Sometimes when I am walking around in a public space with my camera, I want to point it at people, but I feel uncomfortable like I am invading their privacy. Now I understand in most cases, if they’re in a public space and don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy (like being inside a limo with tinted windows), you have a legal right to photograph them, for non-commercial purposes.
Now I wouldn’t get right in someone’s face without asking permission anyway, but even from a bit of a distance, I’m very self-conscious about taking photos of people I don’t know. And another problem with asking permission is that every time I have asked someone for permission to take their photo, they try to pose unnaturally, when I really wanted a more candid shot. I’ve seen other photographers mulling around during events and whatnot taking random shots here and there, seeming very carefree about it. But I can’t help feel nervous when I do the same.
Any photographer Dopers have thoughts/feelings on this?
If you feel you must ask permission then take the shot first, ask permission after. “Hi, I just took this photo of you - mind if I put it on my Flickr page? I’ll email you a copy too, if you want.”
I’ve had some nasty people get in my face over pictures. I’ll be shooting a cafe crowd scene, or even a cathedral and they are a speck in the foreground, and they will come up and demand I erase the picture. I’m big enough to tell them to f* off, but it still gives me an uneasy feeling for hours. Of course they are wrong but they somehow think they have a right to their own image.
PS - Do NOT tell people you will be posting the picture or they will go ballistic. Even I would resent hearing that.
Supra, the idea that people would get upset because they happen to be IN the picture and not even the subject is pretty pathetic.
Why do you have to shoot strangers? I know I have no legal right but it really doesn’t make me feel comfortable.
Just my opinion but I hate the very idea, and I hate the thought of being posted on someone’s personal website. Ick. Better just to do it, get away with it, and never tell me. If I never know, it can’t hurt me - unless of course I come across the site!
If someone does, and they requested you politely to take the pics down, would you?
Because many photographers consider what they do art. So you have to shoot strangers the same way Beethoven had to write all that “loud music” or Picasso had to do all those “messed up” paintings.
It would be awfully sad if the Alfred Eisenstaedt was forced to delete the kiss because the couple didn’t want their picture taken. It’s now an incredibly iconic image.
As for myself, I’m still learning. But if someone asks I NOT take their picture, I would stop out of common courtesy. However I would not delete any photos I’ve already taken, mostly on principle. I’ve done nothing wrong. As for not publicizing an image it would highly depend. Fortunately I still suck pretty bad so it likely won’t be an issue for me for a long while. 
That is SO ridiculous, I mean in this day and age your videotapped just about everywhere. You can’t get on a bus in Chicago without being videotapped. People who think they have privacy are kidding themselves. You know how many times I walk down the street and am blinded by cameras at red lights? Let me tell you, it’s a lot.
I go to the gym and there are people who stand "talking on their cell phones in the locker. Funny how this only seems to be right where people go to take a shower. I wonder what they’re doing with their camera phones? 
LOL
(And the gym doesn’t care and yes in Illinois it’s illegal to take photos in a lockkerroom without one’s permission, but who will know)
Generally photographic authorities say you should not publish a photo of an identifiable person without a written release from the subject, even if it’s not commercial (i.e., putting it on a publicly accessible web site). Exceptions are bona fide news events, or photos of celebrities whose very presence is a de facto news event.
What do you do with your photos?
IIRC efforts to identify either one of them have failed miserably since lots and lots of people claim to be the ones in the photo. If you can’t tell who someone is, no reason to have a release.
(My wife gets Glamour magazine. In the back they have a page of fashion Do’s and Don’ts, with black bars over the eyes of the Don’ts. I wonder if they get releases for those…)
Seconded – people seem to have this idea that if your picture appears on the internet, then by the end of the day it’ll be photoshopped to show you appearing naked and/or your identity will be stolen. There are few phrases that can make an otherwise intelligent person start spouting inanities than “I’d like to put your picture on the internet”.
