Candid photography is all about capturing a moment and telling a story with one photo. It can be a happy, sad or even scary scene. The trick is to get the ‘feel’ right!
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The golden rule is to always carry a camera, whether this is your DSLR and your full kit or a point and shoot in your pocket, it doesn’t really matter. Make sure you have a good memory card and a spare battery with you as you should expect to take LOADS of photo’s.
Go somewhere where there is lots going on such as a town centre, a park where people are walking dogs or an event such as a country show or a race meeting.
By fabiogis50
Don’t push your luck
Look for situations where people are doing things or alking to other people. This will often help to capture emotion in your subjects face and add interest and story to the photograph. If you take a zoom lens with you then this will help to capture scenes from afar and keep the feeling natural as the subject/s will feel more at ease than if you are right on top of them with a lens in their face! If you can fade into the background then you are more likely to be able to capture images where the scene is truly natural. Try not to make yourself too obvious, dont hide behind a corner and make yourself look suspicious, try and take some shots without holding the camera up, the beauty of the digital age is that if you dont like the shots you can delete them without any expenditure (apart from a bit of battery!!).
Working with animals
Don’t use a flash and try to shoot in continuous mode, I usually do this when taking photos of people or animals as each photos captures something slightly different and as the subjects expression or emotion changes you can literally choose the best one for the effect you are trying to achieve. I took 650 photos on a rip to a zoo recently but actually only used about 20 of these, if I hadn’t taken so many (a lot of which were of similar scenes) then I dont think I would have anything to show for my time with the animals!
By mark sebastian
Mix it up
Try and use different effects, black and white, depth of field and motion blurs can all be used to enhance the photos. If you include some objects in the foreground such as other people or flowers etc then this can also add to a great candid shot. There are plenty of post process tutorial sites that can add effects to your photos that will bring them to life and add a bit of zing, such as:
Keep it simple
Set your camera up for a fast shutter speed and keep all other settings and general setup simple, the opportunity of a good candid shot may only last a second and you don’t want to miss out.
By PhotoFM.com
By PhotoFM.com
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By itatton
Preview image by saibotregeel
2 Responses
As a portrait photographer, I am constantly watching and admiring what people are doing. I spend a great deal of time photographing people in and around their surroundings and environment. I find some of the best photographs are when people do not know they are being photographed. It changes their mood and attitude when they see that they are the subject and focus of your attention. If there is one thing I can add, it is have confidence in your ability to photograph people, because some times candid can turn into, “oh did you just take my picture”. Being able to have the confidence to talk to complete strangers is key to navigating your way out of a situation like this. And some times, a person can be so interesting that you are compelled to photograph them and the only way possible is to ask them for permission, which also takes a certain level of confidence. To me, candid also falls right inline with street photography. Another one of my serious focuses with photography.
I like black and white photos,as it takes away the distraction of colours.The simple (Black and White …and Gray)tones naturally express the true nature of light and shadow in the universe. Like people like the effect of Blur,i see Black and White pictures as A Blur Effect Of Light And Shadow.Who knows,possibly all of our existance is nothing but a Shadow Of Light in universe. Anyhow,to me Black and White is good and enough.Timewindow