Approaching strangers to make their photographs is something I’m often asked about. There is a lot of curiosity about how to ask someone you don’t know to make their photograph.

Some believe there is some big secret, but there actually isn’t. The biggest challenge is not about how to ask, but rather getting past one’s own fear of rejection. But in my experience the great majority of people that I approach are willing to be photographed, because they are rather flattered by the attention.

If you exhibit good positive energy and are sincere in your approach, even with little more than a warm smile and a gesture, you’ll be surprised as what can happen. Here are seven suggestions that I hope you’ll find helpful for photographing strangers.

Start with a Compliment

When I see someone that I want to photograph, I often identify something about them that stands out for me, which can be the foundation of a compliment. It could be the hat they are wearing, the dog they’re walking or their hairstyle. This provides me a starting point for a conversation. People rarely receive compliments from strangers and it can serve as a great icebreaker.

It’s also beneficial because it explains to the subject, why you are interested in them as a subject. So, when the idea of a photograph is brought up, they have an understanding of why you want to photograph them.

More often than not, I am able to gauge a person’s openness to being photographed just by their reaction to the compliment.

Keep Talking

Sometimes, people will initially say no, but it’s a good idea to keep talking to them.

If someone says no initially, I will continue to ask them about that thing about him or her that I found interesting. It helps to demonstrate that my interest in them was sincere.

Sometimes, the subject will actually change their mind and allow me to photograph them because they’ve had the chance to get to know me a little better and assess my intentions. I will sometimes ask again at the end of the interaction if they don’t offer and about half the time, I come away with a photograph.

Find a Setting

Every time I find a subject, I am simultaneously looking for somewhere to move them in order to make a portrait. Usually, the spot where I found them doesn’t offer the best quality of light or background. So, even before approaching the subject, I’ve already determined where to place them should they answer yes to my request.

I’ll often be looking for a clean and simple background to reduce the potential for distractions. I also look for a location where the light is good, which is often an area of open shade, which helps minimize the presence of harsh shadows across the face and body.

Have the Camera Ready

When you are making a portrait of anyone, it’s important to have your camera ready. Your attention has to be on the person, rather than the camera settings. You don’t have much time when photographing a stranger and you don’t want to lose a good opportunity fumbling with your camera.

So, I will already have my camera set for Aperture Priority or Manual mode so that I have control over my aperture and my depth of field. I will even have my camera set for a moderate aperture such as f4 of f5.6.

When I have identified a location where I think I might want to move my subject, I’ll also adjust my ISO so that I am using a reasonable shutter speed, which will ensure a sharp photography. Lastly, I’ll adjust my white balance to match the type of light that I will be shooting under. This takes only a few seconds and I’m ready to spend my time fully engaged with my subject.

Slow Down

It’s important to not feel anxious and rushed when making a photograph. It’s easy to rush things, because you don’t want to take too much of your subject’s time. However, such feelings can result in you producing a lackluster result.

If your subject is agreeing to be photographed, it’s the photographer’s responsibility to do as good a job as possible. So make a careful assessment of everything in the frame to ensure that you don’t have any distraction within the frame and that you are producing as good a composition as possible.

Take the time to make several shots including a headshot, full body shot, verticals and horizontals.

Remember, that if the subject is willing to pose for you, they are willing to collaborate with you to produce a good result and so make use of that generosity.

Let the Subject be Themselves

Don’t try to pose your subject. More often than not, the subject will find their own natural body language that will be better than anything you could impose on them. Make some small suggestions such as the tilt of the head or the placement of the hand to improve on what they’ve given you.

Often people will automatically smile, but don’t hesitate to ask them not to smile and to just relax. This can often result in a much more natural and relaxed expression.

If you are continue to engage the subject and they laugh at something you say, you will likely get a much more authentic smile and expression, which is always much more desirable.

Every photographer who photographs strangers has their own unique approach, which is developed with practice. You will likely find something that fits your particularly style and personality. But you’ll only discover what that is, by going out and doing it.

The resulting images would provide you more than enough inspiration keep doing it over and over again.

Please Support The Phoblographer

We love to bring you guys the latest and greatest news and gear related stuff. However, we can’t keep doing that unless we have your continued support. If you would like to purchase any of the items mentioned, please do so by clicking our links first and then purchasing the items as we then get a small portion of the sale to help run the website.

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The post 7 Tips for Photographing Strangers appeared first on The Phoblographer.

