LIGHT
Photography would not exist without light. It is all about light, although in the streets you don’t have much choice to steer light. First of all you choose the right daytime before you go out to shoot. Here is some advice on light situations.
Sunny (difficult) . Although everyone likes sunshine, in street photography sunshine is very difficult. Especially when you want to shoot portraits, it’s too bright in the direct sun. You will see hard shadows on the person’s face which is not nice. When there is direct sunshine you may shoot silhouettes
Rainy (not nice). People don’t like rain and photographers would not go out as the camera could get wet. On a rainy day people will not take so much attention to their environment as they normally do. They are busy not getting wet. And the harder the rain the better it might look. The only problem might be not getting wet and that you will have enough light. Increase your ISO value to compensate low light. But definitely give it a try in the rain…
Cloudy / Foggy (perfect). I love it when it’s cloudy or foggy. Then the fog or the clouds act like a big soft box and the light is much softer than at full sunshine. You don’t have to bother too much about where the sun is coming from. So you can focus directly on your objects you want to shoot. To start as a beginner in street photography you should choose cloudy days to practice. It will be so much easier and you will get better photos.
Night (special). Some people might say that at night you cannot shoot. That’s not true. In cities there is a lot of light pollution, meaning too much light; it will not get dark during the night anymore. In city center you could read a newspaper in the middle of the night. Use this problem as an advantage and go out at night. Look where the light comes from and use it in your composition. You may use a tripod not to shake your camera too much. Make shots of still objects or compose with motion blur. It’s a completely different experience to shoot at night.
Be sure that you are not taking your photos in wrong light situations. Always know where the light comes from before you take the shot.
If you want to see faces, have the light in your back (Portrait).
If you want to see forms, have the light in your front (Silhouette).