Street Photography Tips from Thomas Leuthard

Thomas Leuthard is one of the most popular and inspiring street photographers today, who is able to find and capture fascinating subject matter, composition and light in seemingly regular city life. Thomas has spent thousands of hours in the streets developing his skills and training his eye as he truly does what he preaches: “Go out often and shoot as many photos as you can. Street photography happens in the streets and not at home in front of your computer watching videos and reading books. The more you practice, the better you get.”

His incredible eye for composition and ability to select the right moment for the best exposure is beyond impressive. In this interview Thomas has shared some great insights and tips for aspiring street photographers. Thomas favors black and white processing for his street photos and our Black & White Film Lightroom presets were a prefect match.

Photography offers so many different styles, so why street photography? What inspired you?

“Well, this is a question I cannot answer easily. It started 6 years ago when I was in Beijing, China at the Olympics. There I realized that there is so much going on in the streets and that there are so many interesting faces around. Together with the fact that I just bought a DSRL shortly before let me start looking into photography. I was never interested in the beauty and fashion genre, but I was always interested in human beings. Having that in mind, the only way was street photography where I could get a real image of the world of ordinary people without having to let them pose.

Take us through your mindset when you are photographing. What comes first: light, composition, timing, subject?

Most of the time there is a person first. Someone who looks interesting, someone who wears something special or someone who acts in a different way. Of course there are other methods like finding an interesting background or light situation, but for me the key point is in mind blowing character. The rest of the list comes after that and don’t think that the other things are not important. You always have to go through all the steps in order to make a good shot, it never stops right at the subject. That’s where some street photographers fail. They think a good subject is enough and then they press the button without thinking about light, background, timing and composition.

What is your method of approaching people you photograph? How do people react when you take their photo? In some of your images folks don’t looked excited about being photographed. Did you ever get chased by someone?

I see them, I try to approach them without being noticed and in the moment they notice me, I press the button. They don’t look excited because I photograph them in the moment when they realize that someone is taking a photo of them or even shortly before. It happens within the second they see me. So they don’t have time to think or react and I get a unique and similar expression. When you wait another second, they react which results in a smile, angry face or something like that. I prefer the uncontrolled expression towards a stranger shooting them with a camera from close distance. Chasing is the wrong word. Sometimes there are discussions, sometimes the request to delete the photo and very seldom there are verbal fights. I never was physically attacked so far, although in Tokyo a guy came very close and I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. I have deleted the photo, but he couldn’t calm down. Language barriers are sometimes a big problem to understand each other.

Can you give 3 suggestions to aspiring street photographers on how to improve their work?

First of all you should go out often and shoot as many photos as you can. Street photography happens in the streets and not at home in front of your computer watching videos and reading books. The more you practice, the better you get. Shoot for 10000 hours and you will become a master. Shoot 1000000 frames and you will get 100 killer photographs.

Secondly you should always have just one project on your mind which you are looking for a subject walking down the street. You will see too many things when you don’t focus. And too many things will destroy your vision for the essential. You don’t have to see and shoot everything, just what you have on your mind.

Keep shooting, no matter what other people say, no matter how the reaction to your photographs is and although you don’t see a sense in your doing. It’s a hard and long way to master street photography and you will be in doubt often. Try to remember the feeling after you have made a good shot. That should drive you.

Thomas Leuthard is also an author of really popular e-books on street photography. Check them out if you want to learn more about street photography.

Photography by Thomas Leuthard

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