Zone focusing — pre-setting focus at a fixed distance (usually 1.5 to 3 metres) at a small aperture, so everything inside a known zone is sharp and the camera needs no focusing at the moment of shooting. The fastest way to work a street. Practise with the Zone Focus Distance Guide.

Hyperfocal distance — the focus distance at which depth of field extends from half that distance to infinity. Zone focusing's big brother, used for wider scenes.

Sunny 16 — the meterless exposure rule: in full sun, f/16 at a shutter speed of 1/ISO, opening up as light softens. Full breakdown on the Sunny 16 card.

Stopping down — choosing a smaller aperture (bigger f-number) for more depth of field. Street photographers live at f/8 to f/11 for exactly this reason.

Sync speed — the fastest shutter speed at which a camera can use flash normally, typically 1/180 to 1/250. Exceed it and a black band appears. Relevant to the flash settings card.

Shutter drag / slow sync — combining flash (freezing the subject) with a slow shutter (streaking the ambient light). The technique behind the Shutter Drag card.

Expose for the highlights — setting exposure so the brightest important area holds detail, letting shadows fall dark. The default approach for high-contrast street light.

Leading lines — using the street's edges (kerbs, railings, shadows) to steer the viewer's eye to the subject. The Leading Lines card covers the full taxonomy.

Layering — composing with distinct subjects at multiple distances, foreground through background, all contributing. The advanced street skill; masters of it make crowds look orchestrated.

Juxtaposition — two elements in one frame commenting on each other: the poster and the passer-by, the sign and its contradiction. Street photography's native joke format.

Frame within a frame — using a doorway, window, arch or mirror to enclose the subject inside the photograph's own frame.

Negative space — deliberate emptiness around a subject. On the street, usually a clean wall, sky or shadow mass that isolates the figure.

Fishing — finding a strong background or light and waiting for a subject to enter it, rather than chasing subjects. The single biggest efficiency upgrade in street practice.

Working the scene — taking many frames of one promising situation from different positions rather than one and moving on. Contact sheets of the masters show relentless scene-working.

The decisive moment — Henri Cartier-Bresson's phrase for the instant when a scene's elements align into their strongest arrangement. Less mystical than it sounds: anticipation plus patience plus pressing at the peak.

Candid — unposed, unannounced photography of public life; the genre's core mode.

Street portrait — the permission-based counterpart: you ask, they agree, you shoot. Different genre, same pavement.

f/8 and be there — attributed to press photographer Weegee: a deep-focus aperture plus presence at the scene beats technical fussing. The founding proverb of pre-set shooting.

Chimping — checking the camera screen after every frame. Mildly derided because it takes your eyes off the street exactly when the next picture happens.

Shooting from the hip — shooting without raising the camera to the eye. Produces unusual angles and candidness at the cost of framing control; zone focusing makes it viable.

Pounding the pavement / doing the miles — the unglamorous truth that street photography is walking. Keeper rates are low for everyone; the difference is frames attempted.

Keeper — a frame worth keeping. One or two per outing is a good day, for anyone, including the famous.

Contact sheet — historically, a print of every frame on a roll; now, the unedited take. Studying them (many masters' sheets are published) shows how many almosts surround every icon.

Grain / noise — the texture of high ISO. The street tradition treats it as atmosphere, not error.

Golden hour / blue hour — the hour after sunrise and before sunset (warm, low, directional light), and the twilight after sunset (ambient and artificial light balancing). Winter compresses both into civilised hours.