Earlier this month we teamed up with BorrowLenses and Lomography in order to give away stuff. And by stuff we mean cameras. And by cameras we mean either a Canon 5D Mk III or Nikon D800, and a Lomography LC-A+. Both contests are still running and will be for a couple more days/weeks, so you can still sign up and take your chances at winning one of these great photographic tools.

The BorrowLenses contest will be running through June 22st 12AM EST, and the Lomography contest will be running through May 31st 12AM EST. For more info and to enter the contests, please visit the respective posts:

Win a Canon 5D Mk III or Nikon D800 from The Phoblographer and BorrowLenses.com!

Win a Lomography LC-A+ From The Phoblographer and Lomography!

The post In Case You Missed It: We Have Two Awesome Contests Running Right Now appeared first on The Phoblographer.

It doesn’t seem like Flickr can get a break right now after the events of this week. On Monday, Flickr changed its look and triggered mixed reactions in many users. Then Marissa Mayer stated that there is no such thing as a professional photographer, and took it back with barely an apology. Plus, the former Pro users felt screwed over because they lost their unlimited storage only to later learn that they’ve been grandfathered in for it.

But according to one of the company’s latest tweets, their users are experiencing UI and performance issues. Many of them are typically filled with internet snark such as, “I bet those nice old white pages would load smoothly.” Overall, they’re also tweeting a lot less than they did in the past.

Are any of you experiencing errors? We’d love to know more about what’s going on.

The post The New Flickr is Having Some Performance Issues appeared first on The Phoblographer.

LifeHacker has this super cool feature right now on how you can set your desktop background images to sync with your Instagram photos. Essentially what you’re doing is you’re backing up all your Instagram images to Dropbox and syncing them via the Dropbox applet on your computer. Then you tell your OS to switch the background out from a particular folder and then you’re set after you set it to automatically rotate out.

But it’s a lot more than that, there is the whole process of your new stream of Instagram images needing to be backed up too. And for that, it’s very much worth heading over to LifeHacker.

The post Make Your Instagram Images Your Desktop Background By Using Dropbox appeared first on The Phoblographer.

Andrea Longacre-White has created a photo project that won her a place in the ICP Triennial. She is a creative that has has many exhibitions, including the Tiny Vices Show. Her work has been featured in TimeOutNY and the NYTimes amongst others. While many of us shoot film and then scan it to digitize it, Andrea decided o digitize an already digital image. And she did this by scanning not a print out, but a digital screen. Her project involves scanning scenes that are displayed on an iPad–which in turn created visually interesting glitches.

Phoblographer: People choose to scan film all the time to digitize them. But scanning a digital image is something most people would say is impossible. Where did you get the thought to scan an iPad?

Andrea: When the iPad first came out I wanted it so badly, a super techno lust, though it took many months for me to get one. When I finally did, the use value had been built up in my mind which made it actually quite disappointing to realize the machine was really meant for consumption, not production.

I was like, now what do I do with this thing besides consume media?

I was in the process of making work for a show at West Street Gallery, and wanted to incorporate as source material the installation shots from past shows (trying to include, somehow, the history of a space in the work that would be shown in it). So I had the somewhat jokingly dumb idea of scanning the iPad while installation shots from different past shows from the gallery’s website were open in the internet browser window. The first time I scanned it, I had no idea that the two technologies would sort of talk to each other, one confusing the other and rendering the kind of glitches and in between spaces that are visible only through the scanning process. We can never see these in between spaces if we are looking at the iPad or going from page to page, its only through the scanner that this new strange space is revealed.

Please Support The Phoblographer

We love to bring you guys the latest and greatest news and gear related stuff. However, we can’t keep doing that unless we have your continued support. If you would like to purchase any of the items mentioned, please do so by clicking our links first and then purchasing the items as we then get a small portion of the sale to help run the website.

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The post Digitizing Digital: Andrea Longacre-White’s iPad Scans appeared first on The Phoblographer.

Camille Seaman is a professional photographer who also chases storms. Her work has been featured in many galleries and most recently she took to Kickstarter to fund her latest project. Camille will be doing what she loves: chasing storms and capturing them on camera in a series that she is calling, “The Big Cloud Project.”

We talked to Camille about storm chasing and the dangers of the job.

Phoblographer: What first made you want to go out there and capture footage of these giant storm clouds?

Camille: It was a suggestion made by my eight year old daughter (at the time) who saw me looking at the tv with “that” look and she said, “Mom, you should do that.” Three days later I was. I don’t ever claim credit for having ideas, or brilliant projects. I basically ask the universe which way it wants me to go, and I look for the openings, the opportunities. My daughter is a wise young woman. I had no idea what Storm Chasing would reveal to me, but it has been epic.

