I think I would have to add a caveat about how bizzarre or extroverted the subject is. For ‘blend in the background’ types of folks I would hesitate to make an effort to capture an image. For people who have made a real effort to stand out, such as a beauty queen, punker, or otherwise extroverted appearence, I would not hesitate to snap away.
Note this is a social choice kind of thing by the subject, not to be confused with interesting subjects by circumstance, such as victims of poverty, crime or medical condition, who are not fair game…
I’m not good looking, but I have a knack for putting together very strange and good looking outfits. I’ve been asked by people if they can take my photo, and I always say yes. If I notice someone taking my photo without asking, I confront them about it.
I recently had an instance where my family was out in a public place watching a band. A street festival type situation. Later I found that someone had taken photos of my husband and 2 year old son and posted them on her flicker site, with some caption like “look how cute” or something. I felt a little invaded, and the description on her site that day was about how she went to this street fair and saw a band, blah blah blah. It really came across as if the photos were of her own family, and I was creeped out by it. There were comments about how my son looked and what shirt he was wearing, etc.
After investigating around her site a little, I figured out that she was an amatuer photographer (and a pretty good one) and liked to take photos out on the street, and that most of the people who came to her site were photographers as well, and not likely to misinterpret the photos as anything else. So I felt a little better then, but I still thought it was odd at best and maybe verging on unsettling. I understand if a photographer is taking candids at a public event, but taking multiple close ups of my son and posting them online bothered me. If she would have approached us at the event and said she was a photographer and would we mind if she took a few photos I would have given her permission though. I e-mailed her (politely, even praising her work and asking for a copy of the photo) but she never responded to me.
The thing is, approaching you might have ruined the shot she wanted. Anyone who has taken shots of people knows that the results you get from candids are very different from the shots you get with posed subjects. Integral to good candid shots is the fact that the subject is unaware of the photographer.
As for her not emailing you, one explanation might be that she has no proof that you are the family of the people in her shots.
Yeah, I’m pretty timid IRL, so I haven’t done much shooting of strangers, but when it gets down to it, anything in public is fair game. I’d likely stop if someone objected. It also kinda depends on where you are. I wouldn’t shoot strangers (or much of anything) inside a church, for instance, but if I’m at some kind of Web 2.0 gathering, like a Flickr or Yelp meetup, I wouldn’t be shy about shooting any/everything.
And hey, if you’re bold enough, even if the subject is unhappy about being photographed it can work in your favor.
I run a fansite for a popular theme park here in Japan. I’ve taken thousands of pictures and lots of video that included park guests. I have posted many of them on my site. In the seven-plus years I’ve had my site, I’ve never had any complaints or claims from anyone. In fact, I’ve had plenty of requests for copies of pictures.
Once I was out on my university’s campus (a private university, actually) taking pictures of anything that looked interesting. I happened upon a group of students having a little dance party out in one of the quads complete with smoke machine, laser lights, etc. I pulled out my camera and took a few shots when one girl from the group approached me and sort of snarkily asked, “Are you from the yearbook?”
I replied, “No.” and offered no further explanation, request for permission, or comment. Unsure of how to respond to that she just said “Oh.” and went back to her group.
Another time I saw a woman doing some very interesting stretches that really showed off her figure brilliantly in a very public area (Venice beach, actually). This time I did ask for permission, and she denied, stating she was too shy. :rolleyes: I wish I had just taken it.
Whenever I go out, I like to blend in with the crowd. I realize I’m out in public and I have no expectation of privacy, but I do cherish my anonymity. I would lose that if you took my picture.
I don’t consider it rude to take my picture, but it would make me uncomfortable. If I noticed you aiming a camera at me, I’d leave the area, if possible.
I’m a reporter and a photographer for a small daily paper. When I’m out at big public event, such as a fair, concert or festival I’m always looking for that one great candid shot of the cute kid, romantic couple, etc. I typically won’t say anything to the people I’m shooting before I take the shot, because I’m after that moment when they’re just being themselves and enjoying the event. I do try to make it a point to have my press ID visible in case someone notices me shooting and wonders who is taking pictures of them or their kid and I always make it a point to go up to the person after I’ve got the shot and explain who I am and what I’m doing. Most people are pretty cool and happy to have their picture taken.
I realize my experience is quite different from the OP’s question, however. If I wasn’t a pro, but was looking to get some experience with this type of photography I’d definitely start out by talking to the potential subject beforehand or immediately after I’d made my first couple of shots.
