Dreamland from The Bay Inspectors Office

There are many interesting and exciting compositions to find and beautiful shots to take when shooting Urban Street Photography. Let's take a deep dive into some of these ideas that you can go and photograph today.

Houses and Architecture

Houses and architecture encompass many different shooting styles and ideas. Each one can be a project in itself.

Depending on where you live, you could have a project photographing different architectural styles of abode throughout history, i.e. Georgian, Victorian, etc.

You could also photograph a house that has a certain characteristic, like an interesting colour scheme or some unique windows that are lit up at night.

Ruth Medjber's excellent series of family portraits in their homes during lockdown is a fantastic project that not only looks great but it is also newsworthy, current, and captures a moment in time.

I was fortunate with my own continuing project featuring the street lamps of Rye, as there was one that was actually working outside this splendid house.

Shops

Shops make for an interesting project as their individual charm can shine through in their facade, window displays and lighting. It's mainly at night that as an urban photographer you can capture them in all of their glory, especially when their lights are on and their colourful displays are lit up. If the pavement or the road has interesting details and textures, see if you can incorporate them into the composition.

Light Trails

Light Trails not only look fantastic but they are a great way to dive into your camera settings and to learn a new technique that you can enjoy for the rest of your photographic life. It also helps you get to grips with the Exposure triangle, as depending upon what Shutter Speed you use, (typically from 1 sec to 30 sec), you will have to increase your Aperture if too much light is coming in and you also might need to manoeuvre your ISO to match the exposure.

As you need to capture the scene around the light trail in focus you'll need to use an appropriate Aperture, generally from f /8 to f/16.

You will definitely need a tripod and either a cable release or put your camera on a timer so that you don't knock the camera whilst it is capturing a long exposure.

Because you'll need to get to grips with these settings Manual Mode is a must and you may also need to use manual focus if your camera struggles in after sunset conditions.

For an in-depth tutorial, this great post from Photo Crowd will be of help. If you are like me and love to learn visually then this simple tutorial from Gary Gough will have you up and shooting in no time.

Black and White

Shooting your urban street photography in black and white, or converting your Raw files to black and white will give your photos a different vibe and enhance the different qualities that colour photography provides.

Street Photography especially benefits from monochrome as it gives an image a timeless, classic feel. It also allows a greater focus on composition, shape and pattern as there is no colour to distract the viewer's eye. There is a stronger emphasis on contrast as light and shadows are expressed in their purest form (no sunset tones and warm shadows), there is just brightness and darkness.

There is also an emphasis on mood and emotion and this can be especially beneficial for Urban Photography, as a house photographed in the daytime in colour can look essentially meaningless. However, a house photographed in black and white can have a particular sombre vibe.

Street Lights

I have gone into detail about my love of street lights in a previous post, but I'll mention the benefits of using street lights in your Night street photography if you haven't read my post.

A street light reflects light onto the surrounding area - The reflected light can create interesting highlights on a wall, a door, the pavement, the road. They will certainly bring out the texture and the detail.
It also lights itself - Allowing the whole lamp pole to become illuminated which can look atmospheric, depending on the locale and what it is illuminating.
The street light allows the urban photographer to draw these elements into their compositions: Shadows, Textures, Details, Contrast, Highlights - these can help to make your images stand out.

Seafront

You could argue that seafront photography is pure street photography if you are photographing people in your compositions. But capturing the beauty of seafront architecture, or an interesting shop or stall facade can fall under the Urban Photography umbrella.

It depends on which seafront you are on and can travel to.

Brighton Seafront is full of interesting elements to photograph. The paving can make interesting leading lines and there are always photographable colours, shapes and patterns in the buildings underneath the promenade. A seafront can be a great location to hone your photographic skills.

Details

When you are out on a shoot if you are stuck for anything interesting to photograph, you can always focus on details, rather than looking for an urban landscape to shoot.

A pattern on a facade, a window, a trash can, a lamppost, a shop fascia sign, a shop window, a door, a rooftop, the sky filling the majority of the frame, a light inside a shop. The possibilities are almost endless.

Piers

Piers have their own, almost otherworldly charm. From their mostly wooden construction and their islandesque, surrounded by water, appeal, they make for excellent subjects because they have their own character. They also are always long and straight (sorry for stating the obvious), therefore, if you angle the camera correctly you can compose beautiful leading lines. If they have empty or even capacitated ride attractions, these can also make for atmospheric images, especially on overcast or misty days.

Streets

With your camera low to the ground, using a wide-angle lens, you can capture strong composition led images of an empty street. This can be most effective at night if there are lit up street lamps dotted on both sides of the road. Even during the daytime, you can capture interesting images of a street as people walk down, or an interesting character takes your eye.

People

If I am defining Urban Photography as shooting mainly buildings, streets, lamp posts, etc, I guess that you would have include people in Urban Street Photography. This is a whole series of topics in itself as you have many types of Street Photography.

However, for the purposes of this article then let's assume that you would have people in an urban environment.

Capturing people doing their shopping, gazing into windows, gazing out of windows, portraits, playing, working. The list really is endless and is so full of interest and depth, you could focus solely on shooting people in urban environments and never attempt any of the other ideas that I have mentioned in the previous paragraphs.

That is why I love Street Photography and Urban Photography. There are just so many interesting subjects to make projects from and there are so many things to shoot, you will never get bored. Do you agree?

Street and Urban Photography Blog

10 Urban Street Photography Ideas