Samsung Street Photography: Settings and Tips for Galaxy Phones

By the time you whip out your phone and switch to the appropriate mode, the moment’s probably long gone. So make sure your Galaxy is ready to roll with these settings tweaks before you walk out the door.

Street settings by situation

Photo mode is up to the task in most situations you’ll encounter during a stroll, but Pro mode can really shine when you’re dealing with fast-moving subjects or inconsistent lighting. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Samsung’s Pro mode guide points out that ISO cannot be set to Auto when shutter speed is manually adjusted. So if you're using Pro mode and moving in and out of sunny/shaded areas, you'll also need to manually adjust ISO. Photo mode will make most of the choices for you, if you're finding it difficult to juggle everything else going on, but the shutter speed guide shows when you might want to take back some manual control over the shutter.

Which lens suits street work

Samsung’s mid-range phones have a main camera that’s about 23mm-equivalent and GSMArena pegs the Galaxy S25’s main and 3x telephoto cameras at 24mm- and 67mm-equivalent, respectively.

That’s a pretty big jump that’ll translate into noticeably different fields of view. The main camera will show people within their environment and the 3x camera will highlight an expression or gesture from across the street.

• On S-series phones, the 3x telephoto camera is ideal for shooting someone’s face standing a few metres away, without invading their personal space! However, its image sensor is smaller than the one on the 1x camera, so avoid using it in poor lighting conditions (after sunset or in deep shade), and use the 1x camera instead.
• On A-series phones, which have no telephoto, the 2x zoom option crops the 50MP main image sensor. Galaxy A54 2x shots looked very usable in bright conditions in GSMArena’s tests, but longer zooms are true digital zoom.
• The 0.6x ultrawide camera is great for shooting at markets and squares, but try to keep people towards the centre of the frame to avoid distortion.
• The 1x camera has the biggest image sensor and the brightest lens, so use it whenever conditions aren’t bright!

It’s helpful to stick with one lens for an entire walk so you know what to expect from the frame and you’ll be able to anticipate where people will end up in the frame when you lift your phone. The telephoto lens guide explains when the 3x beats a crop.

Set up the phone before you go out

1. 1

   Open the camera with the side button

   Head over to Settings > Advanced features > Side button > enable Double press > select camera (may be labelled Quick launch camera in some versions). Samsung’s support pages give this path for the Galaxy S25 and the A series.

2. 2

   Make a shutter swipe take a burst

   In Camera settings > Camera Assistant (at the bottom of Camera settings in One UI 9) > set Swipe Shutter button to edge to Take burst shot (this is where a Galaxy S25 Ultra showed it on One UI 9 in November 2026; on earlier versions, such as One UI 7 on the S25, it’s just in Camera settings). Swipe down on the shutter button and keep holding to take multiple shots, which is handy for making sure you get the best shot of a stride or gesture. See also our burst mode guide for a more detailed description of when bursts are helpful.

3. 3

   Turn on the grid and level

   In Camera settings, enable Composition guide (called Grid lines on some Galaxy A-series phones) for grid lines and a level (you can select just one of these on One UI 9), which is handy for making sure buildings are straight when snapping photos on the go.

4. 4

   Check the shutter sound setting

   There’s also a Shutter sound option in Camera settings (according to Samsung’s US support guide), although a moderator on Samsung’s community website for the UK said on 17 March 2024 that this isn’t available on Galaxy phones sold in the UK/EU. If you do have the option, think about leaving this enabled so people know you’ve snapped them! Our shutter sound guide explains which phones have the switch and how to mute the System volume where it's missing.

Getting the moment sharp

Autofocus on Galaxy phones is pretty snappy in daylight, but if someone walks across the frame quickly enough, you might find it struggles to keep up. One workaround is to anticipate where your subject will be – for example, by tapping to focus on a patch of sunlight or in front of a doorway – and then holding your finger down on the touchscreen to lock focus and exposure on that spot (according to Samsung’s Galaxy phone user guide, the lock will persist when you take a photo).

Take a photo as he/she reaches the spot, and refer to the AE/AF lock guide for details on the lock. Alternatively, some of the newer S-series Galaxy phones have a Tracking auto focus option in Camera settings, which Samsung says will keep a moving subject in focus, although on a Galaxy S25 Ultra with One UI 9 this option is shown as unavailable when shooting in Photo mode, so it doesn’t look like it will be of much use for capturing sharp stills.

Composition on the street

First choose your light and background, ideally a plain wall or a bright patch of sunlight. Wait patiently for an interesting subject to stroll across your background. The framing guide has more ways to use doorways and arches.

• Occasionally shoot from a lower vantage point (say at waist height). This will help add interest to your compositions as well as help you draw less attention to yourself (fewer people will notice you as you’ll not be holding your phone up at eye level).
• Compose with layers, for example photographing someone up close with a busy city street in the background.
• When photographing people walking, make sure you leave some space in the direction they’re heading so they’re not walking out of your frame.
• Use the grid lines to help keep horizontal/vertical lines (horizons, walls etc.) straight, unless you deliberately want to tilt your composition for added interest!

Street photography ethics and the law

Know the law. In many countries it’s legal to take photos in public – but regulations about publishing images differ widely. In France, for example, The Local notes that it’s the act of publishing a photo that’s regulated – which means, in general terms, that you need the consent of any non-public figure in an image before you publish it. There are exceptions for pictures of large groups of people or images that serve the public interest. Hungary’s laws, as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists, went even further in 2014, when the country’s new Civil Code made it necessary to obtain someone’s consent before taking their picture.

Always familiarise yourself with local regulations before publishing or selling photos. And no matter where you are, these guidelines will help you take photos of people in a respectful way.

• If you’re taking a photo of someone and they look unhappy about it, lower your phone, give them a reassuring smile and walk away.
• If someone asks you to delete their photo, say you’ll happily oblige, then delete it in front of them.
• Be especially sensitive when taking photos of children and distressed people. Don’t take photos anywhere that people have an expectation of privacy.
• If there are no-photography signs, abide by them. Be aware that stations and shopping centres are often privately owned, so their photography rules apply.

Editing street photos

Black and white strips away distracting colour and leaves light and gesture, which is why it’s been a staple of street photography for so long. Snapseed’s Black & White tool provides a good starting point for monochrome, and Lightroom users will find black-and-white profiles within the app. The black-and-white guide describes in detail when it’s worthwhile to retain colour, and the Lightroom vs Snapseed comparison describes in detail the free service each editor provides.

• If you like the proportions of film frames, crop to 3:2 (the choices listed by Samsung are 3:4, 9:16, 1:1 and full screen, so this will be an editing choice).
• Street scenes have a habit of combining dark doorways with bright skies, so you may need to bring highlights down and shadows up.
• Phone cameras can over-apply noise reduction leaving walls and skin looking unnaturally smooth, so consider adding some graininess back.