Candid photography is a form of portraiture & street photography, where you capture the natural movements of life and people. Focusing on the moment and less on details, for this style of photography, is all about capturing human interaction and the natural movements we take. Candid photography is great for displaying raw emotion as the photographer is capturing them in an uncontrolled situation where it is up to the subject to choose their movements.
Take Lots Of Photos
When shooting portraits remember to take lots of photos of every movement to make sure you don’t miss anything. Whether it be your subject blinked or rotated a little too far, capturing multiple photos of this will ensure you at least get one good photo.
Photo by @honeyyanibel via Unsplash
Photo by @valentinsteph via Unsplash
Observe Your SurroundingsÂ
Constantly watching what is happening around is you a great way to make sure you don’t miss any moments as well as where the best spot for photographs is. This will both improve your photographs as well as give you some amazing and unique images.
Focus On Composition
As your subject continues to move around keep your eye on the composition of your photo, this will help give your candid photo cohesion within the natural movements. Between your background and subjects use the rule of three to keep your photos beautiful spaced and appealing to viewers.
Use a Fast Shutter Speed
While photographing your subject, they will constantly be in motion and with an improper shutter speed will result in lead to motion blur and missed moments. Speeding up your shutter speeds ensures that your photos will be crisp and clear. We suggest using a shutter speed of 1/125 or over.
Focus On The Eyes/Face
No matter what type of portraiture you are doing focus on the face and eyes are key better your photograph. This allows your photo to stand out to your viewers as they connect with the subject’s eyes.
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Use a Longer Zoom
The whole point of candid photos is to capture humans in a raw format. A great way to achieve this is by photographing a person while they are occupied by a job/action and are not aware that you are taking a photo. To help conceal the camera try a longer zoom lens and step further away from the situation. This way they are more likely to show raw emotion as there isn’t a camera directly in their face.
Do Not Use Flash
Get rid of the flash. For candids using a flash can be distracting to your subject and will remove them from the moment you are trying to capture. Flash is great for posed photos or indoors, but for trying to capture a natural look to your images, it is very hard to do with the flash.
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Photograph Interactions & Actions
The best candid photos you can get is capturing photos while people are interacting with others or are doing a task. This are great way to distract your subject away from your camera and focus on what they are doing giving a natural look.
Try To Hide Conceal Your Camera
Once someone spots a camera they tend to act differently and go from natural movements to more posed. Concealing or hiding your camera is a great way to ensure this doesn’t happen, and you don’t lose that candid moment.
Photo by @david_kristofer via Unsplash
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