Street photography that portrays interesting moments of people interacting on the street can be tricky. Especially when streets in busy cities are often narrow and crowded. Things also move quickly. So an interesting scene can be gone in a matter of seconds if you are not prepared.

Following are my 6 steps for successful street photography:

1 – Go wide. Shoot with a wide angle zoom lens in the range of 17mm to 35mm. This allows you to get close to people in crowded locations and still capture a lot of action on the scene. If you are using a longer focal length lens you may find yourself having to back away from your subject to frame the scene in the way you want it and there may not always be enough room to do that on a narrow sidewalk. Also, backing away from your subject takes more time and you could miss out on a passing moment that you are trying to capture. The great thing about shooting with a wide angle lens is that if the focal length on the picture is too wide then you can always crop your image down later. Remember, in photography you can always take away, but you can’t add back later what wasn’t there to start with.

2 – Blend In. When you appear at a location where you want to capture a candid image of a scene, one of the best things to do is take some time to blend in first. Normally people are going to notice and look at you because you are carrying a camera and maybe because you are a different nationality than they are. So give it some time before you start shooting. Let people look and get used to you being there first. Eventually the people you may want to photograph will grow uninterested in you after being in your presence for a while and they will go back to focusing on what they were doing before you appeared. Then, once everyone is not looking your way anymore, you can start shooting without people staring at your camera. It doesn’t take long before they lose interest in you and what you are doing. Just take your time and be patient.

3 – Engage. A different technique I use if I want to bring out emotions and/or have people looking at the camera is to engage them in conversation. Often just talking to people, smiling, saying hello, and asking them something about what they are doing will bring out a smile and get them to look at your camera so you can start shooting.

4. Use A Wingman. Another good technique for distracting subjects to look off to the side of your camera is to bring a friend to stand at your side and talk to subjects. This will cause a subject to look at your wingman and you will get a nice, candid looking shot with some facial expression and emotion.

5. Multiple Frames. When taking photos on the street where people’s expressions change quickly, it is best to shoot in bursts of 3-4 pictures at a time. This helps to insure that you capture the best emotion from the fleeting moment and allows you to pick your favorite shot later from a selection of similar frames.

6. Give Your Subject Something To Do. People quickly become more relaxed and forget about the camera if you engage them in an activity. For example, if you are shooting a painter on the street, ask him to go back to doing his painting. This way he looks away from the camera and becomes more engaged in his craft. A more natural, candid photo can be captured this way and will provide you a nice environmental portrait of the subject within his everyday life.

I hope you find these 6 tips useful and, if you have other ideas and/or tips of your own for capturing great street photos, please feel free to add them as a comment below.