TruTricks Notes By Brian Swichkow: Thanks to a great article from Stuck In Customs that has some great tips to give your photos that extra pop. Stuck in Customs is owned and operated by Trey Ratcliff who is a phenomenal photographer with a great eye and some astounding HDR work.
Source: “Five Tips for Photographing People”
Five Tips for Photographing People
I’ve been talking about this for a long time, so I wanted to go ahead and give you some free tips for on-the-street people photography.
From various conversations, I think that photographers are REALLY interested in taking photos of people they see on the street. We can’t help it, right? Our eyes are drawn to interesting “things” — not just landscapes. And if we see an interesting person, we really want to take their photo, yes? But then, often times, we don’t even pull the camera up to our eye because we are shy, embarrassed, or think about all the horrible things that could go wrong. So, maybe these tips will help!
Look, honestly, I don’t know if these will do you any good or not. But these are some things that I personally think about. So, insofar as some of my insights are useful to me, maybe they will be useful to you too!
Even though I’m known for “landscape photography”, I actually enjoy all kinds of photography! I take hundreds of people photos, object photos, food photos, model photos, B&W photos, etc. I assume that you take many types of photography too.
1) Keep an extra camera ready for people shots. When walking the streets, I normally have my “big” (D3X) camera ready to go for city landscape shots. My tripod is on. My wide-angle is on. It’s in that “mode”. If I am going to have to switch lenses, it will take forever, and the moment will be lost. So, I carry a second camera (D3S) on a sling around my shoulder for people shots. On that camera, I have a 50mm prime lens. Now, you don’t have to have this exact setup by any means, but having ANY kind of second camera for people shots is recommended.
2) If they are clearly not looking at you and will not notice you, just start taking photos. You’re a photographer, dammit. Just do it.
View the full article on Stuck In Customs
“Five Tips for Photographing People”Tags: HDR, How To, Photography, Photos, Portraits, Tips and Tricks
