[lesmore49]

I was at a family get together this past week. New grandson was the focus and of course grandpa (me) brought his K1 and used an assortment of lenses...28-105, 40 pancake Limited, 70 Limited ...no flash...just natural light. I brought this equipment to the indoor social gathering in an attempt to get...as Henri Cartier-Bresson would say... some decisive moment type photographs. You know ...ephemeral and spontaneous.

Well, my wife said that although the quality of the pictures was fine (great high iso performance with the K-1 and the fast F 2.8 (40) and F 2.4 (70) ...many in the pictures looked rather stilted...not at ease... . She felt that the reason for all this recorded discomfort was because it is very difficult for others...to not be aware of the presence of a large camera ...always at the ready...in the corner with grandpa trying to 'blend' in .

She said people taking photos with tablets caught people at ease...being natural like...but not me.

I know I'm not Eisenstadt with a Leica M3...who seemed to be able to be more stealthy than me. I'm not sure if my lack of stealth is due to the large camera, me, my technique...or a bit of everything.

So if you have any stealth suggestions for shooting photos at social gatherings...with a large camera... and how to get natural photos of people doing everyday things...please suggest away.

[stevebrot]

...please suggest away

Shoot from the lap using the rear LCD in live view.


Steve

[awscreo]

It's odd how people feel at ease in front of countless phone pics, but feel weirded out by a dslr)

[Tigs]

I was at a family get together this past week. New grandson was the focus and of course grandpa (me) brought his K1 and used an assortment of lenses...28-105, 40 pancake Limited, 70 Limited ...no flash...just natural light. I brought this equipment to the indoor social gathering in an attempt to get...as Henri Cartier-Bresson would say... some decisive moment type photographs. You know ...ephemeral and spontaneous.

Well, my wife said that although the quality of the pictures was fine (great high iso performance with the K-1 and the fast F 2.8 (40) and F 2.4 (70) ...many in the pictures looked rather stilted...not at ease... . She felt that the reason for all this recorded discomfort was because it is very difficult for others...to not be aware of the presence of a large camera ...always at the ready...in the corner with grandpa trying to 'blend' in .

She said people taking photos with tablets caught people at ease...being natural like...but not me.

I know I'm not Eisenstadt with a Leica M3...who seemed to be able to be more stealthy than me. I'm not sure if my lack of stealth is due to the large camera, me, my technique...or a bit of everything.

So if you have any stealth suggestions for shooting photos at social gatherings...with a large camera... and how to get natural photos of people doing everyday things...please suggest away.

It might be a good idea to interact with the people being photographed once in a while. Ask them to look at the camera and a to smile; and show them the cool results later. Make sure they look good on the photos you share. Quality photos are a great way to revive memories and people appreciate them. Also, people like having good photos of themselves but are often too shy to ask. You’ll be doing them a favor.

Of course there is nothing wrong in going back to hiding in the corner like a creepy paparazzi and capture spontaneous moments. After you buid the reputation of the person that takes good photos, people will start feeling more confident and relaxed as you do your thing.

I wouldnt worry about being the guy that is doing something different if it produces better results (which it clearly does).

[aaacb]

How long did you spend framing each photo? Try to be quick, and also engage with the others instead of primarily taking photos. A flash might help, one thing I do in situations like this when I want to take candids is I have the camera in one hand, prefocused to about the distance you'd sit from others, and just snap a photo quickly if something interesting happens. Another thing to keep in mind is, if people are busy, they'll notice less what's around.

[DeadJohn]

If you want unposed photos practice with the 28-105 set at 28mm. Hang the camera around your neck, don't bother with the viewfinder nor LCD, aim the camera in the general direction of people, press the shutter button at the correct time.

That technique is called shooting from the hip. 28mm is wide enough where you don't need perfect aim. You can crop photos afterwards to improve composition.

Experiment using autofocus that way. Also experiment with manual focus; prefocus on something that's the same distance as your subjects while stopping down the aperture a little to add depth of field.

[ChatMechant]

Yeah, id say its about hiding in plain sight. And shoot from the hip, use a wide angle and crop to frame and straighten. I also often get handed cute stickers by little kids and i plaster them all over my k1 like a 6th graders favorite binder. Its less intimidating that way, if slightly confusing.

[clackers]

IMHO, I think you've got to keep smiling and talking to everyone even in the middle of picture taking, Les.

With years of experience, you should be able to change the settings while in conversation with someone.

The mood of a room could change when they think, "Oh, we've lost grandpa, he's into being a photographer again."

