Street Photography Techniques and Inspiration – Part I

First and foremost, you always should stick to your own unique vision. That’s the most important quality of an artists work. But everyone needs a starting point. A source of inspiration to get them going. I know I did! I was most inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work, but I’ve grown to love many more street photography artists…most of them will be shown throughout this series. 

Below I’ll show a lot of great street photography which was captured within the last few years, but I’ll also show the masters who have given us the inspiration to continue this fun craft.

With each outing, you can create a focus for your work which includes one of the techniques listed. Later, when you feel more comfortable, you will be able to start combining several techniques, just as the masters, to create a stunning piece of history.

Before I started looking deep into street photography, I didn’t find an interest in photographing strangers. I was mostly interested in Fine Art, models, concepts, in-depth storylines…but now I can capture street stuff on the side when I’m not doing fine art. I can even use these techniques while traveling. I see the excitement of it now, and I hope this series sparks your interest as well!

If you are looking for a great group dedicated to street photography, check out “HCSP” (Hard Core Street Photography) on Flickr. I pulled a lot of these examples from that pool of talent.

Random Acts of Weird

One fun technique is to capture the weird in the world. Slightly quirky or humorous scenes that only present themselves once in a while, or if you are really looking.

Carrying paper to type on and plugging away at the keys…yes, taking a typewriter to the riverside seems a bit weird. Perhaps less nowadays with laptops.

Playing with Scale

Think small, medium, large. Working with a high f-stop will keep things in focus while you capture the different sizes. 

Layers

Think foreground, middle ground, background. The trick is to properly compose the layers so they don’t run into each other, obstructing the shape or view of each character. This is where timing and a good figure-ground relationship skills come into play.

He’s also working with shadows in this one.

Colors

Primary colors are a big target if you are wanting to capture color. They work well together and are very hard to find together in a world filled with trending fluorescent neon clothing.

This one just needs a bit of yellow to make it pop, but very good with repeating the colors while capturing them walking.

The red and yellow of the man’s skin next to the blue sky.

Red skin, yellow clothing repeating, and the blue hue of the building.

 Shadow Play

Seeing the shadow as a design element can add some intrigue to your street photos. In this first one, created by Henri Cartier-Bresson, he’s working with the shadow’s edge which I cover in-depth HERE. He’s also combining the technique of a fleeting moment which we’ll cover a bit later.

Try to go out early in the morning around 8-10am, or around 3-5pm to get some nice strong contrasting shafts of light. It’s quite fun to play with shadows during these times because the light is at an angle that can also be incorporated into the basic armature of your grid…just as Bresson does in most of his photos containing shadows.

You can see he’s got the entire image divided on the baroque diagonal as well as capturing another female shadow above…combining multiple techniques of figure-ground relationship, shadows, and design. Or as he likes to call it “Geometry.”

This one also creates an arabesque which we will cover soon. I love this perspective though! Must’ve been on a bridge or something??

Notice the shadow, wait for a fleeting moment, then take your shot. The boys’ shadow at the bottom creates a coincidence with the above image which we’ll also be covering.

Great shot with two shadows, two people in the middle ground, and two people in the truck. Playing with shadows, and scale.

In this one he’s combining the shadow, a fleeting moment, and colors.

Echoing shapes

Creating a visual repetition by echoing the shapes within the scene is also fun. You just have to be receptive to your surroundings and try to incorporate the subject, while using other design techniques which are applicable.

Father’s head, daughter’s head, hole in the wall. This is creating a rhythm in the photo by echoing the shapes.

Bresson echoing the man’s face with the man drawing on the wall.

Two white Coke bottles and two men in white shirts.

Echoing the pigeon and the eagle sign.

Red, red, pole, pole. Also, we see primary colors in this one.