xcalibir

Hey guys,

I am going on a trip next month and would like to provide my own trip report. Does anyone get embarrassed when taking so many pics at lounges, hotel lobbies etc...?

If so, how do you guys do "stealth pictures"

sea_jeff

Nope. I'm Asian. I believe people expect me to be taking pictures.

I have such an innocuous looking camera that nobody really takes offense. I don't think that would be true if I were using a monster lens equipped DSLR/ILC.

Kagehitokiri

i pretty much only take photos when others are not around

i do not take photos of other people (street crowds might be different)

but im not on social media and dont take as many photos as others

are there any existing threads on this? (just curious)

State of Trance

Also Asian, can confirm this. Nobody bats an eye when I take a picture of my food, seat, lounge, or whatever.

I also just use my iPhone 6, which has a fantastic camera while being almost completely discreet.

xcalibir

I'm also asian. But you need to adjust the phone and it seems to be pretty obvious when you take pictures?

This will be my first time in nice lounges and stuff (not counting domestic lounges) so I definitely don't want to be out of place. :P

NZbutterfly

I can attest to the fact I expect Asians to being taking pictures!

We were in vietnam and sitting at a sort of park area then noticed that some Asians were taking selfies, then we noticed that we were the backdrop behind the pictures, and then finally they just bowled on up and took pictures of and with us!! I don't think we're hideous or anything!! I thought it was quite funny how they worked their way up to us. My partner was like "I think that's the weirdest thing I've ever had happen to me in my life" haha. I told him he's just a wee grasshopper!

I know what you mean about feeling self conscious about whipping out the camera or phone but the reality is - when are you EVER going to see those people again, and why should you care what they think if they're not stable people in your life? I had a friend whip out a camera taking pictures of our food and I've seen people whip them out on planes. I think it's great creating memories so I just smile at them. I'm forgetting what various trips were like now and a bit bummed I didn't take more pictures so I think you should just snap away!!

P.s. I really like the trip reports here vs trip advisor review. Just more full!

State of Trance

This applies for just about everything in life, but there's no need to be self-conscious since nobody really cares what you're doing. In the off chance that anybody actually asks, just say you're a travel blogger or something, although this has never happened to me despite usually being the only young person in the lounge snapping pictures of everything

TOMFORD

I take pictures of airport/hotel lounges/food with my cellphone and only my cellphone. Because no lounge is worth wasting a shutter count!

Hotel lobbies, premium cabins, and other sights on the other hand - if it's something beautiful, I will whip out my real camera to take a picture. With that said, my real camera is a Fuji X-T1. It's bigger than a point and shoot so I don't look like a newbie tourist, but it's smaller than a pro DSLR so I don't look like I am a photographer by profession.

Efrem

I don't take a lot of pictures of hotel lobbies, but if I wanted to, I'd go right ahead and do it - even though I use a DSLR. (Not one of the larger ones, and almost certainly not with a huge lens in a hotel lounge.) It's a public place. There are lots of reasons someone might want a picture of it. Just take pictures as if it's the most normal thing in the world. It is.

JClishe

I used to be a little self conscience about it, but once I started doing more I just stopped caring what other people think. Also considering how much photo sharing sites like Instagram, Snapchat, etc. have exploded recently, I think people in general are getting a bit tone deaf to other people taking pictures of random things. It's becoming the norm.

sea_jeff

+1 on the iPhone 6. I am a total gear slut and have thousands in my cameras/lenses but honestly my favorite pic taken so far this year is a pano with my iPhone 6 Plus. The optical image stabilization is really good.

Shoshone Falls by j c, on Flickr

shuigao

Pano's are so much easier to take on the newer mobiles. I lug around like 15lbs of DSLR and lenses on holiday too, but whenever it comes to pano's I'm always torn between do I go through all the hassle of setting fixed focus, exposure, etc, snapping 10 different photos, going back to the hotel room and firing up Photoshop to stitch them ...

... vs 5 seconds to pull out my iPhone and do a sweep and then still get a good shot ...

MCOGUY

What an awesome photo! I've just been using my iPad, but now I have a reason to upgrade my iPhone!

JVPhoto

Just be mindful of the flash when in shared indoor public spaces.

CMK10

Absolutely not. There's nothing wrong with what we're doing so I take my pictures of what I want to. I am respectful though, I try to avoid using the flash and I do attempt to be finished quickly.

Just remember, there's no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place.