Street Photography Magazine

Street Photography | Tips for Beginners

Use a Friend as Your

Foreground

If you ask a friend to accompany you, they can

pose in the foreground to distract your real

subject’s attention, and can even remain as an

additional out-of-focus detail in the finished

image.

Shooting from the Hip

Shooting without looking at the monitor or

through the viewfinder requires a lot of

practice. This technique allows you to shoot

largely unnoticed, but means you have no

control over your composition. You will often

have to crop images shot this way to get rid of

unwanted details. Walker Evans’ famous

subway portraits are nearly all cropped.

In a Café

Cafés – especially at busy corners – are great

places to sit and watch the world go by and

allow you to shoot from a sitting position.

Make sure you sit at a table that gives you an

interesting background.

Shop Windows

Using a shop window as a mirror provides an

extra level on which you can capture images

unnoticed. You can also use the reflections

that occur in puddles to capture unusual

compositions (see page 55). Using reflections

as a compositional tool is a great way to

produce mysterious and poetic images.

Right-angle Viewfinders

Tiltable monitors and right-angle viewfinders

are useful accessories if you want to shoot

Using reflections is a great way to shoot unnoticed or anonymize your subject

ISO 400 | 60mm focal length | f2.8 | 1/160 s