Shooting from the hip

[JamieH]

Hey hi all, the forum is great love it, my first post so here goes.
Was just wondering if any of you guys or gals have any tips or advice on shooting from the hip. I recently bought a 20d and love taking street portraits. Spent a lot of time using the 28-135 at the long end but am now using the short end and trying to get in closer shooting from the hip have gotten mixed results seems to be hit and miss most of the time!! Bless the digital eh
Any advice appreciated
Thanks

[tim]

Put it to your eye and shoot properly. If people don't want their photo taken they'll let you know, and you should respect their wishes rather than being sneaky.

[EricKonieczny]

Well I shoot all types of angles in nightclubs and concerts. Sometimes I just hold the camera up and start shooting. Other times I will hold the camera to the floor and shoot up, but I am not going to lay down on a dirty club floor.

Its nice to get a different perspective. There are times I will get candid shots of strangers and then show them, and if they don't care for it, I delete it.

[ijohnson]

I think that shooting from the hip is funny. I feel like Rambo with his huge machine guns that he doesn't aim.

I don't do it very often but as I shoot my students frequently I will sometimes get a shy one that will not let me put my lens in their face so I shoot from waist or chest level and I can get them sometimes. I am getting much better wtih it.

Usually I aim around and see what the lens is focusing on based on the distances shown on the lens. I can usually get good focus but my composition tends to suck, obviously.

I agree though. Get a long lens and shoot from across the street or something.

[JamieH]

Hey thanks for the advice,Tim i accept your point i don't mean to be 'sneaky' though just trying to capture the natural look i suppose, rather than pointing the lens directly which usually ends up with the rabbit in the headlights look, do enjoy experimenting though. I think Bresson used to cover his camera with black tape to conceal it now thats sneaky! . The lower angle and wide lens also gives interesting compositions when it works that is!

[belmondo]

If you attach a small monopod to the camera and position it so that it's pointing straight down, it will give you a visual reference to where your camera is pointing, at least by interpolation. If the monopod is tilting forward a bit, your camera is pointing up, and so on.