5 Reasons Why You Need a Tripod for Street Photography

A tripod for street photography might seem counterintuitive, but it can work if your favor.

Most street photographers don't use tripods as a matter of practicality. Tripods are bulky and not suitable for capturing the action in the streets. Furthermore, photographers can run into legal and safety concerns if they try to use tripods in crowded places.

But there are times when tripods can be useful for a street photographer. In this article, we'll cover five reasons why you need a tripod for street photography.

1. Nighttime Photography

Perhaps one of the more common reasons to use a tripod for street photography use may be for nighttime or low-light situations. Stability is absolutely essential if your shutter speed is dropped below 1/60 of a second or so, depending on your ability to hold the camera perfectly still. Another key factor is how good your camera's and lens' image stabilization features, are if any.

Not every shot is going to require a tripod. But when a street photographer is looking to good a good, crisp image with as little noise as possible, setting up a tripod and dialing in the right settings will definitely produce much better results than hand-holding alone.

2. Self-Portraiture and Selfies

Let's first start off by differentiating between the common selfie and self-portraiture. A selfie could be for any number of reasons (or none at all). There's nothing wrong with this.

Self-portraiture tends to be more involved and formalized, perhaps even part of a photography project. Within the context of street photography, a tripod would serve all purposes just fine if the photographer finds himself alone and needs a picture taken.

Many street photographers, however, may find themselves in this specific situation. After some time or even years of photographing other people in public spaces, they discover that they lack images of themselves. A tripod is a perfect companion to capture the moments that would otherwise be missing. We'll expand on this idea later.

If you haven't tried taking selfies during Golden Hour, there are several reasons why you should.

3. Capturing Motion Blur

One of the more dramatic forms of photography involves capturing motion by essentially blurring out the subjects in images. This is accomplished by decreasing shutter speeds by up to a second or more in order to create the motion blur effect.

Street photographers love to do this, especially when they can find a single person who's still to contrast against the moving crowd, as seen in the above image. This doesn't always require a tripod. The above photo was taken hand-held at 1/2 second shutter speed. But if lighting conditions aren't in your favor, you would almost certainly need a tripod to get decent exposure for a shot like this.

If you don't own a tripod yet and are feeling inspired to invest in one, consider checking our buying guide for tripods first.

4. The Fishing Technique

We talk about the fishing technique in street photography in another article. Essentially, if you're fishing, then you're framing up your camera to your scene and waiting for someone or something to come by to add interest to your image. Like in the above image, the photographer may have been waiting for a passing train to go by in front of an awaiting passenger.

There are many reasons why you'd need a tripod for this situation. If you're outside and it's raining, you may need a perspective that requires getting your feet wet in a puddle. The framing of the subject may prove to be too complicated to move into position again at a moment's notice. Situations involving foreground or background elements that can confuse the autofocus are another reason to use a tripod in your street photography.

In short, a tripod will take the discomfort and the difficulty of getting the exact frame set up again when your subject finally arrives.

5. Behind-the-Scenes and Documentary Work

We alluded to this reason prior in the selfie section. But for the sake of behind-the-scenes (BTS) and documentary work, having a tripod may not even be optional, especially if you're working alone or if the few helpers on your team already have their hands full.

Granted, many street photographers may not be interested at all in such reasons for owning a tripod. But a quick glance on YouTube will inform us that many YouTube street photographers often make good use of tripods in order to produce their content. If you want to post more on that platform, owning a tripod is a must if you take into account the other reasons too.

Give Your Tripod a Try in Your Street Photography

The internet is full of street photography images. Sometimes, to stand apart from the crowd, good photography fundamentals and useful and photography equipment—like tripods—will help elevate your shots to the next level. Pack your tripod the next time you're out shooting street photography!

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