These five tips will level up your street photography

Have you gotten into street photography and wondering how you can improve your snaps? There are tons of tips and tricks out there, but you might want to get started with some quick and easy ones. In the video above, Pierre Lambert shares five must-know tips that he believes will transform your street photography.

Go ahead and watch it first, then move on to our digest below.

Forget about settings

Rather than worrying about the settings and fussing about them on your camera, you should instead be concentrating on what you’re trying to capture. Otherwise, you could miss a lot of great moments to snap!

But, how do you make sure that you’re getting the right — or best — settings for your shots each time? Simply shoot in Aperture Priority mode so you only have to set the aperture. This way, you have full control of the depth of field and thus, what shows in sharp focus in your shots.

Another great street photography tip from Pierre is to set a minimum shutter speed on your camera, if that’s available to you. This will help you avoid blurry shots due to slow shutter speed.

Use prime lenses over zoom lenses

Shooting with prime lenses will make you think differently about what you’re photographing. Since these lenses have fixed focal lengths, you’ll be forced to move with your feet instead of pulling your lens in or out. As a result, you may have more interaction with you subjects as you move closer to them, and it can open you up to more interesting stories.

Spend more time seeing than capturing

Before you get started shooting, take the time to explore and observe your surroundings. Do this with or without your camera. Take note of what catches your eyes and what you want to share with your audience. Remember, your goal is to present how you see the world, not to simply recreate something you’ve already seen before.

Shoot in all weather conditions

Shooting whatever the weather allows you to add diversity to your work and the visual stories that you’re trying to tell. Cities also tend to look different and have different moods as the weather and seasons change. If you have a weatherproof camera, you’re already well-equipped for this tip!

Crop your images

Despite what many photographers say, there’s nothing wrong with cropping to take out whatever doesn’t contribute to the story you want to capture. With street photography, you usually need to be fast, so there may be some unnecessary elements that end up in your shot. Some images may also look better when cropped. So, if it helps your shots work better, give it a crop!

Bonus: Go out there and shoot

Otherwise, nothing is going to happen! You can watch all day on YouTube for some street photography tips and inspiration. But without doing some actual photography yourself, you’re not going to improve and you’re not going to find your own voice.

Liked these quick tips? Don’t forget to check out Pierre Lambert’s YouTube channel for more of his street photography tips and tricks.

Screenshot images from the video