How to Shoot Street Portraits

Eric Kim, 2015

What is a “street portrait”?

What are you afraid of?

How to get over the fear of approaching strangers

Street Portrait Tips

1. Keep working the scene until they forget about you

2. Ask your subject to move to an interesting background

3. Ask to photograph their hands

4. Get one not looking / looking

5. Work the scene while looking at the edges

6. Ask your subject to look down

7. Provoke a response

8. Remember you will never see them ever again

9. Look for dramatic light

10. Ask your subject not to move

11. Ask for eye contact

12. Shoot different perspectives

13. Get really close (macro mode)

14. Talk to your subject while photographing them

15. Ask them not to smile

16. A posed photo can look candid

17. Capture the “unguarded moment”

18. Try shooting with and without flash

19. Capture hand-gestures

20. Get their hands close to their face

21. Shoot the same framing more than once

22. Capture the environment (take a step back)

Concluding thoughts on street portraits