I am interested in being able to take natural pictures of people in
public. For example I have seen photos in a subway where the subject
seems completely unaware of the camera.
What are the keys to doing unobtrusive photography?
It seems like a wide-angle fixed lens camera would be able to give a
very quick shot but you still have to get the camera out, bring it to
your face and shoot. It would be quicker if the camera is already out
but then people are going to be aware of it.
The disguised cameras (lighters) probably won't solve the problem
because they don't have qood quality (I would like to print). And you
still have to do camera motions.
It must be something in people's technique...

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 18 May 2005 19:58 PDT

This is one option...sneaky, but effective:


http://www.bugeyedigital.com/product_main/bow-vl144.html



Is this the sort of thing you're looking for?

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Clarification of Question by witness74-ga on 28 May 2005 14:00 PDT

That's a good answer. 
I didn't specify that I prefer to use a small digital camera because I
can take it anywhere. These cameras tend to have much smaller threads
then the device you mentioned. I might get a coolpix. there are some
newer cameras with swivel LCD but they are not pocket size like my
S40.
Thank you everyone

You might be interested in this comment by famed Life magazine
photographer Alfred Eisenstadt:

"... He used a 2 1/4" Rolleiflex 'because you can hold a Rolleiflex
without raising it to your eye; so they didn't see me taking the
pictures.'  Eisenstaedt was speaking of the time he photographed
American soldiers saying farewell to their wives and sweethearts in
1944 on assignment for Life. 'I just kept motionless like a statue.'
he said.  'They never saw me clicking away.  For the kind of
photography I do, one has to be very unobtrusive and to blend in with
the crowd.'"

"Alfred Eisenstadt," by Ray Zone
ArtScene
http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles1997/Articles0397/AEisenstaedt.html

A digital camera  - no shutter noise -  and with enough pixels you can
keep at wide angle and not have to aim carefully, doing your cropping
at home.

Cell phone with camera function  - not such good quality, but less obtrusive.

One key is using a camera with a waist-level finder.  That is, instead
of a viewfinder that you hold up to your eye, letting the world know
you are taking a picture, you hold the camera at waist level, and look
down into it.  There are many different kinds of cameras with
waist-level finders -- the older Nikon coolpix with the "swivel"
design let you do this.  Many older medium-format professional cameras
have this as well.  As many pros move to digital, you can get used
version cheaply on ebay and other places -- Rolleiflex TLRs,
Hasselblads, Mamiya RBs and RZs and other professional, medium format
cameras all have WLFs.

Another technique is pre-focusing on a zone with manual focus, wait
for something interesting to happen in that zone, and to quickly bring
the (traditional) camera up to your face, and immediately take the
picture.  This technique requires some practice, but many of the best
street photographers (Henri Cartier-Bresson, in particular) used this
technique with great success.

The shutter release one is brilliant. To my mind you are also not
hiding the camera since it is out in the open.
I'd also like to note that I've been having some luck shooting from
the waist without a finder. With a wide-angle and general direction,
to some degree I don't need to compose the shot.
I was also reading this article by photojournalist Alex Majoli (
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6468-7844 )
where he talks about the advantages of using a small digital camera
including silence and large depth of field.