Honing Your Portrait Photography Skills
Photography is an art. However, there are skill sets that can be learned and honed as you strive to improve your photography. And of course, like any skill or talent, practice is crucial. The 100 Strangers Project offers a great way to motivate yourself to work on street photography skills as well as general portrait taking skills. There's a clear goal -- 100 photos of strangers. They must be strangers and you must get their permission to take a photo.
The photo to the left is my first submission for the 100 Strangers Project.
My Photos for the 100 Strangers Project
One of the goals of the project is to learn how to approach strangers. So it's strongly encouraged to engage with the subject a bit. Learn something about him or her and include that in your photo description. So under each photo here, you'll see a little context about this person and the photograph.
Here are the last four uploads to my 100 Strangers set at Flickr. Clicking the photo will take you to Flickr where you can see the photo in more detail.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byThe Rules
The subject must be a stranger; but he may become a friend!
Ask permission to take the photo; no sneaky candid shots.
Learn something from each photo you take.
Questions You'll Face During this Project
Or Things to Consider
- Can you approach a stranger with your camera and ask for a shot?
- How, exactly, do you do that?
- What if your first shot was bad? Do you pester them for a little more time?
- How many shots do you take?
- Have you set up your camera before hand, making sure the settings are just right before you approach the stranger?
- Do you exchange email addresses so you can share the photo later?
Great Articles to Help Your Photography Skills
for portrait and street photography
- What Everybody Ought to Know About Posing for Portraits
- This is a great place to start! This article links to NINE more specific portrait articles. Don't miss this link.
- Environmental Portraits
- By environmental portraits, the author means a person in his or her natural environment -- at work or at home.
- 20 Quick Street Photography Tips
- A concise list to get you focused on finding those perfect stranger portraits.
- 13 Tips for Improving Outdoor Portraits
- Plenty of the strangers we meet are outside in public areas, so these tips are very appropriate.
- How to Use Flash for Night Portraits
- This article gives some very specific prescriptions.
Photography Disasters
or people who get angry
April 11, 2009
I saw a group of four old ladies playing cards around a table on the sidewalk. I stood at one corner of the table to photograph one particular lady. When she looked up at me during a break in the play, I asked if I could take her photo. She didn't understand, and so a passerby asked for me in the local dialect. She laughed and looked willing. But her friend yelled, "No! Don't take a photo!" She told her friends, "Foreigners like to take pictures and then sell them!" I tried to assure her that selling her friend's photo was not my intention, but she yelled louder, "No! No photos!!" I slunk away, embarrassed.
September 18, 2009
I am eyed with suspicion by people on the street and again asked if I am a reporter. I try to reassure them that photography is merely my hobby. But they all shy away from my "fancy" camera. I realize the advantages of using a "point and shoot" camera. Before I got my DSLR camera, no one ever asked if I was a reporter.
100 Strangers Flickr Group Feed
The official 100 Strangers Flickr Pool is where you can see all the participants' photos. Join now to start adding your stranger pics to the group. A Flickr account is free. And joining groups is free too.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand by100 Strangers on Blogs
Here are some blog entries that reference the 100 Strangers Project.
- 82/100 Strangers Project | Carrie. on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
- This is my #82 photo for the 100 Strangers Project. Also, check out my Set. This is Carrie. Isn't she gorgeous? I want to thank Carrie for allowing me to take her picture. For more information about the project and to see more pictures ...
- 100 strangers project, picture 58 of 100 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
- This picture is # 58 out of 100 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com and the 100 strangers pool on Flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
- 28 of 100 Strangers - Patrick Peterson on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
- During the Veterans Day ceremony today, there was a commotion. A person with a private gripe about one of the politicians speaking decided he wanted to cause a scene and get some attention on the TV news. Some of the Patriot Guard guys ...
- D.C. Confidential: 100 Strangers at the Alpage II
- 100 Strangers at the Alpage II. One Alphorn and Its Owner : Alpage : Annecy, FR. Just a couple more strangers at the Alpage in Annecy. We missed actually hearing the alphorns, which was a huge disappointment for me. ...
Digital Photography School Stranger Project
This is a similar project organized by Digital Photography School. It was a weekend challenge to Photograph a Stranger.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byGuestbook
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- janices7 janices7 Jul 14, 2009 @ 11:44 am
- Love this lens....amazing photos! I wouldn't have ever thought of photographing 100 strangers. 5*
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- JiaoLang JiaoLang Jun 20, 2009 @ 10:24 am
- Beautiful lens! The children are so cute!
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- OhMe OhMe Jun 12, 2009 @ 5:04 am
- Wow. This is amazing and a wonderful project. Your photography is beautiful
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- poutine poutine May 18, 2009 @ 6:15 am
- This is such an interesting project, I should really do it also.
Great pictures.
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- only1bub only1bub May 13, 2009 @ 10:19 am
- Wow - I just love your idea. Great job! My husband & I have "photo competitions" which involve taking turns picking a random place or object while driving around, and then taking turns photographing it while the other one doesn't look. It's really neat to see our different perspectives, angles & closeups, and you end up with a lot of cool pictures afterwards!
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- hlkljgk hlkljgk May 13, 2009 @ 8:37 am
- i've been wanting to do this project for sometime now. perhaps i'll start today. thanks for sharing your images.
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- ElizabethJeanAllen ElizabethJeanAllen May 11, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
- What an interesting project. You've taken some awesome photos.
Thanks for sharing
Lizzy
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- alteredkat alteredkat May 9, 2009 @ 7:37 am
- Great lens...I did this once in collage...borrowed one of the school newpaper's cameras and took pics of people on the way home on the train...most without them knowing it as I loved "unposed" pictures. I had a great time...wondering personal stories and histories but never knowing...5*!
I also wanted to thank you for your angel blessings on my Top 10 eco-friendly gift lens...I sincerely appreciate the vote of confidence!
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- kiwisoutback kiwisoutback May 8, 2009 @ 9:34 am
- This is a cool idea for a project. I'm sure it would help hone your photography skills -- taking photos of people in my opinion is the hardest of all types of photography. Congratulations on the purple star!
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- CoolFoto CoolFoto May 4, 2009 @ 6:43 pm
- Great idea. I took photography classes at Crealde School of Art. Documentary Photo class required photographing businesses along a public highway. It made it easier to approach strangers and ask to make a photo because the school gave me a letter of introduction. It taught me how to overcome fear of rejection and strangers. BTW congrats on Purple Star.
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by Jimmie
Hello! I am a homeschooling, stay at home mom who loves to teach and learn. I enjoy cooking from scratch, blogging, photography, and traveling, but I...
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