11 Tips for Better Candid Photography

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/11-tips-for-better-candid-photography/' target='_blank'>http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/11-tips-for-better-candid-photography/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Candid styles of photography are increasingly becoming popular both in general day to day photography but also in formal photographic situations. Last time I was asked to photograph a wedding the couple actually hired me purely to take paparazzi style shows of them and their guests throughout the day. They had another photographer for the formal shots and gave me the brief of getting a behind the scenes look of the day. The results, when they put together my shots with the formal ones were a wonderful blend of photos that told a fuller story than if they’d gone for one or the other. Below are a number of tips to help photographers improve their ‘candid’ photography. Please note that these tips are not about taking sneaky, voyeuristic or true paparazzi shots (ie photographing people without their permission) but rather about how to add a more candid feel to the shots you take of people that you know."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/imagescandid-photography.jpg" /><br /><br />Interesting guide. While it is very well written and the author supports all his arguments well, I am not so sure I agree with all of them. Carrying the camera everywhere for example requires one to almost certainly have a P&amp;S. And killing the flash may not necessarily lead to the best pictures, and can often cause tons of blur. Thoughts?

[Neil Enns]

Candids are by far my most favourite shots to take, especially when I get to see how people react to them after the fact. I haven't worked my way up to "take your camera everywhere" because I don't have a P&amp;S I like, but a lot of his other tips are familiar. You really do have to kill the flash. Nothing says "HEY LOOK OVER HERE I'M TAKING PICTURES!" like a big flash of light.

When I was shooting the US Junior National Curling Championships I took a ton of candid shots and they were definitely the favourites of the participants. You can browse through them at http://www.clearviewphotography.net/gallery/2432972. Almost all were taken with no flash at 1600iso with my 24-70 lens. Not exactly a long lens, but my long lens is really slow and doesn't work well in low light.

Neil

[adderx99]

I did some browsing on that website and its a great find. thanks. Its always inspiring to see other's photos, and its a great time of year (spring) to get inspired to take photos.

[Jonathon Watkins]

And killing the flash may not necessarily lead to the best pictures, and can often cause tons of blur. Thoughts?

Like man says, crank up the ISO setting, use a faster lens and open up your aperture. I try to avoid flash wherever possible and recently shot an entire wedding candidly without: using flash at all (http://www.weddings.photoglow.co.uk/c1243992.html) You just have to love ISO3200 shots at f/1.4 for mood. ;-)

[DimensionZero]

It's not that bad carrying a dSLR with you everywhere you go. I've got a small bag that fits my Canon 350D w/Tamron 28-75 perfectly and still have room for my 50mm.

There are only a few rare times where I don't bring the camera with me wherever I go but that's only when I know I won't be taking photos... Like at the movies, or maybe a fancy dinner etc...

As for flash, just like Jonathon says, bump up the ISO, and a nice fast lens. I too try to avoid the use of a flash and if I have to, I'll dial it down 2 stops to lessen the on-camera flash.