12 Surefire Tips For Better Candid Photographs
Candid photographs are popular these days. Even in formal settings like weddings, the candid shots are those that really tell the story of the day. But before you run out and start snapping away, you should do a little planning ahead of time to make the most of your time. Here are 12 surefire tips for getting better candids.
- Take your camera everywhere. If you don’t have your camera, you won’t get the shot. Simple.
- Capture emotions. Anticipate when an emotional moment or reaction will happen and get the shot then. Shots with lots of emotion make the best candids.
- Take a little time to position yourself. Find a good point of view that will make for a good composition and give you a good view of the action.
- Choose a mid-level ISO like 400. This will help you get fast shutter speeds without introducing a lot of noise.
- Go manual. Using modes like shutter priority (Tv) and aperture priority (Av) will still do the auto metering for you, but will give you creative control.
- Don’t use flash if you’re trying not to draw attention and spoil the candid nature of the shots. If you do need flash and have a shoe mount unit, bounce it off walls and ceilings rather than hit the subjects directly.
- Shoot RAW. Shooting candids means you don’t get any do-overs. Shooting RAW will allow you to easily fix exposure and white balance problems after the shoot.
- Shoot from moving objects like cars, boats, buses, and even walking to show movement.
- Fill the frame with your subjects, but don’t be afraid to go wide to show context if it makes sense for the shot.
- Try different perspectives, angles, and compositions. If you mix it up you’ll get shots with more variety.
- Include some foreground elements in the frame once in a while. Other people, animals, and everyday objects make great foreground elements, especially if they add a little context to the image.
- After the shots are taken, try converting some to black and white or sepia. Many candids look great this way.
With these new tools in your tool belt, you can take your candid photos to the next level. The next thing to do is to join up (it’s free!) and start adding your photos to the Sublime Light photo pool so everyone can enjoy!
| Like this article? | |
Bookmark it: |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 Email It To A Friend |
|
Subscribe to feed: 
|
|
July 31st, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Hi.
I just stumbled upon your website, and it looks (and reads!) good.
Nice article. I think I’m going to try #8.
Allow me to contribute a tip: Know your subjects well (alternatively, make sure your subjects are comfortable with you). I’ve found that when the sitter or subject is comfortable having me around they don’t suddenly “pose” and “stiffen up” when they see me with my camera. For example, friends already know that my camera is everywhere I go and that I’m going to be shooting them. They’ve grown accustomed to it and are relaxed enough to be themselves around me and the camera. Tender moments aren’t shot as voyeuristic, rather, they’re recorded as “tender moments”.
Best,
Scott
August 2nd, 2007 at 2:38 pm
That’s a really great point Scott. I find that its often times worth every minute to spend a little time “warming up” to someone I’ve never met before if I’m going to be photographing them. This is especially true for shy kiddos. It may take half an hour of playing with them to get them to relax and open up, but when it comes time to start pressing the shutter, that time is totally worth it.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
[...] tips about getting a good candid shots . Just a few examples are the article in Sublime Light – 12 Surefire Tips for better candid photographs and the 11 tips at the Digital Photography School . Following those tips you can learn quite a lot [...]
November 28th, 2008 at 11:43 am
[...] more working distance — this allows you to stay out of the way while catching true moments candidly. And don’t put the camera down as soon as the action is over. Sometimes you’ll find [...]
December 15th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
[...] tips about getting a good candid shots . Just a few examples are the article in Sublime Light – 12 Surefire Tips for better candid photographs , there are even some fancy tools like Etsumi Display mirror that will allow you more flexibility [...]
January 9th, 2009 at 7:30 am
[...] yourself more working distance – this allows you to stay out of the way while catching true moments candidly. And don’t put the camera down as soon as the action is over. Sometimes you’ll find [...]
February 1st, 2009 at 3:57 pm
[...] find tips about getting a good candid shots. Just a few examples are the article in Sublime Light – 12 Surefire Tips for better candid photographs and the 11 tips at the Digital Photography School. Following those tips you can learn quite a lot, [...]