Phoblographer: When you really think about it, what you’re doing is very dangerous. How do you stay so composed and think with a clear head to deliver such stunning photos and how do you prep before you attempt to do something like this?

Camille: Life is dangerous, and if you do it right yes, at the very end you have scratches and patches and bumps and bruises, I see more people who are afraid of living than they are of dying. This thing we call life is an amazing gift. A REAL opportunity to see as much as you can feel as much as you can learn as much as you can. So many people allow fear to prevent them from truly experiencing life. Too many people live in such tight confines, all self defined. I am not one of them, I do not feel fear in the way most people do. Yes I feel fear but I never allow it to inhibit my movements, my desire. In fact, that fear inspires me to lean in towards it, push through it and discover things about myself and what I am truly capable of.

Staying calm and relaxed in the face of potential danger is something I learned when I surfed. If you tense up as you are getting worked underwater by a wave, you only increase the potential for injury or death. Instead relax, stay calm, slows your heart rate, makes it much easier to make better decisions and come out ok. Freaking out NEVER helps any situation.

Phoblographer: What do you use to capture these clouds? Your Kickstarter says that you want to bring a 4×5 camera this time.

Camille: Since 2009 I have been using a DSLR. I want to make larger prints. The 4 x 5 may not work just because of the time factor, but it’s worth trying.

Phoblographer: How do you go about finding clouds like this?

Camille: I chase with experienced meteorologists who use a software program that receives live streaming Doppler Radar overlaid on a GPS grid so that we can see exactly what the weather is doing and which roads will put us in the best position. There is a ridiculous amount of driving entailed in chasing, along with bad food and dodgy hotels and motels.

Phoblographer: You’ve just had the Big Cloud project funded on Kickstarter. Congratulations! Do you think you’ll be calling yourself a professional storm chaser now?

Camille: I have been a professional chaser since 2008. The first time I chased I was a paying tourist, I asked if there were any spaces available on future tours and the owner of the company asked if I could drive, so I was paid to chase. The kickstarter campaign has been absolutely impressive. I am so grateful to the 222 people who backed me and are making this summer’s chase possible.

Phoblographer: Are you looking to do any video while your on the road?

Camille: Film making is a very different discipline than still image making. I do make some film clips while I am out chasing, and I have been asked to keep a video journal for Canadian Discovery Channel, but my first passion is to make still images.

Phoblographer: How do you plan on marketing and promoting the work that you produce from this project?

Camille: I am very fortunate that many outlets have their eyes on me and the work I am making. I never worry about how I will market the work or promote it. I have some momentum and for me the key is to maintain relationships and keep that momentum.

For more you can follow Camille on Facebook or her website.

Please Support The Phoblographer

We love to bring you guys the latest and greatest news and gear related stuff. However, we can’t keep doing that unless we have your continued support. If you would like to purchase any of the items mentioned, please do so by clicking our links first and then purchasing the items as we then get a small portion of the sale to help run the website.

Also, please follow us on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

The post Photographing Big, Fluffy, Ominous Clouds with Camille Seaman appeared first on The Phoblographer.

So you want to shoot landscape images? All you have to do is slap on a wide angle and head out, right? WRONG! There is so much more to landscape photography than the oft-overused ultra wide-angle perspective (though that certainly still has its place). I’m going to share my thoughts on landscape photography from the perspective of a full-frame Canon shooter, but please know that almost everything I’m going to tell you will apply to Nikon, Sony, and the rest. They are all great brands. Head on past the break for my thoughts on lenses for landscapes.

When I go out to shoot landscapes, I try to consider what type of look I want to go for and decide which lens to use based on a set of 5 categories: Ultra Wide-Angle, Wide-Angle, Normal, Short-Telephoto and Telephoto. An argument could be made for the use of Super-Telephotos as well, but I never shoot that long personally. You might be asking “Why would I want to use anything other than a wide angle for landscapes?” While that is a fine question, the reality is that the wide angle “effect” can get pretty tired and uninteresting if that’s all you ever use. It absolutely has its place, and I still have one ultra-wide myself, but I have come to realize that semi-wide to semi-telephoto is something of a sweet spot (for me) for landscapes. The following is a list of some of the focal lengths I find to be the most useful when shooting landscapes. It’s also worth mentioning that while the list is mostly prime lenses, many zooms will work just as well, and despite the reality that many of these lenses are f2 or faster, you won’t always (or even often) be shooting wide open when it comes to landscapes. The reason I chose many of these lenses is due to the fact that they can be dual purpose, excelling in multiple categories, making them a smart purchase.

