1. Stop worrying about your gear

Famous photographer Chase Jarvis coined the phrase “the best camera is the one you have with you” and this couldn’t be more true when it comes to street photography. Everyone has a camera on their phone these days and that really is all you need for street photography. This type of photography is not about taking sharp images or perfectly soft transitions between highlights and shadows, it’s about motion, emotion, contrast and art so stop worrying about what camera is in your hands and start observing what’s around you.

2. Get closer

This tip is another one with a quote from a famous photographer. “If your photos aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough” are Robert Capa’s immortal words and they still ring true to this day. Street photography can’t be done from a distance with a telephoto lense. It needs to be up close and personal with a wider lens, that way you capture life more organically and in a candid way as opposed to spy-like telephoto shots.

3. Worry about your gear

This may be in opposition to the first tip but I like to think of it as a tip for the future. If you enjoy street photography, make the next camera you buy smaller. The best street photographs are close and candid and you need something small and fast for that. With a big DSLR and a large lense your subject will see you from a mile away and you’ll lose your chance for a candid photo. With something small you can get close and snap some shots without anyone knowing.

4. Research locations

In your city there will certainly be places that lend themselves well to street photography. I recommend getting out on the streets and seeing these places, you don’t even need to bring a camera for this, just keep your eyes peeled for any locations that look interesting. You are looking for patterns, angles, specific colours and most importantly…people.

5. Get inspired by other photographers or famous photographers

The number one way to get inspired for anything is to see other people’s creations. There are so many ways to see street photography these days that it’s unforgivable not to. Use Instagram to see what others have posted, or Flickr or even Facebook. I would also recommend checking out some of the legendary photographers throughout the history of street photography. Some names to look up are: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alex Webb, Helen Levitt, Vivian Maier and Mark Cohen.

6. Look for contrast

One of the best ways to create some emotion in your images is to look for contrast. Not necessarily contrast in normal photographic terminology but more social contrast. This could be a scene where a very poor person in rags walks next to a businessman in a suit, or a beggar begs outside an affluent hotel or a protest going on in your local city. You get the idea.

7. Look for angles

Angles make photos interesting. Sharp angles like the edge of a building or patterns in a cityscape can be a great tool for breaking up the frame of your photo and using negative space. Be careful to place the angle in the right part of the photo and you will already have a head start to an awesome shot.

8. Leading lines

Leading lines are lines in a photo that lead the viewer’s eyes towards the subject in the frame. Think about the cliche model on a train track photo. It might not have much going for it but it is a good use of leading lines. The two sides of the train tracks in the foreground of the image act as lines that drag the viewer’s eyes up and towards the subject.

9. Set yourself challenges

Setting yourself challenges can be a brilliant way of keeping yourself inspired and keeping your observation skills up. Challenges like only taking photos of a certain colour for that day or aiming to photograph something tartan can be a very good way to train yourself to observe everything and pick out photo opportunities.

10. Get shooting!

You could sit on the internet all night reading about how best to go about street photography but I can guarantee you that the best way to learn and get better at it is to leave your bedroom, get on the streets and take some photos. So what are you waiting for?