Learn To Photograph Your Friends Candidly

It’s a lot of fun taking photographs of your friends when they have there guard down because it gives the pictures a little more emotion.

Candid photography is more about capturing the moment instead of the more traditional planned and posed sitting.  Many news articles and human interest stories you see in magazines and your local newspaper are candid shots.  Making a candid photograph is not as easy as it looks.  However, there as some photography techniques you can learn that makes a candid picture much more than a snap shot of your friends.

It’s important to keep an eye on your friend when they’re attention is on something else.  Then train your eye to see what Henri Cartier-Bresson calls the “decisive moment”.  You need to stay alert for the right moment to unfold and also keep the composition of the final image in mind.  Your camera has to be set up to capture the image before you even know what the final photograph will be.  The best way is to have your camera pre-focused on your subject and the exposure already set.

It wouldn’t make much sense to use a flash to capture a candid photograph, would it?  I mean, using a flash would ruin the mood of the scene.  After the first image was taken everyone around you would become aware and conscious of you and your camera.  So good quality natural lighting is very important to candid photography.  Unfortunately, you may not get the light at the angle that’s the most flattering for your subject.  To be a good candid photographer you need to be aware and learn the best angle of light for the moment that you’re capturing.

Candid photography’s purpose is to capture those moments when a person’s guard is down and their emotions are showing.  Even though a quality camera, good lighting, and the lighting are important to capture the moment, it is even more important to be observant.  The photographer’s eye is trained for observing.  They will continuously scan the scene.  Whether that’s a crowd, the landscapes, or another setting looking for that decisive moment.  Their camera will always be ready to bring to their eye to frame and capture the candid subject.  You will find it harder when you are trying to capture a candid of your friends because they will know you and what you are up to, and they will be more engaged with you making it harder to capture them off guard.

To photograph your friends candidly you’ll have to get their attention off the fact that you’re carrying a camera because some people will pose for the camera and others will become shy and turn away.  Your friends, everyone around you really, will act naturally if they don’t think they’re going to have their picture taken.

Studying the scene, keeping your camera with you and ready, and knowing basic photography skills, and your reaction speed, will help you get the best candid.  Since posing and turning away from the camera ruins the candidness of your photograph it’s often better to make profile images.  In profile (from the side) the subject is less likely to see the camera because they will be looking straight ahead.  So positioning yourself to the side and just a little forward may help you capture the image you’re looking for.

Candid photography is very rewarding style of photography, it’s also one of the most frustrating styles when your friends are conscious of what you are doing, and learning to photograph your friends candidly can be one of the most difficult photographic skills to learn.  But in the end it is worth the effort.

Photo credits

“All Smiles” – flickr.com/m3umax
“Singing Man” – flickr.com/soylentgreen23