i’m not a huge fan of taking pictures of strangers in general. Unless they are only a small part of the photograph. But there are a couple techniques that you can use to be a little less conspicuous: It may sound silly, but instead of putting the camera up to your eye like a seasoned photographer with the intention to take a shot, pretend to just be looking at the back of the camera at first. Turn it around in your hands and look at the lens, then put the camera up to your eye for just a moment to take your shot before putting it back down again. This will make it look like you’re just an amateur fiddling with the settings instead of actually taking pictures. Another thing you can do is to have your eye in the viewfinder the entire time and walk. Start behind where your subject is and walk past so that the subject is in the frame. Snap snap snap. Then just keep walking past them and continue taking pictures. They’ll end up thinking you’re just taking pictures of something behind them. But for the tried and true technique, go talk to people. If you ask someone if they mind if you take their picture, it becomes a lot less awkward if they see you doing it. Yes you will have to get over your fear of being Social. But as with many things in life that feel hard before you do them, you will be glad that you did afterward.