Street Photography is the art of capturing life, culture, humanity & soul in a candid manner. The essence of street photography is about documenting everyday life & society on the street. The goal is to capture emotion, humanity and depict a personal character. It is one of the most difficult form of photography, because it is unplanned. The contents are out there but it is your job to find it. Street Photography is “Going on a walk with Camera“
- Street photography is about experiencing life up close & personal
- Make use of compact (Point & Shoot) camera, IPhone (or any good Camera mobile phone), which is less confronting than DSLR. The advantage is being smaller, lightweight & discreet. Less equipment is more… & quick to react. At best you can use wide angle prime
- Take your camera everywhere as Street Photography is spontaneous and waits for no one – try to get behind the scene
- Use AV (Aperture – Priority mode) & select f-stop & ISO manually.
- For effective setting, Use ISO between 200-400 in a sunny day & use f/8 or f/16 (aperture) not wide open. The shutter speed can be 1/200th a second
- 35mm focal length is ideal for most street photography, Prefer to shoot in P mode
- Get Closer to your subject to get the best
- Shoot your subjects mid stride in “V” shape
- Street photography is quite intimidating but quite exhilarating once you try it out. Ask for permission if you feel necessary of situation but capture the genuine picture and not pose picture
- Take out all your fears of your subject getting angry, physically violent or even calling police. Use public place to shoot like café/tea shop/open restaurants/Car/Bus Stops instead shooting from middle of street. Invest some time with people & make them comfortable. Master small talks
- Shoot from hip length to capture decisive moments. Disregard what other people think of you
- Direct your subject, Get Eye Contact & Capture unguarded moment, don’t hesitate to ask for “Can you do that for me again” to capture your moment
- Look for gestures & emotions
- Take multiple pictures till you get the best shot. Look for Cherry on the top – a small details – to elevate an image
- Embrace negative space – shadows/sad faces – experiment with Black & White photography
- Shooting at night has great opportunity for unique images with bold visual statement/foreground. Avoid use of Flash in street Photography
- Think outside the box. Street photography is not about capturing people portraits on street, it can be without people. Capture some thing very different, unusual even mode of transportation – bicycle, motor cycles etc.
- Composition, Light, Drama & Story is very powerful in street photography – focus on essentials
- Fish out for your frame, move out of your comfort zone. Look out for Lines/Patterns/Textures if possible & shoot head on
- Street photography is unique & fascinating when compared to other genres of photography. Capture humor, irony and beauty of everyday life. Look for interesting messages contradicting to the people standing around it. Witty observations.
- Perception & intuition are important factors. Perception provides creative eye & attentive efforts whereas intuition is immediate.
- Shallow depth of field & image Quality doesn’t matter in street photography. Capture the decisive moment.
- Don’t take Street Photos “make” Photos.
- Don’t chimp (looking at LCD Screen) while shooting on the street.
- In Street Photography Social skills are more important than photography skills.
- In street photography you can’t control the scene but you can control which frame you decide to share.
- Shoot the streets according to your personality, knowing self & others be simple in your attire & attitude.
- Don’t drop your camera after taking a photo; take a pause & re shoot. It helps to get due attention.
- Have fun & enjoy street photography, keep smiling, stay relaxed & lighten. Be physically & mentally strong.
- Be respectful, compliment your subject & say thank you after taking picture, photograph like a child.
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