There is no single, correct way to take a street photograph: it involves a lot of experimentation and photographers have personal preferences for this genre. Freelance photographer Kavan Choksi, who has worked in the UAE, France, and other countries, dabbles in street photography. This article discusses some of his personal suggestions for the best camera settings for this type of environment.
Zone Focusing Street photography is also sometimes called candid photography because the subjects of the images are not always planned out. This can be challenging for photographers because they have little to no time to adjust the focus when the right shot comes along. For this reason, many street photographers use zone focusing, which involves pre-focusing the lens a few feet from the camera (usually eight to 10 feet away). This way, anything or anyone that enters the frame will be in focus. Kavan Choksi recommends using a wide-angle lens when using a zone, focusing on maximizing the depth of field and keeping the subjects sharp.
Ideal Shutter Speed Because people tend to move quickly, it is best to dial up the shutter speed to at least 1/125th of a second. When the environment is brighter, you can increase the shutter speed to around 1/200 or 1/250.
Ideal Aperture Street photography differs from portrait photography in that you want to capture some of the environmental contexts of the subject. Having a completely blurred background will prevent you from showing the entirety of the setting. Because of this, you will want a smaller aperture to create a larger zone of sharpness. An aperture of around f/5.6 will give you enough depth of field.
Ideal ISO While some will say that ISO or sensitivity should be kept to a minimum to prevent digital noise in the image, many modern cameras have become better at containing the noise even if the ISO is increased, argues Kavan Choksi. This way, you can increase the brightness of your photo, especially at nighttime. The ideal ISO at night is around 3200. Under normal lighting conditions, you can set the ISO to 400 or 800.