Traveling is one of the best things we can do. And of course we want to capture our best moments on camera to relive them again for many years. Moments that show us, the places we visited and the different cultures we learnt from. And exactly that last point is important for today’s topic. We want to help you capture moments lived in cities, by trapping a second of life and culture into a photograph. We will show you how to shoot street photography using your iPhone.
Not getting noticed
Street photography can be one of the most challenging branches of photography itself. Cities tend to constantly move, and people make you feel uncomfortable while trying to get them into the perfect shot. But this is a challenge every street photographer must overcome. Lucky for you, phones are much less eye-catching than cameras. This means that its easier to sneak onto people and take a photo without them noticing or getting annoyed.
The right background
For catching people in their daily routine, while also having the big city in the background, finding perfect spots is vital. Train stations, cafés, artistic walls, or high buildings can be a great background to start building up your photographs composition. While holding the phone vertically is usually better with buildings in the back, horizontally can work perfectly for trains, smaller shops, or street photos. It really comes down to how much you want in your photo.
Life & Movement
Once the location is set, it is important to breathe life into the scene. People are key. Sometimes the perfect picture will come to mind after standing in one spot for a few minutes. It could be someone walking out of a café with a cup in their hand, or people walking across the street after the traffic lights change, or even a train passing in the right moment. All these scenarios create movement, and this is where your phone technique comes into play. Several apps can help you regulate the shutter speed of your iPhone, which allows you to focus more on peoples faces and steady images, or make them blurry, to show much more movement and chaos. Both techniques can be used, but the outcome for both is very different.
Different lightning conditions
The last thing, but by no means the least important, is the light. As a city being a well light place, photos can be taken at almost any time of the day. Many big cities work perfectly with neon night lights and give an incredible touch to your photos, while shooting close to shops and bars. Sunrise and sunset can also be very interesting when wanting a softer light with amazing color in the background. It all depends on the look you will be going for.
And even taking all this in account, you might feel weird while shooting street photography using your iPhone, as people make you feel that way. But remember, art is never created easily.
