Better Candid Photography Total results: 36 Pages: 1 | 2 [ 2] |
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 ID: 179376 Posts: 841 | Date: 2008-01-04 08:50 Lets post tips here for photography.
I will fire first.
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ID: 179376 Posts: 841 | Date: 2008-01-04 08:51 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
like to use a quality point and shoot camera that I can take out at a moments
notice to capture the many opportunities for a good photo. Taking your camera
with you everywhere also helps people to be more at ease with you taking their
photo.
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ID: 179376 Posts: 841 | Date: 2008-01-04 08:52 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.
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ID: 179376 Posts: 841 | Date: 2008-01-04 12:49 Shoot spontaneously
If your subject is aware that you’re there and that you have your camera out
they might tense up or act a little unnaturally as they see you raising your
camera to the eye. The beauty of digital cameras is that it doesn’t cost you
anything to take lots of shots and it can be well worth shooting without raising
your camera. To do this most effectively you might want to set your lens to a
wider angle setting to make up for any aiming problems you might have.
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 ID: 199345 Posts: 391 | Date: 2008-01-04 12:55 Larry F.:
I have a DSLR which I take out when I’m on a shoot but between shoots like to
use a quality point and shoot camera.
How about showing us some of your shots from your shoots. The only shots in you
profile are of you and a little girl and you and some guy called Chris.
I'm a little confused, are you a photographer or a model ?
Regards Mike |
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ID: 179376 Posts: 841 | Date: 2008-01-04 12:59 Mike Jones:
[Larry F.: ...]
How about showing us some of your shots from your shoots. The only shots in you
profile are of you and a little girl and you and some guy called Chris.
I'm a little confused, are you a photographer or a model ?
Regards Mike
I am a "Commoner" or happy member, and I am an Ametuer photographer. I have
posted many shots in the forum in the past. I will post more if you like.
Larry
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ID: 199345 Posts: 391 | Date: 2008-01-04 13:03 Larry F.:
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.
This is a method known as "Spray and Pray". It is not one that you will find in
many photography books. Most professional photographers and good amateurs know
exactly when the right moment is to release the shutter. Spray and pray can also
lead to less than sharp images, due to excessive camera shake. Admittedly I use
this technique sometimes when shooting ball sports as the action is too quick to
catch the image in one go. For modeling and candid shots I would recommend
setting your camera to single shot mode and learning to shoot at the appropriate
time.
I would definitely be interested in Karl's and Charles's technique.
Regards Mike |
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ID: 199345 Posts: 391 | Date: 2008-01-04 15:03 Larry F.:
The beauty of digital cameras is that it doesn’t cost you anything to take
lots of shots and it can be well worth shooting without raising your camera. To
do this most effectively you might want to set your lens to a wider angle
setting to make up for any aiming problems you might have.
Larry,
I'm afraid I have to strongly disagree with your suggestion here. First of all I
can't believe that your recommendation is to take pictures by shooting from the
hip. This technique is rarely used by serious photographers.
I am aware that it is a technique that is used, but that is mostly by people
wanting to get a shot of someone without that person knowing and more than
likely without their consent.
If you want to take good candid shots, and by the way candid simply means
unposed, then you need a long lens, zoomed in, not a wide angle as you propose.
A long lens allows you to get a nice tight shot without being too close to the
subject, it also causes more compression that will give you that nice blurred
background. A focal length of less than 50mm (ie wide angle) will start to cause
distortion to the subjects face and result in very unflattering images. Wide
angle for portraits is a huge no-no. You simply don't do it.
I realise that I have basically disagreed with every tip that you have posted in
this topic, it is not meant as a personal attack so please don't take it that
way. I do believe though that if you are going to start a topic with the sole
purpose of providing tips to people, that the tips should be correct in their
content. I would definitely like other togs to share their opinions on your tips
and my criticisms, so that we can get a general feel for their applicability.
btw: I do like the idea of the topic.
