The Approach

PhotoDavid78

I was curious if anyone takes street portraits of complete strangers and what do you say to them when you approach them? How do you get them to look into your lense and be comfortable with allowing a complete stranger to photograph them?

jpope42

check out this thread: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=202883#post1651959 . Gael posted a link to one person's approach to street photography. I thought it was pretty good and he does address your question.

Personally, it depends. I usually shoot & don't ask. If it's an interesting potential scene and the subject is already scoping me, then I ask.

lizzard_nyc

PhotoDavid78 wrote: »

I was curious if anyone takes street portraits of complete strangers and what do you say to them when you approach them? How do you get them to look into your lense and be comfortable with allowing a complete stranger to photograph them?

Can of worms friend...can of worms

DonRicklin

Craig Tanner of The Mindful Eye talks about this in many of his Photogrphy Critiques.

Don

PhotoDavid78

thanks everyone.

PhotoDavid78

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Can of worms friend...can of worms

you can't get the shot unless you try. I was just curious as to what technique different photographers use.

travischance

Take the shot & keep moving. If you're still uncomfortable, look past your subject if you sense they "spotted you". In my experience, they'll look to see what you were shooting & never think twice. However, I have engaged in conversation at times & just started shooting. Show them the LCD & offer a business card. While I'm no pro at Street photography, this has worked for me.

PhotoDavid78

travischance wrote: »

Take the shot & keep moving. If you're still uncomfortable, look past your subject if you sense they "spotted you". In my experience, they'll look to see what you were shooting & never think twice. However, I have engaged in conversation at times & just started shooting. Show them the LCD & offer a business card. While I'm no pro at Street photography, this has worked for me.

Hey travis, I'm not talking about straight up street photography. I've got that down. I talking about portraits of complete strangers.

Richard

I don't shoot portraits as such on the street. I've seen samples of pros who go so far as to set up backdrops and lights and then convince people to have their picture taken. I suppose you could offer to send them a copy if they're interested. If you prefer spontaneous captures, you could try shooting with a long lens, though it's not always easy to get full frontal faces that way.

lizzard_nyc

PhotoDavid78 wrote: »

Hey travis, I'm not talking about straight up street photography. I've got that down. I talking about portraits of complete strangers.

oh ok I misunderstood completely.
I've seen it done and posted once or twice on street/pj. A street portrait of someone who is aware their photo is being taken and gives permission either verbal or a nod etc. The last person I remember doing that was michswiss while she was in China, a portrait of two gentlemen I believe.

I 've seen it done more often over on "people". I will try and find the thread, but in case I don't, I believe he approached them and asked for their shot to be taken and then offered to send them a copy. There is also a new project over on flickr and I've seen it posted on "people" too called the "100 strangers" project and in it you must approach the person, tell them you are taking it for the 100 strangers project (where you must shoot 100 strangers) get their first name and a little background on them something interesting and then shoot their photo and post it on flickr under that group's name. IT's the closest I can think of to what you are asking. FYI, I did the 100 strangers project, but after stranger #3 I gave up, after conditioning myself to not be seen when taking street photos it was difficult to go up and approach someone and start a conversation. I wasn't enjoying it so I stopped.

I will look for that thread for you.

lizzard_nyc

Here is one of the links
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=190167&highlight=strangers&page=3
started by anonymouscuban.

PhotoDavid78

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Here is one of the links
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=190167&highlight=strangers&page=3
started by anonymouscuban.

This is great, thanks

bdcolen

PhotoDavid78 wrote: »

I was curious if anyone takes street portraits of complete strangers and what do you say to them when you approach them? How do you get them to look into your lense and be comfortable with allowing a complete stranger to photograph them?

And you are asking permission....why? Seriously. If what you want are head and shoulders street portraits, just use a longer lens and shoot them. And if you feel compelled to ask permission, well, I'd say Liz nailed it.

You walk up to them, introduce yourself, hand them a business card - or, more useful, a postcard with a gorgeous portrait on the front and your contact information on the back, tell them how intriguing you find their face, and say you'd like to make their portrait - and offer to send them a file or print. And you'll then have a great story to tell to explain your black eye, bloody nose, or whatever injury you may suffer.

PhotoDavid78

bdcolen wrote: »

And you are asking permission....why? Seriously. If what you want are head and shoulders street portraits, just use a longer lens and shoot them. And if you feel compelled to ask permission, well, I'd say Liz nailed it.

You walk up to them, introduce yourself, hand them a business card - or, more useful, a postcard with a gorgeous portrait on the front and your contact information on the back, tell them how intriguing you find their face, and say you'd like to make their portrait - and offer to send them a file or print. And you'll then have a great story to tell to explain your black eye, bloody nose, or whatever injury you may suffer.

I do the long lense thing all the time. I wanted to try something different. I want a posed shot of someone i don't know. The link Liz posted is just what I had in mind. Maybe i should have posted this in people but i was thinking street because it would be where I was shooting.

bdcolen

PhotoDavid78 wrote: »

I do the long lense thing all the time. I wanted to try something different. I want a posed shot of someone i don't know. The link Liz posted is just what I had in mind. Maybe i should have posted this in people but i was thinking street because it would be where I was shooting.

It's totally appropriate for Street - you want to do street portraits.

bfjr

Nope never ask, do not even want subject/s to know I'm there.
Very similar actually to my past "Wildlife" pursuits.

PhotoDavid78

bfjr wrote: »

Nope never ask, do not even want subject/s to know I'm there.
Very similar actually to my past "Wildlife" pursuits.

Please see Liz's link.

Originally Posted by lizzard_nyc
Here is one of the links
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?...rangers&page=3
started by anonymouscuban.

This is what i'm trying to accomplish

PhotoDavid78

Here is a great article:

http://www.kpraslowicz.com/2011/08/06/five-types-street-photography/

michswiss

I'm still taking what I call complicit street. I'll post some soon. It's a different experience approaching someone to capture their image. Most of the time, the person is somewhat surprised to be asked and curious about why as much as anything. I'll usually keep up a banter while prepping and taking the shot. It's fun but much different in objective than core street for me.