20 / 21mm

This category of lens is very, very common in landscape photography, but it is difficult to use effectively if you don’t fully understand their capabilities. You cannot simply aim it at something far away and shoot, that will deliver nothing but boring images. Too many photographers think that these ultra wides are for simply “getting it all in the frame”, when in reality, it is meant to allow you to get exceptionally close to your chosen subject and still include a ton of background for context. That being said, there are absolutely some gems in this arena, for all budgets as well. My favorite focal length in this category is 20-21mm as it is exceptionally wide, but you don’t get as much of the extreme distortion that often happens with lenses 18mm and wider. There are, however, plenty of alternatives in this arena that are spectacular.

• Carl Zeiss 21mm f2.8 Distagon T*
• Nikon 14-24mm f2.8G ED (Best wide-zoom out there)
• Canon 20mm f2.8 (Budget)
• Rokinon / Samyang 14mm f2.8 (Budget)
• Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 ( Top Choice for APS-C)

35mm

Wide Angle lenses fall into the category of 24-35mm most often and are something of a sweet spot for landscapes for me (personal favorite being a 35mm lens) you can still have a lot featured within the frame, but you don’t get as much of the pronounced wide angle distortion. With a lens like a 35mm, you still have the opportunity to get close, and if getting close is not an option you can create a strong sense of presence within your frame. My choice presently is a 35mm f1.4, but there are also a number of great options:

• Carl Zeiss 35mm f2 Distagon T*
• Sigma 35mm f1.4 A
• Rokinon / Samyang 35mm f1.4
• Canon 24-70mm f2.8L II
• Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 G

50mm

Now this is the point where things start to get interesting. A normal length lens actually provides an incredible opportunity for creating landscape images, just hear me out. When you get into this focal length range (think 40-60mm)  you begin to compress your background and start to focus more on details rather than a broad scene. However if you are far enough away from your chosen subject you can definitely make these focal lengths work for you in capturing a reasonably wide scene with a “human-eye” perspective. In my opinion, 50mm is the one to get in this range and there are a bunch of solid choices.

• Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.4 Planar T*
• Carl Zeiss 50mm f2 Makro-Planar T*
• Canon 50mm f1.2L or 50mm f1.4
• Nikon 50mm f1.4 G
• Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX

85 / 135mm

Continuing on from the range of normal lenses, once you approach the 85-200mm range things begin to compress more noticeably. At this point you will often be focusing more on details or select portions of a scene, but with a careful eye, one can definitely create unique and beautiful images with an 85 or 135mm lens. The amount of compression is enough that you will be concentrating on your subject and considering less of the surrounding environment. This would be ideal for concentrating on a section of a forest or a compressed view of a mountain range. Either focal length is interchangeable in my experience and it’s only a matter how much compression you want in your image.

• Carl Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Planar T*
• Sigma 85mm f1.4 EX
• Nikon 85mm f1.4G
• Canon 85mm f1.8
• Canon 135mm f2L

70-200mm

The last lens I want to talk about is potentially the most useful one. A 70-200mm is incredibly flexible for this type of shooting due to its ability to zoom from short telephoto to full telephoto. This flexibility allows for very selective framing and capturing the ornate details of your chosen landscape. You would be amazed at how often a lens such as this is used by landscape photographers (myself included when I still used zooms).

• Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II
• Canon 70-200mm f4L IS (For lighter weight)
• Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 G ED VR II
• Nikon 70-200mm f4 G ED VR (For lighter weight)

Please Support The Phoblographer

We love to bring you guys the latest and greatest news and gear related stuff. However, we can’t keep doing that unless we have your continued support. If you would like to purchase any of the items mentioned, please do so by clicking our links first and then purchasing the items as we then get a small portion of the sale to help run the website.

Also, please follow us on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

The post Five Lenses for The Discerning Landscape Photographer appeared first on The Phoblographer.

Our buddy Chris Burkard that we interviewed the other day recently published a video shot entirely with the new Nikon D7100 DSLR. The video is all about surf photography and what it’s like to be so close with the ocean  To do it, they used an AquaTech Waterhousings in the surf. When they got onto the beach they used it with the new Nikkor 80-400 F4-5.6 VRII zoom. They also got to play with the 800mm F5.6. He had been playing with the camera since the winter of last year before it was announced. And the result is some beautiful footage that quite obviously puts the GoPro to shame when there is a wide angle attached.

Take a look at the video after the jump. And also be sure to check out our D7100 review.