One final thought on candid pics. They are great if they well intended. One
should only be taking pics of people that they know, or are at least of people
that will get to see the pics. For example, your kids playing in the yard make
for great candid shots, as do people at weddings and parties. Candid shots are
not shots of bikini clad or topless girls on the beach that the tog does not
know. This is called voyeurism and does not belong on a site like this.
Regards Mike |
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ID: 199345 Posts: 391 | Date: 2008-01-04 15:23 Larry F.:
[Mike Jones: ...]
I am a "Commoner" or happy member, and I am an Ametuer photographer. I have
posted many shots in the forum in the past. I will post more if you like.
Larry
I am definitely interested in seeing some of the shots that you have taken.
Especially examples of the technique where you shoot from the hip with a wide
angle.
Here is an example of a candid shot that I took.
Minolta 7D, Tameron 28-300 @ 150mm and F5.6. 1/500sec
Regards Mike |
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fotocolor by H. Valladares |
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 ID: 220576 Posts: 100 | Date: 2008-01-04 16:34 This are some candid shots I took in Guatemala, the fabrics were just beautiful
and I thought that candids would show a bit of the everyday life of this
people.
First shot with 70-300mm at the long end across a park, the others were shot
from the hip with a 18-70mm at the wide end. |
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fotocolor by H. Valladares |
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ID: 220576 Posts: 100 | Date: 2008-01-04 16:46 You said you need a nice big back pack? |
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fotocolor by H. Valladares |
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ID: 220576 Posts: 100 | Date: 2008-01-04 16:48 Typical way of carrying babies by Mayan people. |
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ID: 199345 Posts: 391 | Date: 2008-01-04 16:50 HOVS photography:
Typical way of carrying babies
HOVS. This is an awesome shot, especially if this is shot from the hip.
Presumably this is cropped quite a lot. As a matter of interest how often do you
shoot from the hip ?
Regards Mike |
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fotocolor by H. Valladares |
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ID: 220576 Posts: 100 | Date: 2008-01-04 17:35 Thanks Mike, shooting from the hip? Very rarely, sometimes I find it very
helpful but just to capture a moment or shapes patterns and colors, never for
people.
Although, now that I think about it, I do shot portraits from the hip sometimes,
but is mainly friends and I have worked exposures etc. before hand and ussualy I
have framed before hand as well.
The next photo is of my wife's friend but she is very shy, so I waited for the
right moment shoot from the hip and she loved the photo.
-Grain is intentional by the way-
This as well is an older shot, it wasn't edited on photoshop but using a
different program, think I will look for the original to get rid of those
highlights.
Wait a second! you don't actually have to have the camera at hip height to call
it shot from the hip right? is more a matter of no using the viewfinder to frame
the shot.
Correct me if I am wrong. |
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fotocolor by H. Valladares |
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ID: 220576 Posts: 100 | Date: 2008-01-04 17:02 Her family owns the bar. |
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ID: 199345 Posts: 391 | Date: 2008-01-04 18:10 HOVS photography:
Wait a second! you don't actually have to have the camera at hip height to call
it shot from the hip right? is more a matter of no using the viewfinder to frame
the shot.
Correct me if I am wrong.
That is my understanding too. Basically not looking through the viewfinder or at
the LCD screen. |
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 ID: 182744 Posts: 1748 | Date: 2008-01-04 22:53 In the United States you can take a picture of anyone at anytime doing anything
on public property or in a public spectacle .
This does not mean you will not get punched in the face.
I can see no circumstance where it is socially acceptable to sneak a photograph
of someone. If I saw someone trying to hide the fact that a picture is being
taken, the word pervert pops quickly into my mind and likely anyone else's mind
that spots the surreptitious activity.
True, many professional photographers carry small pocket cameras good for that
unexpected candid shot. Candid does not mean secret. It means 'honest'.
Un-posed.
True, when a photographer comes around with his big rig, people tend to focus on
the fact that a photographer is there rather on their previous activities. But
typically this goes away if the activity is one a photographer is expected to be
at. Weddings are wonderful places for candids and no one expects not to be
photographed. Still, a person un-posed may often protest in one way or the
other, sometimes even with a smile, yet ultimately the candid shot will not
result in a complaint by the subject.
