Street photography with your phone: how to get started

Start with what you have with you

A phone is a good way to get started with street photography. You can practice choosing where to stand, waiting, and picking a moment. You don't need to buy another camera first.

A phone draws less attention on the street than a large camera. Plenty of people already use one to take photos. That can make it a little easier to stay in one spot and try a composition. It won't make you invisible.

How you treat the people you photograph is still a matter of personal judgment, even with a phone. The article on respect on the street goes into this further.

For the photography itself, start with something manageable. Choose one spot and watch what happens. You don't have to make sense of the whole street on your first walk. A large camera won't help you do that either.

Choose your distance before zooming in

The main camera on most phones has a wide-angle lens. That means quite a bit of the surroundings ends up in the photo. Someone who catches your attention may look smaller on the screen than you expected when looking at them.

If you want someone to look bigger in the frame, you need to get closer. Digital zoom reduces image quality. Before zooming in on the screen, try changing your distance and see what that does to your photo.

Getting closer isn't a goal in itself. Maybe the space around someone is what conveys what you saw. A person can stay small if their place in the composition works.

As you choose your distance, look at the edges too. What else is there? Does it belong in your photo, or did it just happen to end up there? Take a step to the side and compare. Then look back at the person you wanted to photograph. They still need a place in the frame after all that moving around.

As an exercise, take a few photos from different distances. Look at them later and decide which balance between the person and their surroundings feels clearest to you.

Get to know the few controls you need

Before your walk, find out how to take a photo with your phone. On many phones, you can also use a volume button. Try it and see if it feels comfortable. You don't have to adopt someone else's preference just because it works for them.

You can turn on the grid in your camera settings. Use those lines to see how you position a building facade or the edge of the sidewalk within your frame. They're a guide, not a mandatory blueprint for every photo.

Also check how to take a burst of photos. On many phones, you do this by holding down the shutter button or swiping it. The controls vary by phone, so give it a try.

Practice these actions while nothing special is happening. Take a photo, try the volume button, and shoot a short burst. On the street, you want to watch what's happening in front of you. It helps if your thumb already knows where to go.

Tap where you want to focus

You can focus by tapping the screen. Choose the part you want to be sharp. Then see what the phone does with the exposure.

On many phones, you can swipe after tapping to make the photo lighter or darker. Exactly how this works varies by phone. Try both directions and look at the result. What do you want to keep visible? Does making the photo a little darker help, or does something you need disappear?

On many phones, you can lock focus and exposure by pressing and holding the screen. This is something to try when you've chosen a frame and are waiting for someone to reach a particular spot.

Focus on the spot where you expect that person to be. If you then change your position or want to photograph something at a different distance, check your focus again.

You don't need to lock everything for every photo. The main thing is to learn the difference between letting the phone choose and selecting a spot yourself. Then you can decide what you need while taking photos.

Prepare a little for the moment

A phone sometimes responds with a slight delay. The moment you press the shutter and the moment captured in the photo may not quite line up. You might notice this when someone walks through your frame, for example.

Try choosing in advance where you want that person to be. Follow their movement and try pressing the shutter a little earlier. Then check where they actually appear in the photo. Do this a few times to learn how your phone responds.

A short burst can help capture different moments within a movement. Compare the photos afterward. In which photo is the person in a position that works? Where is there space between that person and what's behind them?

A burst doesn't make that choice for you. You just have more photos to choose from. Sometimes that also means more photos that aren't quite right.

So try single shots too. Choosing one moment and reviewing it afterward lets you practice your timing more deliberately.

Start with enough light

In low light, a phone is more likely to produce motion blur. You may also see the effects of night mode. If you mainly want to practice photographing people walking, starting with enough light makes sense.

That doesn't have to be a reason to stop when the light is low. Just keep it in mind when reviewing your photos. Check whether the movement looks the way you intended. Try photographing the same action somewhere brighter so you can compare the results.

Your phone's automatic processing also makes decisions for you, including sharpening, noise reduction, and HDR. The photo you see is partly the result of that processing.

Pay attention to how light and dark areas appear. Does that fit what you wanted to show? The article on street photography in harsh light offers some starting points for practicing with strong contrasts between sunlight and shadow.

Start by looking at what your phone does. You don't need to be able to explain every technical decision right away.

Look back at the whole photo

Sharpness is an easy thing to check first. Go ahead, but then look at the whole photo again. Does it show what you wanted to photograph?

Look at the person's position in the frame. At what's happening along the edges. A photo might turn out to be technically fine while your subject barely stands out from the surroundings. Try a different position on your next walk.

Compare photos taken just moments apart too. Put the difference into words for yourself: here, one person still overlaps with another; there, a gap has opened up. That turns 'this one is better' into an observation you can use next time.

Let the photo guide your choice between color and black and white. Does a color contribute to what you saw? Then see what happens when you remove it. There's more on that decision in black and white or color.

You don't need to keep your entire walk as proof that you went outside. Choose a few photos you'd like to look at again.

A small assignment for your next walk

Choose one thing to practice on your next walk. Your distance from the people you photograph, for example. Use the main camera and try different positions without zooming in digitally.

Or stay in one spot and practice timing. Decide where you want someone to be in your frame and compare single shots with a short burst. Keep the exercise small enough that you can see afterward what you tried.

At home, look at a few photos side by side. Choose one and write a sentence about why it works for you. You could also choose a photo where you'd do something differently next time. Be specific: a step to the side, pressing the shutter earlier, or leaving more space at the edge.

For more guidance, read the explanation of your first hour on the street. You can also use your phone to take part in the Monthly Assignment.

Maybe what you notice most when looking back is a spot you'd like to return to. That gives you a starting point for your next walk.