Street photography for beginners: try it yourself

Aim

You should discover that street photography can begin with observation and timing rather than approaching strangers.

Do this step by step

1. Choose a familiar public place where you feel comfortable.
2. Spend five minutes without taking a photograph and identify three possible backgrounds.
3. Choose one and frame it before anyone enters.
4. Wait for a person, bicycle, shadow or other moving element to reach a useful position.
5. Take the photograph and then try again with a different timing.
6. Finish with one photograph that contains no identifiable person, using light, signs, reflections or architecture instead.