Photographing semi-candid portraits out on the street
Not quite “street photography”, but rather a semi-candid portrait out on the streets, I love the resulting photograph. It encapsulates a few of the typical New York elements for me – colorful vibrancy and attitude.
Late this afternoon, as usual when I had finished with a corporate headshot photo session in the Wall St area of New York, I waited out the peak time traffic by roaming around the streets with my camera. This young woman graciously waited a few seconds for me while she took selfies with the Fearless Girl – there were other people walking past in the background, and I wanted a cleaner shot. I held up my hand to ask her non-verbally with this gesture (and a smile) to hold her natural pose for me. And she did – and with that, I have a photograph where everything gelled. It’s one of those rare moments that make the semi-aimless wandering around looking for photographs, worth it!
One of the toughest things I had to overcome when I first picked up a camera, was engaging people I didn’t know. Just like many other newer photographers starting out with their first camera, I felt too awkward about making any kind of contact- ending up photographing people from the side or from behind. If the resulting photograph works, then that’s fine – but I would say that capturing expressions make for far more interesting photographs than the back of someone’s head.
And that’s it – you could engage in a quick conversation, or even with a nod or a smile or a hand-gesture, ask permission to take a photograph. I’m never pushy with it – if I sense someone would rather not, I just nod to show that I understand, and I move on. But people do often respond favorably, so it’s worth overcoming that fear!
Share with us how you go about approaching strangers when you want to take a photograph of them.
Techie details
- 1/125 @ f/4 @ 1600 ISO … available light
- The photograph has a slight HDR effect added, via Aurora
- Nikon D5 (B&H / Amazon)
- Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8E VR (B&H / Amazon)
Related articles
- Informal / candid portraits on the street – Applying what you know
- Available light portraits – composition, light and style – (model: Christy)
- Photographic composition – rules & guidelines
These are probably my favorite portraits to do…because they are one-two-three-and DONE.
I usually approach them with a simple compliment:
“Hi! I’m Theresa Johnson and I’m a portrait photographer. I couldn’t help noticing your _____(hair,eyes,detail etc.)____ ; SO pretty/fab/handsome etc.
When you ___(insert recent action)____ just now, it really got my attention. Would you let me snap a photo of you real quick?”
And naturally, after the impromptu shoot, I hand them my card and tell them how to see the photo:
“If these turn out, I might share them on my blog or something…contact me if you want me to send you a copy. Here’s my card. Thanks! That was fun!”
I’ve been doing it this way for 5 or so years, have garnered a few paying clients and had a blast meeting new and interesting folks along the way. :)
I don’t ask. I just shoot. It preserves the look in my opinion
Hi Neil,
I intend to ask you this question many times but never did.
Can you tell us what you use to create you photo signature, PS, Element, LR – Vector or text?
Thanks,
Dustin
Currently my watermark is a simple text layer that I adjust manually depending on the image size. Old school.
Hi Neil,
Thanks for responding. That’s how I do it as watermark.
What’s your official print? Do you also use watermark or vector? I try to see how other people are doing things out there.
Thanks,
Dustin
Synchronicity?
In the last couple of months I devoted a good amount of time to that kind of photography, for which I could not find a preset category: it was not street photography, but happened in the streets, it was not portrait photography, but I tried my best to take portraits. I suggest “street portraits”.
I have not yet developed a specific approach: at times I feel confident in asking – e.g. at a public meeting where there were many old men, some of them with long white beards, I simply asked, making explicit my specific interest, in this case the long white beard. In this case I felt that the interest had to be honestly specified.
On another occasion I saw a pretty young lady taking a selfie and I heard myself saying aloud: “oh no, not a selfie!” I smiled and I took a couple of shots of her, I showed them and I offered to send them via email.
On a different occasion I found an interesting background and when a girl stopped in front of that background from a distance a took a photo of her.
When I want to spend a day in Venice (the real Venice) the situation is very different: everybody has a camera and takes photos, so no one cares of what I do. The spectrum of possibilities widens all of a sudden.
I every situation I feel that ‘respect’ is the word.
A final word for you Neil. I learned a lot from you and from this forum. I expected a lot of answers to your question. You put a lot of energy in keeping this forum alive for so many years and this is my grateful contribution. If you like to see the final results for every different approach let me know and I’ll send you a few pictures via email
I am always concerned about privacy rights. Did you get written permission form the woman whose image you published above . I am planning a street portrait project and I am looking into legalities of using people’s images for my own use – my inclination is to carry around releases. Do you worry about this?
I don’t have written permission from her, or a model release. That would be difficult to approach someone with on the street – shoving a piece of paper with legalese on it, asking them to sign it.
I did get her tacit permission at the time, since she did look at me for a few photos. I also gave her my business card after I took the sequence of photos, so I am easy enough to contact.
With that, I’m relying on that the photo is used in an editorial context- it is used here to illustrate an article on photography – and that does give some leeway, as opposed to sone kind of commercial use. Also, the photograph is a flattering one, and is shown here with absolutely no negative connotation. That said, if she did contact me now and request that I remove the photo, I would.
Me? I still take them from the side or behind. It’s very rare I photograph any sort of street photography. So I’m looking forward to all the replies for tips :)
Hi Ed, I too rarely do street photography. I think Neil’s advice is the most sensible and practical, especially his replies to the questions raised in these comments. As and when I do more street photography, I will follow most of what is mentioned on this page.
I have been practicing at fairs this summer. Some days I have courage and some days it takes a little while to warm up. But once you get the first smile back or ‘permissional’* cues (*that is a made up word) it then becomes much easier and a lot of fun. Thanks for all your teachings Neil!