Street Photography Tips pt. 4
Tell a Story With Your Images
Storytelling is huge in street photography, and is directly linked to capturing moments. Stories don’t have to be complex, either. A simple story that leaves you with open-ended questions are some of my favorites. Let’s use this photo of this guy running through the rain as an example. The story of this photo is simple; this guy got caught in the rain, and he’s trying to get somewhere dry. But there’s still questions that I have. He’s dressed pretty nice; was he heading somewhere important? Did he just leave somewhere important? His jacket is over his head; did he not expect this storm? Did he forget his umbrella? Did he have an umbrella that broke? He ran directly through a puddle, did he ruin his shoes? Stories are important in street photography so it’s beneficial to aim toward capturing them, but also know not every photo needs one.
Shoot in the rain
Speaking of rain, if you’re going to be shooting in wet conditions, make sure you have weather sealed gear, or you protect it with a cover of some sort. The last thing you want is to have your gear break mid-shoot. The rain offers so much opportunity for moody shots. Vibrant colors from things like artificial light become more rich, puddles and raindrops add a lot of texture, motion, and reflections. You can also use fogged up windows to create abstract scenes. People are also much more focused on other things like staying dry, which allows you to get more candid style shots.
Use reflections
Reflections are an area of street photography that I absolutely love to utilize. They look amazing when they’re done well, especially as a foreground. Keep an eye out for mirrors, cars, windows, puddles and any shiny surface you come across. Make sure you set your focus directly on your desired subject though. Otherwise, you may lose sharpness and the photo just won’t turn out as well as it could have.
