How can I train my eye to notice good street photography moments?

Question

I’m an amateur photographer who recently moved to a large South American city and want to make more interesting street photos. The problem is that when I’m out walking, I struggle to notice scenes worth photographing. I’ve looked at a lot of street photography online for inspiration, but when I’m actually outside, I still feel like I’m not seeing anything.

How can I practice noticing interesting subjects, details, or moments for street photography?

user6353 · Accepted Answer

Start by going outside without your camera and just looking at things. But with a different look: try to pay attention to small details instead of all the rush. You can't do that while you're walking: you'll have to stop for a while, seat in some park, cafe, shopping. And stop looking at the general movement and begin to look/follow those details: a mother with her child, a couple kissing, some old man carrying something, two old woman laughing.

You'll see that there are many details there, but all the rush just makes you loose focus, since it's natural to try to follow everything at once.

After doing that for some (little) time, bring your camera. And just make it be ready, with automatic settings, and try to capture some moments. They won't look that perfect, because your camera will be doing the choices for you, and so the aperture etc. might not be the best. But you'll have learnt to take pictures of the those hidden moments.

And then the next step is to manual tune your photos.

How can I train my eye to notice good street photography moments?

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