Street Photography Layering 101 for Dummies

Composition is physical and the result of your intuition.
Composition isn’t about understanding leading lines, the rule of thirds, or all the fundamental visual techniques you think are required to know what makes or breaks a photograph.

What I find interesting is the misconception around the approach to “layers” in street photography.
Layering is literally the fundamental technique of creating anything in visual art.

It’s About Simplicity, Not Complexity

In order to achieve layers in street photography, you have to recognize the simplicity of everything.
It’s not about cramming together a million different things — it’s about simplifying and removing all the distracting elements that can creep into the four corners of your frame.

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All you really need to know is this:

The result of the photograph is a reflection of where you position your physical body in relation to the subject and the background.

There is a sweet spot at every scene.

Once you find the sweet spot, you simply stay patient, respond with intuition, and create the composition from your gut —
the same gut that told you where you must physically position yourself.