Street Photography 101: Shooting from the Hip

In this article, I’m going to share my basics of shooting from the hip, a fun way to get candid, up-close street photos. We’ll cover camera settings, what to look for, and other techniques along the way. Let’s get into it!

Why Shoot From the Hip?

Shooting from the hip isn’t easy, but it can be practiced and honed to increase your keepers. This style of shooting has several benefits, but it also has some drawbacks. One of the major drawbacks is that you’re not using the viewfinder or LCD to line up your shot, so you’ll have about 80-90% bad photos. This isn’t really an issue if you don’t mind sifting through the garbage to find a gem, or you’re shooting digital and have enough storage on your computer. You’ll also have several crooked images, but just think of Garry Winogrand and his style. A great image doesn’t have to be perfectly perpendicular.

Aside from those minor drawbacks, the benefits are exciting and it’s really fun! A lot of street photographers have shy tendencies, so shooting from the hip can ease some tension and allow them to capture subjects a little closer. The chances of someone confronting you for taking a photo are slim to none. The only time you’d experience any issues is if they somehow hear a loud shutter clapping at them, or you’re being too direct when you point your camera.

Even though you’re shooting from the hip, you still have to practice incognito behaviors like pretending to talk on your phone, pretending to use your phone as GPS (I used this a lot in Paris), or turn your head the other way while you shoot. Sunglasses help with the last one! All of these methods throw off your subject and make your intentions more camouflaged.

Another great benefit of shooting from the hip is that it requires minimal effort when getting a unique perspective. If you’ve ever seen Bruce Gilden photograph in the streets, he’s up and down, up and down, bobbing and weaving all day trying to get a unique perspective. When you shoot from the hip you’re mostly just working your wrist and “trigger finger” as you walk around. We’ll cover more on unique perspectives later, but here’s a photo that looks like it was taken while squatting down, but it was from the hip with my arm to my side.

Shooting from the hip also gives you another tool to use when you need. Typically I like looking through the viewfinder or using the LCD to compose a shot like these next few photos, but you can’t do this safely and without confrontation in seedy neighborhoods or with potentially dangerous subjects.

Shooting from the hip allows you to have fun with street photography without worrying about the confrontation. You can even take this technique into stores or museums.