Shooting (photographing) police, any advice?

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ShaneVTR

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Evening all!
I've been asked to go out with the police one night and take some shots of the special constabulary "in action" so to speak, showing what they really do. Its mainly for recruitment I believe.

Its not confirmed yet, but I'm just curious if anyone else has had any experience shooting this kinda stuff.
I'm wondering how im going to avoid blown out reflective police jackets, but still capture the rest of whats going on around. I'm not really going to have time to set up a tripod and ask everyone to smile, so I'll be taking the flash.

I don't want to accept it and make a complete hash of it, nor do i want to turn it down and regret the oppertunity/experience of shooting in a fast paced enviroment really thinking on my feet.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Shane.
 
I wonder if you will get stopped and told to wipe your memory card? lol
 
princeclan said:
I wonder if you will get stopped and told to wipe your memory card? lol
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Iv been asked by one of the section officers I know to do it, traveling the the back of the car/van, bit like street crime stuff on telly, all legal.
 
Well I've no idea right this second, but why not get a mate or your mrs to put on a hi-vis jacket and then have a go at taking photos of them under street lights and see what you need to do to make it work...

My only vague suggestion is to avoid using flash... hope you've got something with good high ISO capabilities and some wide aperture glass...
 
try to avoid direct flash, as it will turn the hi vis jackets into light sources (the silvery bits) to be honest I have absalutely no idea how best to handle the technical issues. If I can find something hi vis laying around I will have a play with lighting it as it sounds interesting
 
Thanks guys, I will experiment when i get my hands on some hi-vis stuff!

Shane.
 
Have a look if you've got an emergency kit in your car... probably a hi-vis in there...

Definitely worth doing a bit of homework though before the day.
 
desantnik said:
Well I've no idea right this second, but why not get a mate or your mrs to put on a hi-vis jacket and then have a go at taking photos of them under street lights and see what you need to do to make it work...

My only vague suggestion is to avoid using flash... hope you've got something with good high ISO capabilities and some wide aperture glass...
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I agree, go for a wander around street like areas or wherever yu expect that you'll be and get a couple of mates to wear black with high vis vests (poundland sell them...ironically for a pound! LOL) Emphasise that you just want them to "mess about" - cause there's no way you'll get posed photographs on the night, so maybe a bit of role playing could be useful too.

Enjoy it though! Sounds interesting.
 
If it's illegal to photographe a police officer, them saying it's ok doesn't make it legal, they can't change the law.
 
incapete said:
You know that legally they can't ask you to do that... if you've got photos you shouldn't do then they're evidence for court, if you've not then they've got nothing to ask you to delete...

Check out the PhotoLegal podcast.
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Law has been changed about photos of Police might find it hard this one.
New legislation in the UK means anyone taking photos of the police will risk arrest and imprisonment under anti-terrorism law, the section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008.
This not only includes professional photographers, but the "Counter Terrorism Act allows for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone whose pictures are ’likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’."
That would include your average tourist or amateur photographer, should a police officer take offence to their image being recorded.

This naturally sets a dangerous precedent, given the number of times police officers already stop and search photographers in England using Section 44 in the anti-terrorism legislation, more on that at the National Union of Journalists’ (NUJ) website. http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1031
 
LOL at how quickly this thread turned into a legal debate when the OP, who has been asked by the police to take the photos so clearly there are no legal issues to debate, wants some advice on the technical issues of high vis gear screwing around with the exposures.

Shane high iso and very fast glass is probably your best option. Either that or put the flash in manual mode and adjust the aperture based on your shooting distance. It might be worth checking if flash would be allowed anyway, might be considered a distraction and/or cause unwanted attention, etc....
 
Come on chaps, please don't turn this into a completely different thread.
It's not directly illegal to take photo's of police officers.

Anyway, that's not what this thread is about, so can we keep it on topic please :)
 
Marcel said:
It's not directly illegal to take photo's of police officers.
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yeagh we already pointed that out :)

i would say stay away from flash.. high iso and street lighting should do the trick.. i dont think you have any chance of a decent pic with high viz stuff about and as mentioned.. probably a no no with flash anyways..

have to say... wish i was doing somehting like that.. would relish the opportunity :)
 
Chaz Photos said:
Law has been changed about photos of Police might find it hard this one.
New legislation in the UK means anyone taking photos of the police will risk arrest and imprisonment under anti-terrorism law, the section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008.
This not only includes professional photographers, but the "Counter Terrorism Act allows for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone whose pictures are ’likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’."
That would include your average tourist or amateur photographer, should a police officer take offence to their image being recorded.

This naturally sets a dangerous precedent, given the number of times police officers already stop and search photographers in England using Section 44 in the anti-terrorism legislation, more on that at the National Union of Journalists’ (NUJ) website. http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1031
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See above
 
Slipper-one said:
A video light might be worth checking when your experimenting.
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That's a good shout,you can get them quite cheaply, or some really good, but expensive LED ones.

If shooting under streetlights, I'm surprised no-one has suggested check your white balence.

But getting someone to put a high vis jacket on and having a test run would be good practice. I'd suggest trying some movement as well as static shots as you could need a higher shutter speed than you think in the poor light.

Don't be afraid to try a high ISO and run the result through Noise Ninja.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
According to the Met it's a copyright issue
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And that's wrong too!

But who cares? If you are taking pictures of the officers and you have been asked to do it by them they are not likely to prevent you from doing it are they?!



Steve.
 
the issue is the practicalities not the law surrounding :D

any chance of fast glass as that would reduce the flash to fill light

at f1.8 iso 1600 you should be able to pull quite a lot of light from the ambient

what kit do you have, a 5dII and a 50L and we needn't worry about flash :P
 
May I suggest perhaps getting it written down that you are performing this under request.
Also, perhaps get some insurance, and a waterproof bag for the camera. Just in case someone who might think that they are in the pictures, takes offence.

I am wondering whether you can use a system which aims the flash up, then bounces it off an angled reflector (you are going to look rediculous!) would be suitable? In much the same way as some systems try to reduce red-eye?
 
interesting question about the law but nevermind, on topic

I would say high ISO, fast glass, and then a flash that is powered down and bounced off a card, which would give you less glare.

what a great opportunity though
I wonder if being arrested by the police is tantamount to signing a photographic model release though :p
 
Judging by what you see on the TV the rules are something like that you cannot identify persons in film/photos unless they actually were ultimately convicted of what you catch them being arrested for...
 
Ask them to take their flourescent jackets off. Depending on what they are doing the might not be wearing them. Most officers don't like wearing them anyway and don't wear them routinely unless they need to, ie doing traffic type stuff.
 
desantnik said:
Judging by what you see on the TV the rules are something like that you cannot identify persons in film/photos unless they actually were ultimately convicted of what you catch them being arrested for...
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If the customer is the police they can edit them accordingly. The op can leave the legal side of it down to them or be guided by the forces legal department.
 
How much experience to you have as a photographer - what equipment do you have?
 
Your main problem will be actually finding one out on the street :D
 
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