Landscape photographer seeks advice about photographing faces

Haylo

Landscape photography is my thing, but having been inspired by the portraits on the main page, I think it is about time I learned more about taking photographs of people before my first trip to India!

I had found my old film SLR with lenses too bulky, and often went out without it, so when I finally went digital compromised with a second hand Nikon Coolpix 5000, it's larger than a basic point and shoot but small enough to always carry with me. It is over five years old, but is 5 MP.

Firstly, any opinions about the suitability of my camera? Its main drawback is the slow start up time, which does not matter for landscapes, but which concerns me if I'm photographing people! I have considered buying a new camera, but as they take time to get used to I have been putting it off. The flash is also poor, but I rarely take photographs indoors. On the plus side, I do have an adapter tube for it, so I could buy a polarising filter which I believe may help in certain situations.

Secondly, and this is what I am really interested in, can anyone offer me any tips specifically about photographing people?

PeakXV

No - I don't like to do it and when I do it am not very good at at. And to be honest the stairs I run at the local monument/historic site have many tourists who like to photograph the joggers and I/We don't like it too much. So I can sympathize a little bit with the man in India who told me directly that I just stole his soul with that little snap of light I made.

Having said all that I admire Jorge, Mistral and all the other top-notch people photographers on this site and understand the challenge and beauty in it all.

Why not use your coolpix until you outgrow it &/or discover through technical trial & error it's lens/lighting limitations!?

Best of luck in your photo quest!

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

Hyderabadi

Jorge and Lou are the undeniable masters on this subject!

Do you have any landscape pictures you want to show off?

And oh, as PeakXV mentions - Mistral. Also Radz has some great pictures on here.

Jorge's people faces, I believe would be one of the greatest resources on the www.

Haylo

People taking photographs of joggers? How bizarre. You should get someone to take photographs of the tourists taking photos of the joggers!

Groups of people in the background seem "fair game", but if I wanted a photograph of someone, I cannot imagine shoving a camera in their face without asking first.

Anyway, I don't think that would be the way to get the best shot. Not that I know for sure, I usually take pics of mountains, and not only do they not mind, but they stand perfectly still!

Haylo

Not of India, I have not been there yet. Could post some okayish ones of Europe and Canada, but there doesn't seem to be a category for other places. Can you advise me on that?

It was his pictures which prompted me to start this thread.

machadinha

<cross-posted with Haylo's latest above>

Hm. I'm no pro, not even a half-assed amateur at that.

I've come to believe that doing portraits is a gift. You either do it, or you don't. (I don't have this gift. I just don't feel right invading people's space that way. That isn't a judgement on others who can and do, though. I think it really is a gift.)

Modern equipment will allow you to "steal" pics from afar, but it's not the way to go about I believe. For a number of reasons, ethical not the least of them. As already hinted at above.

Be straight in what you do, and be a portrait photographer if that's what you want to be. Your subjects may like you for it. Respect those who don't (and those who do, of course).

ps

There exist any number of free sites for such photos of course, Flickr and what have you. You could post some in your thread here but please keep in mind this site is really about Indian travel -- and all its many unrelated contingencies

IndiaMike offers a few "Crossing the Borders" sections, but they're really meant to cover the subcontinent as such, not just any old trip to anywhere.

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Hyderabadi

Before we ge get into portraits, Cameleer's absolutely amazing panos and VR tours deserve many a salute!

Amazing stuff!
Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri VR photos

To start with, I guess you could attach images?

Nothing to do with India but this is a portrait with natural light, minimally edited. I am an Indian though. :

Attached Thumbnails

 

kristinm

My partner who is a professional photographer and usually photographs boring commercial stuff wanted to take his pro camera to India and we had a big fight - ended up buying a Fuji 6500 I think it is...we bought it on Ebay -

Which really did the job well, an SLR but with fixed lens that had a decent wide angle and zoom so no dust issues and lugging extra lenses and stuff.

He took some lovely portraits and - well not landscapes but streetscapes - you can see some in my gallery.

Travelling with a photographer - now that's a different and very frustrating story!!!!!!! If you're going to India to take photos - so your loved ones a favour and go on your own!

PeakXV

..... and then photographers to take pictures of the photographers who are taking pictures of the joggers Actually it's a flight of 110 stairs at a rather steep incline with the castle/monuments in behind as a backdrop - thus the tourist interest in a photo op and bit of a gawk. But the auto flash sometimes throws your timing off and can become a bit irritating especially when tour groups or larger numbers congregate.

Haylo

Thanks, I thought I'd better check first. I tried inserting a thumbnails for a couple of my pictures, but on the preview the photo came up full size, instead of as a thumbnail like Hyderabadi's.

How do I put a thumbnail up?

Jorge Reverter

Is an old thread but seems to be always here. First of all I must confess that I have almost no idea about photography, only the a,b,c.

As Machadinha says: doing portraits is probably a gift and fortunately I don't feel I'm invading people's space or their privacity. Most probably is only a question of empathy.

I prefer to move alone and to feel relaxed and try to never seem to be in a hurry, normally just to stay in a corner and to see how life goes on. The zoom (I'm using a Sigma APO DG 70-300)is obviously a must to get "natural" portraits.

All in all the truth is that normally I just go with my camera to the people and make lot of pictures without any problem.

Jorge

Attached Thumbnails

 

machadinha

Hi Haylo, if no one else does, I'll leave instructions for you later. Gotta cook first Pasta, yum!

Nice to hear from Jorge btw. I guess it's mostly a matter of just doing it yes, and then trial & error no doubt.

Hyderabadi

Could that be Tamatar-Da-Pashta, with chilli paneer bites?

Guess you could turn any topic to an India related topic, No?

zoltan

There are certainly the ethical issues of taking candid photos of people but if you are not going to use the images for commercial gain, then I (generally) don't see this as too much of a problem.

There are two ways of getting photos of people:
1) ask permission (and if it is refused, respect the persons request)
2) candid photos

Things to help in getting good photos:
1) long lens (generally 135mm+)
2) try different angles (side; front; back)
3) some of the best photos are taken when people look natural (ie. not in an artifically posed positino)

I'm sure you'll get other ideas from other posters.

Cheers
Zoltan

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Cameleer

Thanks of the compliment Hyderabadi.

I don’t do much in the way of people portraits, but I do some along with a lot of nice camel portraits.
I like using the Canon 5D camera with the 70-200mm f2.8 lens for portraits and all around photography. You can get nice soft backgrounds with the larger sensor size this camera has and this lens makes it even better.
My backup camera is the Canon G9 which is very nice for a smaller all-around camera.

Off topic: here’s a VR tour of Jaipur starting from the Sun Temple. Make sure to click the button opening it up full screen.
http://indiavrtours.com/jaipur/sun_temple4.html

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