And this leads to a vital distinction between a candid shot and, as Mike aptly
pointed out, voyeurism. The candid shot has an intended purpose. The sneak shot
typically only has a private, personal purpose and probably will never be shared
with the subject. Sneak shooting is unethical.
____________________
Spray and pray. We use to use that term in the print shot years ago when
customers brought in prints for ads and we could not make heads or tales of what
the intended subject or purpose of the photo was. "What'd you do, just put the
camera on auto wind and jump in a circle?" I have never seen spray and pray
create a commercially viable image except during sporting events.
_____________________
Wide angle for a crowd scene to reduce aiming problems. OK. Like Huh???  Well,
obviously were are not worried about focus here, subject matter, leading the
viewer's eyes through the image. We just want a scene of chaos? Turn on C-SPAN
for that.
To gain focus over a large area, reduce the aperture size as much as
possible.
Most professional photographers I know can aim a camera and shoot without
looking. This freaks people out at weddings or other events where I have a group
of people, need them less stiff, so I hold the camera down at chin or chest
level, make eye contact with several people in the group, say 'OK, Ready, Smile'
and shoot. This captures honest emotions and facial expressions beautifully, but
people are puzzled as to how I know I got the picture. That is shooting from the
hip, metaphorically, and has tremendous advantages for news photography where
you must keep your eyes on several points of action at once. An eye to the view
finder restricts your peripheral vision. I use this method most common when I am
asked to shoot softball games locally. I have to go onto the field in foul
territory to get shots unobscured by chain link fencing. Standing thirty feet
from someone swinging a bat at a ball you want both eyes open to duck foul balls
and players charging in to make the catch.
When I shoot a crowd scene, I try and pick out someone doing something
interesting. I look at the flow of the crowd, the average color of their
clothing, the purpose the crowd is there for and try and capture an image that
gives the viewer a true flavor of what is happening. Focusing on a central
figure in the crowd (actually, I try and put that figure a little above mid
frame and slightly to the left) gives the viewer something to focus on initially
that gives them the gist of the subject and then hopefully draws the viewer in
to take a look at other specifics in the photo. If indeed that is my
intention.
Every year after Carnival here the local newspaper does a pictorial edition of
candid shots. These are not shots where photographers just held their camera in
the air and snapped. These are shots of images that captured the photographer's
eye and could accurately tell the story of what went on. Random images people
get tired of and just leaf through. You want to capture the viewer and make them
pay attention to the crowd scene. And you want to sell newspapers. That edition
always sells out because people are looking to see if pictures of themselves or
their friends made it into print. They want to see the activity and what their
friends are doing. Spray and Pray cannot accomplish this. Random wide angle on
auto wind cannot do this. Photography is a thinking man's profession.
Ah...sorry, good and outstanding photography is a thinking
man's profession.
You play with your equipment enough, you fiddle with lighting enough...that is
text book stuff...and anyone can make a technically perfect photo. And yet most
advertising you see will not use 'technically' correct imagery. The
photographer's art comes in, his thought process comes in, in setting a mood and
message appropriate to the intended final use of the image. The photographer
must find a way to tell a story, send a message with the image that both the
conscious and subconscious mind will pick up. Great photographers can send
multiple messages at one time while using the medium to inform and entertain.
Prayer is good, but prayer cannot help the sprayer. I believe its appropriate
use is to help those who help themselves?
So...stay away from pray and spray, stay away from sneak shots. Learn camera
awareness so that you know approximately what is in your view screen no matter
where about your body you aim your camera from to shoot. But really try not to
do it without the tacit approval of your subjects! Broken noses hurt.
______________________________
I have attached below an example of one of my candid shots taken for publication
by the Virgin Islands Carnival Committee.
