5 Simple Street Photography Composition Tips
5 Simple Street Photography Composition Tips
5 practical street photography compositions you can integrate into your photography today!
5 Tips
- Crouch down low (low angle perspective)
- Get your subjects legs in a “V” (triangle composition)
- Negative space between your subjects head and the background
- Let the photos come to you!
- Use the “fishing technique”: compose the scene then wait for your subjects to enter the frame!
Video Lecture: 5 Simple Street Photography Composition Tips
1. Fishing technique
Establish your composition, then wait for your subject to enter the frame. Similar technique to Henri Cartier-Bresson:
2. Crouch down low
Crouch down low with a wide-angle lens (24mm, 28mm, 35mm), and crouch down from a low perspective to make a more dynamic composition:
3. Leading-lines / Subject’s legs in a “V” / triangle shape
When you’re out shooting, have fun and look for nice leading lines (like escalators, alley-ways, etc). This is a photo I shot at the mall close to my old workplace (shoot more street photography during your lunch breaks!)
Get your subject’s legs in a “V” shape// because it is more dynamic (looks like a triangle).
4. Negative space between your subject’s head and the background
5. Let the photos come to you
I am a big fan of coffee shop street photography (more info in STREET HUNT).
The way I made this photo:
- I was drinking a coffee at a coffee shop in Hanoi
- I noticed a silhouette of people as they entered/exited the door next to me.
- I took out my RICOH GR II, and waited for the subject to enter again.
- The subject entered again, and I got a beautiful silhouette of the subject.
- I shot in P (program) mode in RAW, and processed with ERIC KIM MONOCHROME preset.
Conclusion
Ultimately I want you to also follow your gut in composition. You don’t need to follow composition tips line-by-line. Rather, study the master photographers, and study their compositions. Figure out which compositions you like, and integrate them into your photography!
Also another tip: study composition by watching great cinema. Don’t just look at photos; analyze them, and integrate the lessons into your own photos!
BE BOLD,
ERIC
