How To Take Portraits of Strangers in the Street

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In this Point-of-View Street Photography video, I walk downtown Indianapolis, Indiana asking strangers if I can take their photo with my Canon T3i camera and 18-55mm Kit Lens III. Most agreed, only a couple did not, yet they still at least talked to me.

The advantage of asking for a portrait, or picture, is that you get the subject to look directly into the camera, which is where the soul of the photo makes its appearance. It might be artsy to have the subject look away, or capture a candid shot when the subject looks at you, but when you ask to take their picture, the corner of the eyes slightly twitch upward, which is where the person's true character comes through. Even if they are not smiling, there is a sense of surrender that they are allowing you to take the photo.

In hindsight, I would have taken more closeup shots of these individuals. The situation was a bit different than usual, in that the Covid virus kept most of the usual workers off the streets, leaving the construction, security and civil employees, and the homeless. I normally do not approach homeless people for photos as I feel it's taking advantage of their situation, and I don't want capture them like animals behind bars in a zoo. But on this outing, it was hard to tell who was homeless and who wasn't, so I just started asking anyone I saw, and the payoff was some excellent portraits.

Sharp and Clear Canon 18-55mm Kit Lens III

I just recently purchased the Canon 18-55mm Kit Lens III to use on my T3i when I don't want to take out the Canon RP. This lens proved to be very sharp, very accurate, and despite being a kit lens, performed exceptionally well during this photowalk in May 2020 during the Covid lockdown.