fudmeer

Exactly. That’s the idea. To let them know I’m a photographer with the intention of making a photograph, not a weirdo that wants to just look at them forever. If it’s less about them and more about a photo, they’re more open to it. They’re helping me make something and it doesn’t take much effort on their part. So I usually avoid anything that could be construed as a compliment. “The sun looks really interesting through your hair” > “Your hair looks really pretty with the sun shining through it.” Sometimes a compliment is the right way though. My gut usually tells me what’s appropriate and most advantageous.

I tell them why I want to take the photo. “Do you mind if I try to catch the sun in your cigarette smoke? It looks really cool.” “You’re framed really nice between those lamps.” “Could I try to bounce my flash off that wall and onto that sketch you’re doing? I think it’d make a great picture.” It helps me in my intention and puts them at ease knowing my intention isn’t, ya know, sketchy. For candid shots though you just have to do it. Some days I’m too anxious. But if I can get in the zone and just shoot it’s a good thing.

When I started shooting, I didn’t know I was transferring my files wrong. I shot in RAW and I used the Canon Connect app to transfer to my iPad. The app had a bug that transferred everything in tiny files. We’re talking kilobytes here. Not knowing anything was wrong, I proceeded. I got some great images by doing extensive, overlaying masks. The shadow slider didn’t do much, but clarity, texture, exposure, and grain were very effective in directing the eye around the image. Honestly, I’m glad this happened to me, because I learned to make images with very low resolution look great. Now, with RAW files, I have so much more room to work. If you’d like to make these images look good, I’d suggest with pulling down the clarity and texture, experiment with masks, lean heavy into color grading, grain size and roughness, experiment with extreme adjustments in all areas, since nudges don’t do much. I also had some luck with over sharpening and then correcting with noise reduction. Most importantly, just don’t give up on the low res pictures. They can be made into captivating images. Our eyes and images and goals are all different so the main advice I can give is keep at it because it can be done. The super low resolution images were my portfolio for awhile. They got me work, and I’m still proud of them.