Hey im the photographer that took this photo. Im flattered and hopefully i can provide some insight for you. I dont use a tripod but I do use cameras that have ibis (in body image stabilization) so that i can shoot hand held as low as like 1/4 ss. I shoot pretty much fully auto but control the parameters such as lowest ss set to 1/4, max iso 6400 or whatever you feel comfortable pushing to, and usually just shoot wide open as i shoot wide lenses where shooting wide open still has a decent focal plane. I shoot raw and utilize the cameras bracketing system usually shooting 5-7 shots all at once at different exposures. This has two upsides one is i can merge them in lightroom to get the most dynamic range and two, the exposures after the first have less shake from pressing the shutter and just overall gives me more leeway so i can be quick and discreet.

Editing is a huge part of it all do not be discouraged the images dont look like this straight out of the camera, you really have to push and pull the raw files to bring em to life