Personally, I feel if you are wearing a suit or costume and are out in PUBLIC, expect to be photographed. Headless lounges, room parties, ect are another matter. But for Pete's sake, anyone strutting around in public in costume and then bitching about being photographed is just wanting the attention the drama brings.

I expect to be photographed, myself, no matter what the area is. Being a certain stripey one has that effect with her fame.

However, I'd generally say it's a lot better to inform someone that you are interested in taking their picture. Despite the small ego boost it gives (And it does, really!), you might also get a customized stance or pose. Zig Zag is notorious for this and does it during the parade too. Your camera might get nommed on, a special bit of tease or interest, etc...

As far as without them knowing at all, you can't stop a shutter or such, and nor should you. Just if the suiter is in a compromising position (it looks like they are readjusting a paw) or may be distracted talking with friends (in which case, if they are self-reminded to playact a different gender) you may catch them where it is not appropriately performed for your photo.

But as with above, I do agree. If you're dressed up like a fuzzy animal you're going to have your picture taken. I'd like to think though that these fuzzy animals love being noticed. It's what we all do it for, right? Well, some of us anyway. It makes me feel special at least. :)

I try to avoid headless and pawless, and conversations where it's one suiter and a lot of non-suiters since I try to catch as few humans as possible. At most cons it's not a problem but at AC there are a lot of times when suiters are going places, doing things, and interrupting them to take a picture ruins a scene or is just not practical if I want to get where I'm going too. I've run after suiters in the past, but it helps if I can snap off a picture and keep going. If the pictures go up in several places, I assume usually people find themselves and personally I'd rather have the picture out there and findable than know it was taken at the time :) It's an ego boost but it's also frustrating when twenty or fifty pictures are taken and you can't find any of them!

TFF has gotten a little wild too. It's my primary con and has tripled in attendance. To be honest, I'm actually not so thrilled about that as I liked the smaller atmosphere and the first hotel we had. This is the first new hotel we're moving to that I don't feel 100% about, but that's beyond the scope of the topic.

And yes, the reasons are stout. I think most always try to stay in character, and I know there are dozens of photos of me out there in any suit that I haven't seen, as my friends usually find and point them out.

You sound like a good person and well of mind, and why the person yelled is beyond me. If myself in ZZ is too distracted I won't complain. :)

I'm sorry to hear that you had this happen, especially early on in the con. Even when you know that you're in the right, whenever something you do upsets someone else, it can really put a downer on the rest of the con.

Fortunately, it's very rare that you run into a fursuiter who doesn't want their photo taken, and even rarer that they would be so upset should it happen. Hopefully they lightened up as the con went on.

Conventions generally have more restrictive rules involving video, over still photographs, but even there, almost all of them state that if a fursuiter asks to not be photographed, even in the common areas, that request should be respected. If it's outside the convention building(s), then it's public space; but inside the hotels and convention center, since the convention is paying to use that space, it's technically not public space. Which is why they usually refer to it as 'common areas' and not 'public areas'.

In all the years I've been taking photos at conventions, I've only been waved off by a fursuiter like 3 or 4 times. I'll generally reply with some type of "No problem. Thanks for letting me know.", and then let them know that if they do want their photo taken at some point and they see me around, to just come on over. The reply from the fursuiter is usually some type of 'thanks for understanding' comment. If they are moving by too fast to actually give talk to them, just give a thumbs up and polite wave, to let them know you understand and it's all okay.

In other words, do your best to not take it personally or get upset, and make the initially awkward situation something more friendly. Even if you know that you're in the right, it's only one fursuiter out of dozens or hundreds, and by defusing such things right off, you can both then forget the incident and return to enjoying the rest of the con.

Conventions generally have more restrictive rules involving video, over still photographs, but even there, almost all of them state that if a fursuiter asks to not be photographed, even in the common areas, that request should be respected. If it's outside the convention building(s), then it's public space; but inside the hotels and convention center, since the convention is paying to use that space, it's technically not public space. Which is why they usually refer to it as 'common areas' and not 'public areas'.

Yeah, I looked up AC's rule and it's that people should expect to be photographed unless they specifically say they don't want to be.

In all the years I've been taking photos at conventions, I've only been waved off by a fursuiter like 3 or 4 times. I'll generally reply with some type of "No problem. Thanks for letting me know.", and then let them know that if they do want their photo taken at some point and they see me around, to just come on over. The reply from the fursuiter is usually some type of 'thanks for understanding' comment. If they are moving by too fast to actually give talk to them, just give a thumbs up and polite wave, to let them know you understand and it's all okay.

I've had the same. I try to keep it as respectful as possible.

I really can't imagine how anyone wearing a fursuit at a con with over 7500 people, can expect to not have their picture taken.

I'm certainly not making any assumptions, but things like that always make me wonder if the fursuiter is trying to hide the fact that they were there. Like they lied to friends or family about where they were going, and don't want them discovering such photos and see they were at Anthrocon. Or perhaps they are wearing someone else's fursuit, without them knowing they 'borrowed' it.

Given the fun and friendliness of almost every fursuiter I've ever encountered, I can't help but feel somewhat suspicious whenever they don't want their picture taken. Hopefully they're simply control freaks when it comes to how they look in a photo, and they were too much in a rush to stop and pose.

At the end of the day, try not to let it bother you. As the fandom continues to grow, you will run into all manner of people and personalities. Not all of them will be friendly or welcoming, and you just have to let it go and focus your time and attention on those who are appreciative of you wanting to take their picture.

I've given this topic a lot of thought, particularly with my first major convention, BronyCon 2015. Rats-Eye-View and AtsukiKodama have the right idea, but I just have a few things to add.

First of all, I thought it would be awkward to ask people for pictures, though as Rats-Eye-View pointed out, it's really rare at a convention for people to waive off a polite request for a picture.
Second, I have found my style of picture taking makes posed pictures almost a requirement. I know one of your favorite things to do are to shoot in-progress shots in GIF or short video form, and often in a sort of Candid Shot sort of way of doing it. My style is similar to Rats-Eye-View, where I'm trying to take at least one good, high quality picture. With that in mind, and going through pictures in early conventions to find many of them blurry, out of focus, or backlit, I've found that asking for posed pictures is a requirement, except in cases of large group photographs that don't really focus on one person.
Third, I've come to see the act of taking pictures as a sort of miniature contract. There are often hundreds of fursuiters at furry conventions, and all of them have limited time, and I have limited time as well. So, to express interest in a specific person is kind of like offering a contract with them for us both to have each others' full attention for at least 30 seconds, where I can give proper time to check lighting, allow focus to adjust, and take multiple pictures, while the subject has proper time to consider surroundings and personal positioning for the photograph.


Addendum: Though fursuiters are of course the biggest draws of furry conventions, don't forget the non-suiters or those that have costumes that include their faces (which constitute 90% of costumes at a Brony convention). They're only slightly more shy about pictures than suiters, and if there's a good reason for you wanting to take their picture, their rate of saying "no" is about as low as fursuiters.

Long story short: In my experience, for the subject of a single picture, I pretty much never go for a candid shot anymore, and always politely ask if they have a moment to have their picture taken. Group pictures, panoramas, and events are different.
In general, some people enjoy having pictures taken more than others, and I just try to be as considerate as possible. After all, conventions in general are the last places on Earth someone should feel bad.