If the subject knows you're photographing him or her, the chance of capturing a candid, unposed moment is lost. Thus, in the interest of good photography, I believe it's better to apologize after the fact if necessary. I would guess that more than half of HCB's subjects didn't know they were being photographed. Thus, lens length becomes somewhat irrelevant. But FWIW, even shooting with a 200 or 300, close to half of my subjects realize they're being photographed. When I shoot with a 35 or 50, the percentage probably goes up to about 60. I prefer long lenses more for the minimal depth of field rather than for the element of surprise, but they help with both. Paul
> There's something called "tacit permission," such as when the person knows > you're making a photograph but you've not specifically asked permission to > do so. FWIW, in almost all of my photos the person knows they're being > photographed. > > IIRC, the woman in the photo you mentioned saw that I had a camera when I > sat beside her, and suspected that she was being photographed. But it was > a while ago and I don't recall all the details of how I made the pic ... > > I believe the photo in question is on one of my other computers. If > someone really wants to see it, I'll look for it. > > BTW, this brings up an interesting question that may arise from a > discussion in another thread, that of using a telephoto lens. If the > photographer feels that some sort of permission is needed before taking a > photo, then the use of long lenses would be unacceptable. > > Shel > > > > [Original Message] > > From: Jerome Reyes > > > > How acceptable is it to take pictures of people without asking for > > > permission? > > > > Joaquim, > > > > Your question instantly reminded me of a discussion that took place just > > under 2 years ago here started by Shel, entitled "The morality of taking a > > photograph". It started from a photo of an obese woman that Shel posted, > > entitled "bigeater". That discussion may hold the pdml record as, if you > > check the archives, you'll see that the discussion took off and continued > > for over ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY emails (crazy!!!). > > > > Anyhow, the short answer / consensus that *I* got from that discussion was > > that it simply depends on your intentions as the photographer, not to > > mention your intended use of the photo. > > > > The entire discussion starts here: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/pentax-discuss@pdml.net/msg148946.html > > > > Enjoy <g> > > > > > > PS... The link on Shel's page has since been made inactive... but if you > > were truly interested, perhaps he would be so kind as to let you sneak a > > peak. Best regards, > > > > - Jerome > >