The shoot was planned well in advance to be in position for taking exactly these
kinds of shots. It was not spur of the moment luck that was there. I knew that
this particular public spectacle, J'ouVert, would start before dawn. I knew that
any particular picture taken at night would not show the viewer whether this was
early night or late night. To let the viewer know that this was a night festival
stretching into the morning, I needed the hint of sunrise and a long trail of a
crowd flowing into the distance on all sides.
This showed that the street gathering was massive, without me having to focus
on most of the crowd. I did a soft focus of the entire shot, but kept control of
what images would be in the foreground and kept them recognizable to you. In the
background, you see the majority crowd behavior. Yet on the edges, the behavior
is not quite as raucous. One girl, not like the rest, is sleepy. Another one
celebrates in front of her, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched.
The candid show poured on. And the direction of the clouds, the narrowing of
light poles on the peripheral of of the lens width, all point in one direction,
an eternity backwards, file the right edge of the picture, the part we see last,
is branching widely out to the future and as wide as the crowd dancing in the
right, the crowd that we can't see, moving and celebrating past. You see that
advanced crowd, even though they are not even in the picture.
The soft focus sells the picture. And the full effect, the real meat of the
image, is that the sun is chasing the crowd, who dance away, simply wanting the
night to continue.
_____________________________
The spontaneous perfect shot at any photo shoot, whether in public or in a
studio, can come at a moment's notice and be gone in a flash. A photographer has
to be ready for that moment, to be able to predict it, and when it happens to
have his equipment ready and firing as soon as he sees it. A snapshot from a
pocket camera can capture the picture, but what about the moment. Your pocket
camera does not know the sky from days of advance research to know when the sun
would be rising to catch exactly the scene you want. To know exactly what the
overall lighting is to capture the real colors. To adjust them within your
camera to create exactly the depth and density you need. The technical aspects
your pocket camera can handle. But the artistic side, where you record what you
observe and sometimes feel, has not yet been tamed by technology. That part of
the image is all you and and defines whether or not you are creating a snapshot,
or a professional image that can capture the publics view.
This is a candid image. Have faith that the universe will unfold as it should |
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 ID: 183878 Posts: 1181 | Date: 2008-01-04 23:03 What Karl said: Sometimes a pointed camera is the only way to deal with a
difficult subject.
I do take quite a few shots experimentally with the camera held toward a subject
and let the camera do the focussing, framing, exposure, etc. Why should I do all
the work? It often results in interesting pictures. It stems from a journalism
technique that is sometimes very necessary.
If you are in a crowd and you want to get something, you have to develop the
ability to aim the camera from above your head. In the old days, you preset your
focus and used f8 or f11 for a better chance of having something in focus. Still
not a bad idea because close objects can throw off autofocus.
This is from my European trip. A street scene in Brussels. Of ten shots from
overhead, this one is the only one that says something to me:If I haven't been there, I'm still planning on going!
If I haven't done it, I've still got time to try! |
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ID: 183878 Posts: 1181 | Date: 2008-01-04 23:07 On the other hand, shots like below are very often done without my eye behind
the camera. I watch the subject from as far away as I can stretch and shoot on
instinct.  If I haven't been there, I'm still planning on going!
If I haven't done it, I've still got time to try! |
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ID: 182744 Posts: 1748 | Date: 2008-01-04 23:14 Then there is candid life photography.
Here the key is that you are doing a study of average human behavior. You are
not singling out an individual, but showing how the population your are
observing, acts. No posing for the camera, no taking the time to clean things
up, to wear certain clothing, to dress up, to act fake and be fake. No, here,
the place for the candid is to capture the honest reality of everyday life.
These individuals did not know that they were being photographed. But in truth,
if you look, you cannot see any identifying features on those men's faces. The
subjects are anonymous. But the scene is honest. These make good editorial and
feature shots for stories and articles covering the daily lives of West Indian
fisherman.
Here again, the Candid has it purpose. Both purposes, as you can see, were for a
public purpose, not private. Hence, there can be no use for something like
candid glamor photography. For, without an individual's knowledge you cannot
legally publish a glamor image of them. That is the difference between a proper
candid and a spur of the moment sneak pic. Have faith that the universe will unfold as it should |
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