Composition in street photography: choosing what to show

Try starting with the background

You see someone approaching and follow them with your camera. Meanwhile, the whole street shifts behind them. A building, a window, another building. Your subject stays in roughly the same place in the viewfinder, but the rest of the photo keeps changing.

You can also turn that around. First, find a background you can work with. A surface with a clear edge, a staircase, or a pattern of light and shadow. Choose your framing and wait for someone to enter it.

That gives you part of the composition to work with. You can take your time deciding how much of the building to show and where someone might fit in the photo. Then see what happens. Maybe someone walks right through the open space you noticed. Maybe the spot turns out to be less useful than you thought.

Waiting doesn't commit you to anything. If the background and the people passing by keep getting in each other's way, you can change your position or move on. A nice wall doesn't solve everything.

Give a person their own space

A person can be clearly visible in your viewfinder and still barely stand out from the background. A dark coat against a dark door can quickly become one solid shape. The same goes for a light shirt against a light building.

Look at the contrast between the person and whatever is directly behind them. Dark against light, light against dark. That helps keep their shape recognizable.

You don't need to find another street to do that. A step to the side can place their head against a less busy section of wall. Waiting a moment can be enough to separate a coat from a doorframe. Pay attention to the whole body: the head may now stand out, while the legs blend into something in the background.

When photographing in hard light, you can make deliberate use of these contrasts. A shadow can become a shape in the composition itself. Keep checking whether that shape helps the person stand out or swallows them up.

Follow lines without looking for them everywhere

A curb runs through your frame. The edge of a building cuts across it. A staircase repeats the same shape. Lines like these can lead the eye through a photo.

Look at where they start and where they end. A line can draw attention to someone, but it can also lead past them toward the edge of the photo. Change your position and see how that relationship shifts. A lower viewpoint gives you a different picture than standing upright. A step to the side can separate two lines that previously overlapped.

A doorway, window, or gateway can also create a frame within your photo. It gives someone a defined space. Pay attention to what that extra frame does: does it help you see the person, or has the doorway become the main point of interest?

The rule of thirds and the golden ratio can help you arrange your photo. Feel free to use them to explore a composition. Someone can also stand right in the middle of the photo. If that position works, they don't need to move just because there's a guide line somewhere.

Look at what's happening in front and behind

For a simple composition, you can place one person against one background. You can also work with several distances at once: something close by, someone farther away, and another part of the street behind them.

Those are layers. Foreground, middle ground, and background each have a place in the same photo.

Start by deciding which layer should get the most attention. If someone in the middle ground matters, it helps if the foreground leaves them visible. A nearby shape can fill part of the frame, but it can also hide the very gesture that made you want to take the photo.

Next, look at the overlaps. Do two people merge into one? Does an arm cross in front of a face? Changing your position shifts nearby elements in relation to things farther away. That can help you separate them.

You don't have to fill every layer. If nothing in the background helps the photo, you don't need to add anything there. Multiple layers are a way to organize a photo, not proof that it's better.

Leave room for a gaze or movement

Someone is looking to the right. How much space do you leave to the right of their face? And how much is left behind them?

That balance affects the photo. Space in the direction someone is looking shows where their gaze is going. When someone is walking, space in front of them gives their movement room in the frame. Place them close to the edge, and that space becomes tight.

Both can work. Consider what you want to show and try to choose that balance deliberately. If someone is looking at something outside the frame, the empty space can emphasize their gaze. Or perhaps the tight space at the edge is what interests you.

Empty space doesn't need to be filled. A large section of a building can make someone look small within their surroundings. Frame the photo more tightly, and that same person gets more emphasis. You're changing the relationship between the person and the street.

You can read more about lines, frames, layers, empty space, and the moment everything comes together in my article on composition in street photography.

Check the edges, too

Your attention quickly settles on the person you're photographing. Meanwhile, half an arm enters at the side, something pokes into the bottom of the frame, and the edge of a building seems to grow out of someone's head.

Take a moment to scan the edges of your viewfinder. What's coming into the frame? What are you cutting off? Then look at the space immediately around your subject.

Not everything you cut off is a problem. Photos have edges, after all. It does help to notice the effect of cutting something off, so it becomes part of your decision.

Simplicity often starts with a check like this. If an element adds nothing, try keeping it out of the frame. A step to the side, a different viewpoint, or a short wait can do that.

Leaving things out doesn't mean every photo needs an empty background. A busy street can stay busy. Focus on whether the relationships between the elements are clear. If you take something out of the frame, does it become easier to see what you wanted to show?

Put what you see into words at home

When reviewing your photos, 'this one works' is a start. Then try to be more specific.

Maybe a head stands out clearly from the background. Maybe the direction of an arm follows a line on a building. Or there's just enough space between two people to see them separately. Those are choices you can recognize the next time you're out on the street.

Compare photos taken moments apart, too. Look at what changes when someone is one step farther along. Does the composition still hold together? Which overlap appears or disappears? This shows how much the position of one person can matter.

Cropping can help make a photo stronger. Use it to explore what you could have done differently when taking the photo, too. If you keep removing the same edge, you can watch for that in your viewfinder next time.

When creating a series, you can also look at which composition choices recur. Perhaps you often give people plenty of space, or you keep looking for multiple layers. Describe what's actually in the photos.

Practice one choice at a time

You don't need to run through every possibility constantly while you're out on the street. Choose one thing to focus on for an exercise. For example, find a background first and stay there for a while. Or, with each potential photo, see what changes when you take a step to the side.

Make different versions of the same situation when you have the chance. Give someone more space, try a lower viewpoint, or leave out part of the foreground. Compare the results afterward to see what the change does. For more exercises, try the street photography assignments.

If you know the basics and want to make more deliberate choices in your photography, you can keep practicing with the Streetsessions online email course. The course consists of thirteen lessons by email, delivered every two weeks over six months, with two personal check-ins and personal feedback on five photos at the end. You can start whenever you like, with no fixed meeting times or group.

Starting small helps when you're practicing on your own, too. Take one choice with you when you head outside. For example, look at what's happening behind someone's head before you press the shutter. That's already enough to keep you busy on the street.