus on the candid photography moment. However, this means that you are entirely at the mercy of the weather conditions, which can seriously limit the number of street photos you can take and how long you can shoot for. Experiment with different lighting conditions when shooting urban city photography and note what looks better to you and investigate the factors that led to that look.

10. Frame Your Candid Photography Shots

Street photography, especially urban street photography, works with busier, more crowded frames which can sometimes be difficult to compose in a way that makes the subject clear. One way that street photographers can mitigate this issue is to frame their subject within a composition using elements of the direct environment. This city street photography technique allows for the focal point to be defined while simultaneously giving the viewer a sense of the surrounding environment and its textures.

Improve Your Street Photography Skills with These Pointers

By following these tips and consistently practicing your street photography craft, you'll be well on your way to becoming a better street photographer. Remember to keep an open mind, stay curious, and never let a few bad days of shooting discourage you; your best shot might be the next one!

Want to boost your street photography skills? Reach out to the photography creativity experts at Annex Photo. We always have a few tricks up our sleeve.