Hi all,

This may of been discussed before, but I think it might still be useful...how do you make people feel at ease when you photograph them, especially with a larger SLR?

Case in point: I went to a party on the weekend, and after a few hours (as the alcohol set in) thought it would be a nice opportunity to snap off a few candid shots of my mates (and try out Kodak's Porta 800!). But, as soon as I pulled out my camera and speedlight, wow, did the mood change!

It seemed because I was using a larger SLR (and big speedlight), folks were way more aware of my presence (much more so than if I'd used a small point 'n' click), and as such, kept their 'guard' up or hammed it up expression wise for the camera.

I'd be interested to hear thoughts on how best to deal with this and make people feel comfortable in front of a big camera, especially from those users who have the really big (F4, F5 and D1) rigs and shoot a lot of candid, informal or social situations (and need the results to communicate that).

Cheers!

tim