Originally posted by spectral I have seen a lot of photos of people walking down sideways and such in urban settings, ... Is there a good approach to this? Are these photos usually staged or are people generally open to being photographed?
Neither. They usually don't know they're the central subject, or, perhaps, guess they might be, but don't fuss about it.
If you were walking downtown and saw someone pointing a camera in your general direction, what would you do?
A) Keep walking?
B) Act extremely differently, change your behavior, because of the camera?
C) Run up to the photographer and demand that they delete the photo?
D) Duck into an alley?
Unless you are a bad-tempered movie star or perhaps in the witness protection program, most folks choose 'A'.
So, you, the photographer, move on, and so do they.
Having said that, I have a few 'moves' that keep the possible drama down to a minimum. Use a fairly wide angle prime, learn to focus, compose and shoot quickly, and only point the camera directly at the subject just before the actual shot. You're waving the camera around, pointing out the skyline, turning this way and that. As you sweep past their position, click. How could they know WHEN you actually took the photo?
Shoulder Shot. Wearing the camera on a strap, over your shoulder, you're resting your hand atop the camera, to stop it from swinging. Fairly high shutter speed, thumb on top of the shutter release. Camera pointing sideways. Walk past something (or, someone) interesting, click. Takes a bit of practice, you must angle the camera slightly upwards.
Table Top. You've stopped to rest, coffee, camera on a table or bench. Remote enabled, you've palmed the remote. Aim the camera at the sidewalk, then try a test shot with the remote. Look at the LCD screen as the preview flashes on. Got a good field of view? Background OK, composition good? OK, wait for someone interesting to walk by. Click.
You can aim at someone, wave, smile, say 'Hello' in a friendly way. That works more than you might expect, but not always.
But generally, I don't ask, don't make it obvious exactly when and where I click, and keep moving.
Never had a problem so far!
Ron