Please Support The Phoblographer

We love to bring you guys the latest and greatest news and gear related stuff. However, we can’t keep doing that unless we have your continued support. If you would like to purchase any of the items mentioned, please do so by clicking our links first and then purchasing the items as we then get a small portion of the sale to help run the website.

Also, please follow us on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

The post Life in the Waves: A Short Film Shot Entirely With the Nikon D7100 appeared first on The Phoblographer.

Manfrotto just announced a new compact tripod aimed at photographers on the go, called the ‘BeFree’. What makes this tripod ideal for photographers that travel a lot is its compact size and low weight. The aluminum-made BeFree weighs only 3 lbs (1.36 kg) and folds to a size of less than 16″ (40 cm). In addition, it comes with its own dedicated bag for extra protection, which you can also carry over your shoulder.

The BeFree is available now for a retail price of US $199.89.

The post Manfrotto’s New BeFree Compact Tripod is Aimed at the Photographer on the Go appeared first on The Phoblographer.

Death of a loyalist militiaman. Or, The Falling Soldier. 1936. Courtesy of Magnum Photos.

All photos are credited to Magnum Photos.

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.” These ten words words reflect Robert Capa’s photographic philosophy. You need to be intimate with your subject to get the best possible image. One of the forerunners of photojournalism, Robert Capa, born Andre Friedmann on December 3, 1913, was a war photographer whose 1936 image of a slain soldier catapulted him onto the world’s stage. Capa was part of a select group of photographers, Bresson and Seymour among them, who would influence subsequent generations of photographers all the way through today. It was on this day in 1954, when a misstep caused a land mine to explode and kill him. However brief his life was, Capa produced an astounding body of work that lives on, and this post is dedicated to the man and his images.

Running for shelter during the air raid alarm. 1936. Courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Capa did not, at first, study to be a photographer. He was a student of political science at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik in Berlin. Capa took up photography on the side and worked as a darkroom apprentice at a Berlin photo agency. As the Nazi party grew in size and reach, Capa no longer felt safe, and removed himself to Paris with his fiance Gerda Taro in 1933. It was with Gerda that Andre Friedmann became Robert Capa.

Chartres. 1944. Courtesy of Magnum Photos.

It was a game of ruses. Friedmann wanted to make a splash in the world of freelance journalism, but that was a tall order for someone who was unknown. Friedmann and Taro set up a tripartite photographic collective. Taro took care of the clerical work, Friedmann worked in the darkroom, and they both worked for “Robert Capa”, a wealthy, renowned and illusory American photographer.

With his photographic and darkroom experience, Friedmann took and developed the images, and Taro sold them to French newspapers. The going rate was around 50 francs per photo, but because Capa was purportedly a wealthy photographer, Taro sold them for around 150 francs a piece. Their secret was soon discovered Vogue’s editor Lucien Vogel, but the photography spoke for itself. Vogel sent Capa and Taro to Spain to cover the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

Sicily. 1943. A member of the American Medical Corps treats a German prisoner of war. Courtesy of Magnum Photos.

War was Capa’s tragic muse, and while nearly all of his work is rooted in war, he hated that exchange. He photographed the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War. Capa sought peace through his photographs. They stand as a testament to the mind-numbing brutality of war, but they also show moments of connection, that there is still humanity in the most dire of circumstances.

China. 1938. Children play in the snow during the second Sino-Japanese War. Courtesy of Magnum Photos.

During his time in Paris, Capa forged relationships with some of the most important artistic figures of the day: Hemingway, Picasso, Seymour, and Bresson. Together with Seymour, Bresson, George Rodger, and Willliam Vandivert, Capa formed Magnum Photos in 1947, the first international cooperative for freelance photographers. Magnum was his road away from war, but he soon found that he couldn’t stay away from it.

Normandy. 1944. Courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Capa went with Magnum of an exhibition in Japan 1954, but he was soon called away to Indochina by Life magazine because they needed a photographer. He was photographing in Thai-Binh when he stepped on a land mine, ending his life instantly. He died with his camera in his hands.

Ernest Hemingway after a car accident. London. 1944. Courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Sources: Magnum Photos bio, Magnum Photos portfolio, Photo-Seminars, Wikipedia

Please Support The Phoblographer

We love to bring you guys the latest and greatest news and gear related stuff. However, we can’t keep doing that unless we have your continued support. If you would like to purchase any of the items mentioned, please do so by clicking our links first and then purchasing the items as we then get a small portion of the sale to help run the website.

Also, please follow us on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

The post This Week in Photography History: The Death of Robert Capa appeared first on The Phoblographer.