One Day, One Picture

Caught You Laughing, originally uploaded by Sheba Wheeler.

Even during posed portrait sessions, I always stay alert for capturing candid moments. Timing is everything. One of my personal tricks is to keep shooting even when the subject thinks I’m not. This is usually in between sets when the subject is relaxing and not feeling as though they are in the “hot seat,” so to speak.

I took this photo of Nina during her senior portrait session. When I show subjects images like these, they always say they don’t remember what they were laughing about or what they were even doing during those moments. But that’s the magic of the moment.

I found this great set of tips for shooting candid photography on the Digital Photography School forum. Today, I will share five of the 11 tips, and I will follow up with the rest of them when I post on Thursday.

According to the article, candid styles of photography are increasingly becoming popular both in general day to day photography but also in formal photographic situations.” When you pair the two types together during a formal or posed setting, you end up with a fuller story of the day.

Here are the first five tips:

1. Take your Camera Everywhere

Probably the best way to take spontaneous photographs is to always be ready to do so. I have a DSLR which I take out when I’m on a shoot, but between shoots I like to carry with me a quality point and shoot camera that I can whip out at a moments notice to capture the many opportunities for a good photo that life presents us with. Taking your camera with you everywhere also helps people to be more at ease with you taking their photo. I find that my friends and family just expect me to have my camera out so when I do fire it up it’s not a signal to them to pose but it’s a normal part of our interaction - this means that they are relaxed and the photos are natural.

2. Use a Long Zoom

Obviously the further you are away from your subject the less likely they will be to know that you’re photographing them and the more natural and relaxed they’ll act. Using a telephoto lens or long zoom enables you to shoot from outside their personal space but keep the feeling of intimacy in the shot you’re taking.

3. Kill the Flash

Perhaps the most obvious way that you can signal to another person that you’re photographing them is to use a flash. There’s nothing like a blinding flash of light in the eyes to kill a moment. If possible (and it’s not always) attempt to photograph without the flash if you’re aiming for candid shots. When in lower light situations increase your ISO setting, use a faster lens, open up your aperture or if your camera has a ‘natural light mode’ turn it on. Hopefully one or a combination of these approaches will help you blend into the background a little more.

4. Shoot lots

When you shoot multiple images quickly of a person you can sometimes get some surprising and spontaneous shots that you’d have never gotten if you shot just one. Switch your camera to continuous shooting mode and shoot in bursts of images and in doing so you’ll increase your chances of that perfect shot.

5. Position Yourself strategically

While Candid Photography is about capturing the spontaneity of a moment and getting that perfect shot at the right split second of time I find that if you think ahead and anticipate what is about to unfold in front of you that you can greatly increase the chances of getting some great shots. So at a wedding get to the church early (or even go to the rehearsal) and think about what will happen during the ceremony and where will be best for you to stand to capture each moment. Which way will people be facing? What will they be doing? What will the light be like? Thinking through these issues will save you having to run around repositioning yourself when you should be shooting images - it’ll also mean you take a whole heap less shots of the back of people’s heads!

Check back Thursday for the final set of tips for candid photography.