Walked in to town and back today, taking portraits of strangers...

nice how you introduce yourself and what you were doing? any negative reactions ?

nice shots tho

cool shots indeed! same question goes though, how do you introduce yourself? do you go selective mode or just random people you see?

Thanks

Well this is my first time taking such pictures so I'm not an expert, so what I'v learnt I'v learnt today.

When approaching you have to be confident in your approach, even in terms of your tone of voice, your body language needs to non-threatening (smile) yet open, so don't face your subject directly with your body as you open the potential subject, once you have built a little report (after about 5 seconds) you can then face them head-on.

A little teasing of the opposite sex can help build report also, but needs to be used with caution.

In terms of conversation you need to give yourself and them a genuine reason for taking their picture, are you trying to build a portfolio? or complete an art project? etc. etc.

In terms of negative experiences, the worst I received was a smile and a polite "No thank you".

keny wrote in post #12832414
cool shots indeed! same question goes though, how do you introduce yourself? do you go selective mode or just random people you see?

My approach was completely random, although I did avoid a few people who were clearly in a rush, as well as people who were holding things like money, or talking on the phone etc, which meant I didn't approach people anywhere near things like cash points etc.

Looks like a lot of fun. Looking at the photos, its as if you can read the subject's thoughts, which says a lot about the photographer. Last one is my favorite, the smugness of youth.

You know, it's strange. At sports events I take pics of people in the stands and walking around - just to capture the ambiance of the event - and I've found that most are quite willing to have their pic taken, and even to be posed (like "Could you and you come over here and stand together?)

Having a (good-looking) camera and a confident attitude seems to break down some normal social barriers. I was quite surprised when I first tried it. The shots above are very good in showing that almost automatic friendship with the picture taker.

Which of your lenses were you taking these shots with?

35mm 1.8 @ 1.8

Managed to get a fair amount of bokeh with it as I didn't need to crop most of them.

Cool, love the portraits and the fact that you went out and did this! awesome work

Looks like the 35mm?

Great shots!

Nice shots. Looks like the lady in the scarf had her pepper spray at the ready!

^^^
LMAO!

It was actually her phone, also this particular experience was a little strange, she wanted me to send her a copy, but she couldn't remember her email address as she wasn't in to computers, so she dialled her husbands number and just handed me her phone to sort it out with him...

MattinVA wrote in post #12834205
Cool, love the portraits and the fact that you went out and did this! awesome work

Thanks, it was scary at first, but after the first 3 or 4 approaches it becomes fun...