How to take candid shots without 'stalking'

"Discretely trying to set up the shot" sounds like you intend to discretely set up your tripod, focus the camera, sneak over to your subject to take an incident reading and then go back and make the exposure. I hope I'm exaggerating :)

Anyway, some tips from my own short experience:

• Prefocus (or focus quickly). For small adjustments, move yourself rather than refocus.
• Preset exposure (making one good grey reading will often give better exposures following it anyway)
• (Particularly in quiet surroundings) a non-motorised manual focus camera is preferable. They're quite audible, even the famous Leica M, but the click of the shutter and even the slap of the mirror in an SLR is a lot less obtrusive than the whirr of a motor.
• Know your lenses and previsualize. Knowing what you can expect from your camera before putting it to your eye reduces the "setup time" considerably.
• Practice shooting from the hip. This is closely tied to the previous point, just taken to the extreme.
• Almost forgot: In low light, use fast film and fast lenses and turn off the autofocus assist light. The last thing you want is the flash going off at an unsuspecting subject or even worse a series of bright flashes to help the focus or reduce red eyes. Even if they don't mind having their picture taken, they just might beat you up for flashing in their face.
• And for people you know, take lots of pictures, they may ignore you eventually.

If you're still discovered, the simple result is that you don't get that particular candid shot. If the subjects look likely to beat you up, make sure you're not noticed, in the worst cases that just means don't take the picture.

But you may be surprised how often people are too absorbed in what they're doing to notice anything. Just a few days ago I sat and took pictures for five minutes slightly in front of and in plain view of a girl reading a newspaper four feet away. She said afterwards she didn't notice a thing, and I guess I almost could have set up a tripod and taken an incident reading. Then of course there are those who can see a camera with the back of their neck and instantly turn to smile at it.

When I'm discovered, the usual response is either a smile or some other pose, fleeing (for some reason I've only seen that with people I know - maybe because they are the ones I take most pictures of) or attempts to ignore me.

Another approach is to meet them, talk, let them relax their guard, and then start taking pictures. This way, you will be closer and avoid a conflict.

Once you talk to someone and engage them, it no longer is candid, but posed. HCB based a whole career on, ". . raise the camera, shoot, and scram!"

Man I hate that! What about the release for the image you took of me? Are you going to atleast ask me if you can use the photo? Are you going to be as unscrupulous as HCB too?

<Snip> Once you talk to someone and engage them, it no longer is candid, but posed. HCB based a whole career on, ". . raise the camera, shoot, and scram!" </snip>

I don't agree that interacting with someone makes them pose. I usually get them talking about themselves, and eventually there is very little awareness of the camera. People start relaxing if you can find the hooks that will get them going. A photograph of someone talking to another person isn't changed just because the person is a photographer.

However, sometimes that doesn't capture what you want. I do sometimes shoot from the hip, or even from eye level, without permission, but sometimes speak to them afterwards.

Another method I have used successfully is to stand in one place long enough that I become part of the scenery. I've done this with a camera as large as the Mamiya 7 with the 43mm finder on it, not a small setup. It's sort of like the Shadow - you become invisible.

People see cameras long before they hear them, resulting in my observation that silent cameras are grossly overrated, except in theaters. If you believe that silence is essential, the Konica Hexar AF is quieter than anything else, even in its non-silent mode.

A digital with a rotating LCD viewfinder (like the Nikon 995) works extremely well - as does a traditional TLR.

>Man I hate that! What about the release for the image you took of >me? Are you going to atleast ask me if you can use the photo? Are >you going to be as unscrupulous as HCB too?

If you freely choose to appear in a public place, what makes you think you have exclusive rights to your appearance there? All a photograph does is expand the number of potential "bystanders" to that moment in time.

The answer of course, is greed. If someone is going to make some money, I want a share too - even if I didn't have any input to or knowledge of the process! In today's media-dominated capitalism, we are obsessed not only with "our fair share," but with packaging and selling anything and everything that someone will pay for - no matter whether it has any intrinsic value or meaning for us.

I think the obvious solution is to take the picture - but to send the subject 50% of any proceeds. Of course, they will first have to reimburse me for film and processing, travel, equipment costs, insurance, etc. I guess I'll just get some invoices printed up and hand them out to my subjects from now on.

It is not greed. I want input in the usage of my image. Being in public is not a release for profitable use.

I fully understand what fair use. Most street photography does not fall under that. If I had seen HCB try to profit from my image with out permission I would punch him in the nose.

The bad part of his work and many street photographers is that if s/he just asked me after taking the exposure. I would almost always say, "sure go ahead".

In a typical release it says in the compensation part for the subject "due consideration". Asking permission is acceptable due consideration, in many cases.

It is greed (but that's valorized in our society). The fundamental mode of capitalism is that if it can be packaged and sold it will be. The first harmonic of that is, if it's being sold, I want a share.

The "rights" of the subject versus the "rights" of the publisher are just two sides of the same coin (which is a fitting icon for capitalism anyway).

I wish taking photos of everyday people in public was even one tenth as profitable as people on the internet seem to think it is . . .

Most of the time, "setting up" good candid shots is mostly a matter of being observant so you notice developing scenes. Approximate focus can be set, exposure can be set, and even approximate framing can be figured out before you ever raise the camera to your eye.