If you feel responsibility to get worthy shots, that anxiety will just be transmitted into everyone around you, in what's supposed to be a joyous occasion - there should be natural smiles on all the subjects and everyone in the background.

Concentrating on rapport rewards us, all the technique and gear we should have sorted out a long time ago. The camera can stay low on its strap, smoothly up for a couple of well-chosen frames (key moments like people leaning over to greet the baby, the baby being picked up by the mother, etc), and smoothly back down again to defuse the tension. The longer you point a camera at someone, the longer they're under strain, and after a few seconds, you're getting an endured pose, not authentic expression.

There's less need to play the stealth card, you know all these people, you've put up with them over the years and they've put up with you, you can get some fantastic intimate photos by being close and upfront, instead of the paparazzi sniping with a long lens through the living room window.

An excuse for me to go with my own grand daughter here, using the K55 f1.8:

[honey bo bo]

I let my Grand Babies take pictures with my K-3 Often and after a time the parents relax as much as the kids knowing that they are not going to break anything (You can bang nails with the K-3 like the K1000 ) . Everybody relaxes and I always get some nice candid family shots. I do use slave bounce flash all the time to stop the action and I let the kids see what they are shooting through live view.

Photo 1 - 2 year old Carrot Top's - he doesn't use the zoom.
Photo 2 & 3 - my reward for letting him shoot.
Photo 4 - Nana's shot before she collapses also after an all day session

[reh321]

If you want imposed photos practice with the 28-105 set at 28mm. Hang the camera around your neck, don't bother with the viewfinder nor LCD, aim the camera in the general direction of people, press the shutter button at the correct time.

That technique is called shooting from the hip. 28mm is wide enough where you don't need perfect aim. You can crop photos afterwards to improve composition.

Experiment using autofocus that way. Also experiment with manual focus; prefocus on something that's the same distance as your subjects while stopping down the aperture a little to add depth of field.

Many of these are variations on what the old street Photographers did

[reh321]

It's odd how people feel at ease in front of countless phone pics, but feel weirded out by a dslr)

Which is part of the reason for my often using my {yellow} Q-7 for this type of activity {it also has a very quiet shutter}

[johnyates]

Maybe you should convert your K-1 to a 'point & shoot'. Set your focal length to 28 and your lens to manual focus. Set the distance for 6 feet--use masking tape to keep it there. Aperture priority f8. Keep yourself placed 6 feet away from your target. Now you can literally point and shoot when the decisive moment arrives.

[reh321]

Maybe you should convert your K-1 to a 'point & shoot'. Set your focal length to 28 and your lens to manual focus. Set the distance for 6 feet--use masking tape to keep it there. Aperture priority f8. Keep yourself placed 6 feet away from your target. Now you can literally point and shoot when the decisive moment arrives.

Again, this sounds like "Weegee" Fellig with his "f/8 and be there". This whole thing would work better with an electronic shutter .... the mirror and shutter mechanisms are so noisy on a modern DSLR. My brother uses the LCD tilted up and pretends to "fiddle with" settings.

[leekil]

Another suggestion is to use a smaller lens, like the 40 or 70, that might draw less attention than the zooms.

Also, if you bring your camera to enough gatherings, eventually they will probably get used to you/it and stop noticing.

[monochrome]

Another suggestion is to use a smaller lens, like the 40 or 70, that might draw less attention than the zooms.

Also, if you bring your camera to enough gatherings, eventually they will probably get used to you/it and stop noticing.

After 19 months this has also happened to my son and me with my twin grandchildren. We don’t hide in the corners, we’re right in the action (but not always holding up the camera - just when the conversation moves away, and briefly). We shoot the short end of zooms or 28 / equivalent. The babes are so accustomed to the constant presence of my son’s 7D + 24-70 that they will look up, smile naturally and return to whatever they were doing. Quick zoom, focus + burst and at least one will be cute. Grandpa does better with the KP and DA21 or 35 or 28-105 than the K-1 because the KP is faster. When I use the K-1 they’re not more aware of it, but I am. I use TAv @ 3200 limit ISO and don’t change the settings, and don’t always refocus unless they move - just shoot. The K-1 and DFA*50/1.4 or 24-70 is big as a basketball by comparison, and half the frame rate. Sometimes I’ll use the 70-210 outdoors, where I can stand back, or KP and 28-105. At the long end I’m far enough away that people don’t really notice. (Creepy, but effective).

I just had a thought - How do Wedding togs get candids?

Here’s a couple snapshot quality jpegs my wife uploaded to her daily blog straight from my card and I saved from the web to Photos on my phone and attached here. Not bad for zero PP work and multiple compressions, though there’s missed focus on #2.