Most of the time, I think people would be pretty understanding about what you’re doing, especially if you offer to send them copies of your shots. Just be polite and honest about why you’re taking their photo and if they say they’re not interested, be polite and move on to the next opportunity. Practice makes perfect and it sounds like you’re on the right track in trying to learn by shooting as much as possible. The only wasted shot is the one you missed because you didn’t take it or weren’t prepared.
Another reason not to ask permission is time. Take this one. By the time I got over to that couple and gotten their permission, the sun may have disappeared. Plus, they might be gone two seconds after I start toward them, and I don’t get the shot. Or they get self-conscious and leave.
And you’ll never get a shot of anyone on a bicycle.
DAMN IT FRANK! I was about to ask her for pictures. (When’s it ever going to be more relevant?)
In most tourist communities it’s impossible not to take pics of strangers. I’d say a rule of thumb would be if you’re actually focusing on the stranger and said stranger isn’t obviously wanting attention (i.e. a prom queen or gay rights dancers on a float) get permission first.
I was in a bookstore last Christmas and opened a very nice full-color photography book on Alabama. I was really surprised when I was flipping through the Gulf Coast section and saw a large color pic of my sister and her husband. I got the book for her for Christmas, and she was a bit shocked as well. She remembered the photo, knew the photographer (a Syrian Christian who attended her church when on vacation) and was a bit peeved. She said she’d have gladly given permission, but she didn’t like him using it without asking, and said in fact she’d have gladly sold the book in a shop she owns an interest in and cross-promoted it if he had let her know. (IIRC it didn’t give her name but it did give the name of the business she owned at the time it was made.)
Photography enthusiast here: If they are not the actual subject of the photo, I don’t ask. If they are, I ask first and then I show them the shot. I also ask them if they want a copy. This is what was also taught in my photography course.
If you want to take better candids and don’t want to keep asking people if it’s ok to take their photo, then get a long lens! Also, don’t take too many photos of the same person and do not post those photos online without a model release.
This was the key point that was missing for me. I just found it a little unsettling to discover several photos of my child posted publicly online without knowing about it first. It’s not like he is one in a crowd, they are close ups of just him. And over a long enough time span that she could have asked, even after the fact. Taking a photo is one thing, posting them publicly is another.
Odder still was the fact that along with her written notes on the page, when you first go to the site it comes across like the pictures are of her own family. She talks about what she and her husband and son did that day, and there is a photo of my husband and son together.
I would find it extremely offensive to be specifically photographed without my express consent. If it was a thing where I just happened to be standing near a landmark or interesting building they wanted a shot of that would be one thing, but I find having a total stranger pick me out individually and take photos to be very rude.
I don’t even like people I know taking my picture without checking in or otherwise letting me know they intend to do so. In public I may not have the legal right to refuse, but I would it show common decency to give me the option to refuse. I really don’t care if you don’t get the great candid shot you wanted, that isn’t my problem.
Reminds me of a line from Pinks song You and ur hand. “I’m not here for your entertainment.”
See, this is my main reason to want to take pics of strangers (as opposed to “pics that happen to have a stranger in them”), but I hate posed pictures. Sometimes I’d like to capture a gesture, the way the light shines on someone’s spiked shoulders or the drape of a blouse - but if I go to the person and ask for permission, what I wanted to capture isn’t there any more.
I worked as a TV news photographer for five years. I walked around with a huge camera on my shoulder and pointed it at people in all kinds of situations. I never asked for permission because I had a job to do and I didn’t want to give anyone the opportunity to slow me down. I didn’t act like an intrusive ass by putting the camera in someones lap or anything, but I went about my business without hesitation.
If I were doing a “the beach is crowded” or “it’s very hot today” story or something similar, I would shoot about five minutes of video, which would consist of twenty or thirty shots. I did my own editing, so I would choose the five to ten shot that would actually appear on TV, depending on the amount of video needed. Every once in a while in this situation, someone would shoot me a dirty look. This would be edited out if I wanted to use the shot. If they actually came up to me and complained, whether they made it on TV or not would depend on their behavior. If they were polite, then I would leave them out. If they entered into a pretentious display of ego or otherwise showed thier ass while pretending to be a camera-shy celebrity, then they guaranteed themselves a starring role on the news that night. And yes, I always asked someone who objected to being photographed if being on TV would put them in danger in any way. I never had anyone answer in the affirmative.
Well, as a news photographer, you had a perfect right to shoot those people if they were in public.
But i must say, the idea that you would specifically put someone on the news just because they got angry with you, when the story was not about them as an individual, doesn’t say much for your sense of news values. It’s this sort of “visuals over substance” attitude that is so much of what’s wrong with the modern news media.
