Street Portraits is what most of my photography is about. The feeling of walking around, looking for subjects, overcoming the fear of approaching and making a great street portrait together with a stranger, is exciting.
All of these street portraits are shot with either the Fuji X-T3 and these camera lenses, Fujifilm x100f & Ricoh GR II – I’ve used these three cameras are for a long time and all of them does really well in street and portrait photography. I’m @trovatten on Instagram.
Tutorial on how to photograph strangers
If you want to improve your portrait photography using natural light, then this Skillshare Course is a must-watch.
How to do street portraits with a 35mm film camera
If you want to become a better photographer, I’d recommend looking at these great books.
Ready more about how to get started with film photography.
Thanks for taking a look at my street portraits. In street photography, this is one of my favorite genres and I’d love to become a professional portrait photographer. All of my street portraits, in color and black and white, are shoot with The great Fujifilm x100f and Small Ricoh here.
Street Portraits: How To Take Photos of Strangers
Taking photos are strangers in public can be a bit scary and intimidating – especially if you are kinda shy.
Dealing with the fear of approaching strangers
The first step is to understand that 99,9% of the time, you will either get a “Yes, sure or a“No”.
And when you approach people in public who don’t want their photo taken, just smile and say “Alright. Have a nice day”
This year, I’ve done more than 500 street portraits and if I were to take a guess, I’d say 90% of the people I ask are cool with it.
If you are really shy, then start slow..
You w be right in the face of the stranger you are taking a picture of. One of the greatest street photographers, Henri-Cartier Bresson has a very introvert personally and he is notoriously known for keeping a big distance between the person he is photographing and himself.
What about the 0,1% who gets upset?
Depending on how aggressive you are in your approach, you will at some point, especially if you don’t ask before you take the photo, get an aggressive reaction. Most of the time this will be verbal, by someone telling you “What are you doing” or “Don’t take my photo”.
Of course, it sucks, and it’s what all street photographers fear, but it is so rare this happens that you shouldn’t even think about it.
As long as you come in smiling and positive, most people you meet in the street will play along.
Getting confident, positive and ready
Take a shower.
Listen to your favorite tunes.
Tips to take photos of strangers (with permission)
Doing street portraits of strangers in public can be a really fun experience, once you get over the fear of approaching and asking people for their photos.
Tips to take photos of strangers (without permission)
When you do portraits of strangers without permission it’s referred to as candid portraits or candid street portraits.
This kinda of street photography is a bit controversial depending on how you go about it.
What does the law say about street photography?
Actually you are allow to take pictures of anyone in the public space.
The question though is, what is a public area? A lot of areas in London for example, Canary Wharf, looks like it would be public – but that part of city is actually privatly owned.
So before you strap on your camera to go photograph strangers in your city, make sure to do a bit of research about the area so you know your rights.
If you want to read more about the street photography cameras I use for taking pictures of strangers.
Read this if you are into travel photography cameras or looking to get your next small camera.