Like any art form, photography consists of many genres, streams, and disciplines.

Many budding photographers choose to concentrate on a certain niche. This can be to temporarily give themselves insight into an otherwise foreign working style or to enrich their portfolio in the long term with useful skills and experience.

The street photography style is an increasingly widespread choice. It’s also one that I frequently make use of myself.

But what are the different types of street photography? How can the style of street photos evoke entirely different emotions and reactions, even when shot in the same scenery?

All these important questions are going to be the subject of today’s guide.

Let’s take a dive into the varied world of street photography to find out which type is the right fit for you !

What is Street Photography, Anyway?

Before we begin dissecting it in detail, it’s probably a good idea to define what a street photographer does in simple terms.

Some might say it’s as straightforward as working in urban locations, or “in the street”.

Sure, that’s not entirely off the mark. After all, it does describe the working hours of plenty of street photographers. But does it really get to the heart of what makes their images stand out?

Let’s take a closer look at the defining line that separates street photography from other movements and expressions.

A Technical Intro to Street Photography

Technique-wise, street photography benefits from a solid grounding in the basics of exposure and composition, just like in any other genre.

There are many types of lenses used by street photographers, but most prefer wide-angle prime lenses for their ability to cover a broad field of view at any distance. Digital cameras are the norm almost everywhere else these days.

Still, much more people shoot street photographs toting a film camera than you might expect.

The simple reason is that 35mm cameras, especially rangefinders and scale focus types, are extremely lightweight, pocketable, and near-silent. This makes them much easier to use in an unintrusive manner compared to DSLRs and most mirrorless cameras.

There are many more details on technique worth mentioning, but as this guide is mainly concerned with the differences between individual streams of street photography, I couldn’t cover everything.

I highly recommend you check out our step-by-step guide on the basic camera settings for street photography before continuing if you’re interested in learning more!

The Variety of Street Photography

Street photography sets itself apart from studio photography, landscape photography, and others by examining life as it occurs in day-to-day settings.

This doesn’t mean that every single street photograph has to be a candid, decisive moment from the life of a stranger caught unawares. Nor does it have to be a literal street scene (i.e. shot on a busy intersection or the like).

Hence, street photography can span a wide gamut. From squeaky-clean, finely curated portraiture all the way up to sub-genres of documentary photography, it’s a very broad spectrum to explore.

There is some wild abstract street photography out there, too. Plenty of great photographers shoot photos that straddle or blur the division between candid shots and studio footage.

The Philosophy Behind Street Photography in a Nutshell

So, where is the line that ties all those wildly different ideas together?

In one word, character .

You can find plenty of street photography that deals with themes far removed from the big cities and their busy streets.

However, you will be hard-pressed to find any that doesn’t feature any human subjects. It is the expression of something essential about the human experience that really makes street photography what it is.

After all, that’s the broadest definition of “street” you can get: a public path where people go about their daily lives.