There are a few tricks to get people to look in the camera when doing street photography. The obvious way is go get eye contact with the subject then bring your camera to your face and shoot. But what if you want to avoid any sort of confrontation, yet still want the subject looking in the camera?
First off, you want to grab the attention of the subject you are photographing. This can be done by moving closer to the subject or simply getting in the line of sight of the subject. Once they are looking at you the subjects eyes will most likely end up looking at the most interesting thing about you. Normally this is your face, however if you are carrying around a funny looking camera this soon gets the attention. Once the subject looks at the camera shoot. If you don’t want any confrontation doing this, it is best if the subject is unaware that you are taking the shot. What I recommend here is shooting from the hip. If you for a moment casually look way from the camera and also make sure that the shutter of the camera is not heard it is not too hard to get away with. Down side off course is that the composition won’t be that great. Another technique is looking down at the camera as it hangs around your neck, pretending you are changing the settings on it. Take several shots if you can.
The way I get attention directed towards my camera is by walk around with a big camera. If the camera is big enough people will notice. The shot above for instance was taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII and a Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 lens which has a big lens hood. Now compared to a normal point and shoot camera, such a big camera around my neck does get quite a bit of attention. By setting the camera on silent mode, people don’t hear the shutter go off either. With a smaller camera you could try wearing something interesting around your neck just above where the camera hangs. What this is up to you. Something bright and eye catching is off course recommended.
If you have any other interesting techniques for getting people to look in the camera when doing street photography please comment below.
