The Best Street Photography Techniques to Use on a Photowalk

Street photography is frustrating when you’re uninspired but exhilarating when you’re in the groove. The best street photography techniques for a photowalk are the ones you can find on any block but it helps to have some idea pre-planned.

A photowalk without a plan usually turns into an hour of wandering and a camera roll of almost-photos. Going out with two or three techniques in mind changes what you notice. You start seeing the puddle, the gap between two poles, the patch of late sun on a corner and that generally leads to better compositions as opposed to just spraying and praying.

Six techniques that I really love when going out include multiple exposures, shooting through openings (subframes), puddle reflections, exploiting pockets of natural light, finding backlit silhouettes, and shooting through textured surfaces. None of them need special gear. They just give you something to look for when you step out the door.

Here are the six I come back to most, with how I shoot each one on my Fujifilm X-T5.

1.Try Multiple Exposures

A multiple exposure stacks two frames into one photo, in camera. A face over a street, an umbrella over traffic, a person layered on top of a sign. It turns a busy block into a single picture, and it's a good thing to try when the light is flat and nothing else is working.

The woman above was walking toward me and I snapped her very close to the frame. Her coat was black as well as her hat so I knew quite a lot of detail would pass through those dark areas in a multi-exposure. I walked a bit further and saw the opening under the overpass. The leading lines through the 2nd image go through the woman making, in my opinion at least, a compelling image.

The rule that makes it click: the dark parts of one frame are where the other frame shows through. A person in a dark jacket against a bright sky leaves a lot of room for the second shot. A bright scene on top of a bright scene just washes out.

How to do it on Fujifilm

• Turn on Multiple Exposure in the drive menu.
• Start with Additive mode. It's the most predictable.
• Shoot a person first, then a busy scene with texture or signage for the second frame.
• Underexpose each frame a little, since Additive brightens the result.

2.Shoot Through Openings (Subframes)

I love subframes. Subframes make it more obvious what the viewer should be focused on . Shooting through an opening means putting something close to the lens and framing your subject through it. Doorways, gaps between poles, a car window, the space between two people. The foreground goes soft, and that blur frames the subject, adds depth, and often adds color. It also changes how the photo feels. You're looking in on a moment instead of standing in front of it, which suits street photography well.

On this particular night, I didnt feel I was getting any good shots. I noticed this gap between a lamp post and saw the red light from the streetlight was glowing a red aura in the opening. I waited for someone to step through and let the opening frame them with the red light.

How to do it

• Find any opening: a doorway, window frame, chain link, bike spoke etc
• Get close to the foreground so it falls out of focus. A few inches from the lens is plenty.
• Shoot at a wide aperture to blur the edge more.
• Use Single Point AF and put the point on your subject. On Zone or Wide/Tracking, the camera will often lock onto the frame instead of the person.

3.Find Reflections in Puddles

After it rains, every puddle is a mirror. The trick is getting low. From standing height a puddle is a small dark patch, but with the camera an inch or two above the water it fills half the frame, and the street shows up flipped underneath your subject.

The best puddles sit where people actually walk: a curb, a crosswalk, the edge of a sidewalk. Find one, set up, and let the street come to you.

In this image, I saw the large puddle and got excited. I crouched down and waited for the right person to step in frame. I really liked the guy in the Knicks jacket because of the bright orange. Once he stepped close enough to the puddle I started snapping.

How to do it

• Hold the camera just above the water and flip the rear screen up so you can see the frame.
• Find the puddle first, then wait for someone to walk into it.
• Focus on the person, not the reflection. The reflection reads fine slightly soft.
• Go out right after the rain stops, before the puddles dry or get splashed flat.

4.Find Pockets of Natural Light to Light Your Subjects

The cliche is photography is all about lighting and its 100% true. Great image are generally exercises in great lighting. On the street, your lighting tends to be natural. At the right moment, sunlight can serve as your studio lighting.

In the late afternoon, low sun cuts between buildings and lands on one corner, one crosswalk, or one stretch of sidewalk. Anyone who walks into that patch is lit like a spotlight, while the street behind them falls into shadow. It's the easiest way to make one person stand out from a crowd.

This works best in cities with tall buildings and grid streets, where the light comes through in narrow bands instead of everywhere at once.

In this photo I saw how the light was hitting very strongly in one specific area. I knew I just had to wait for someone to step into the right spot and the sun would illuminate them.

How to do it

• Go out in the last two hours before sunset and look for where the light hits the ground.
• Stand where you can see people walk into the light, and frame for it before they get there.
• Expose for the lit faces. Dial exposure compensation down so the shadows go deep instead of grey.

5.Find Backlights to Create Silhouettes

A silhouette happens when your subject stands in front of something much brighter than they are: a lit sign, a shop window, a bright sky. Expose for that background and the person turns into a clean black shape. The outline and the pose tell the story instead of the face, which also makes silhouettes one of the easier ways to photograph strangers.

At night, big LED signs and lit storefronts are the best backdrops. During the day, look for a bright sky behind a subway exit or an underpass.

How to do it

• Find the bright background first, then wait for people to cross in front of it.
• Expose for the background, not the person. Dial exposure compensation down until the figure goes fully black.
• Wait for a clear profile with space around it. Overlapping people turn into one blob.
• A step, a walk, or a phone in hand gives the shape something to say.

6.Shoot Through Textures

Shooting through texture means putting a surface between you and the scene: fogged glass, rain on a window, a scratched bus shelter, steam from a restaurant. The texture softens everything behind it and turns people into shapes and color, which gives a photo mood that a clean frame can't.

Cold or rainy nights are best. Restaurants and cafes fog up their windows, and the warm light inside glows through the glass.

I saw this photo while walking down the street on a chilly, rainy afternoon. The chill was causing the water to condense on the glass creating this amazing soft glow with the light with the peoples backs against the glass.

How to do it

• Get close enough that the texture fills the whole frame. Any clear edge breaks the effect.
• Focus on the glass or just past it, and let the people behind it go soft.
• Expose for the bright interior so the light holds its color instead of blowing out.

How to Plan a Photowalk Around These Techniques

Don't try all six on one walk. Check the weather, pick the two or three that suit it, and spend the walk looking only for those.

• Sunny, clear: pockets of natural light, silhouettes. Go in the last two hours before sunset.
• Just after rain: puddle reflections, shooting through openings. Go as soon as the rain stops.
• Rain or cold: shooting through textures, multiple exposures. Go in the evening, when windows fog up.
• Overcast, flat light: multiple exposures, shooting through openings. Any time works.
• Night: silhouettes, shooting through textures. Go after dark, near lit signs and storefronts.

One more thing: pick a route with variety. A block with storefronts, a crosswalk, and an underpass gives you something for almost every technique on this list.

Get Out and Try One

The point of a technique isn't to copy a look. It's to give you a reason to stop and look harder at a street you'd normally walk past. Pick one from this list for your next photowalk, shoot it until it feels easy, then add another.

If you try one of these, tag me. I'd like to see what you find.