On Candid Photography

PHOTO CHALLENGE | Take a few photos that show varying candid moments. Whether you’re looking for elements to work with, setting up a scene, or manipulating the things you can control, try for a few of the different candid concepts mentioned.

The notion of candid photography is relegated to portraits, but candid imagery can exist in landscapes, you just have to seek them out. This is a true challenge of intention, and often luck, in photography and how you’re seeking moments. Candid images also best contribute to a storytelling concept. You might start with an intentional image to set the stage (a beautiful landscape maybe), followed by a series of photos around you that give a better insight to how that image was shot, or where you were, even some behind the scenes shots.

I am best known for my ability to capture people in their element and with emotion. These are great for working with people, but how can you seek these same values in landscapes or everyday scenes? Here are a few options to start looking at:

• Consider unique angles

• Indirect portraits

• Weather

• Composition

• Unique light

• Pets

• Motion

• Street photography

• Self-portraits

Candid photography is similar to a journalistic approach—you’re walking into a moment, you essentially have no control or influence, you aren’t really even creating, you’re simply “grabbing the shot”. While there are varying perspectives, you can offer some influence to capture a candid shot, which means you could direct someone to walk a certain direction or throw the ball for your dog, knowing he’ll go after it. Without shooting candid portraits directly, you have to be open-minded.

Think of “fleeting moments” that you can capture with your camera. Happenstance, in the moment. Whether you’re playing fetch with your dog, pouring tea, reading with your kids/spouse, watching a storm roll in or rain pour down, light shifting drastically, people walking by, or even playing with slower exposures or artistic lenses to get motion in your photo. The idea is that you’re freezing an action, thus making it appear to be a candid moment in time that you happened to come across.

Remember to watch the light, check your composition, and adjust your position if possible. To get the most out of your situation, it’s helpful to keep your camera on hand and at the ready.

If you are shooting portraits to some degree, you can always get the standard laughing or crying image, but candid photography is truly much more than that. You can get a person in their element, in the middle of an activity they love, taking care of something they tend to everyday, and so on. The options are limitless. This is another opportunity to try your hand at a self-portrait.

Note: Don’t feel like you aren’t meeting the challenge by staging an image. That’s the beauty of photography–we are creating even when we’re not exercising full control. You can set up a moment, stop it in mid-action, or replay a scene to get the shot you’re going for. You can still represent a candid moment even if you have to use more direction than not.