5 Tips To Take Your Candid Photography To The Next Level

 As part of our photography tutorials, we explain what Candid Photography is about, what is important and which 5 tips will help you to take wonderful and unique snapshots. You can do this with nikon, canon or any other camera in a wedding, a meet up or any other situation.

But what exactly is Candid Photography? Translated it means something like unnoticed, unsuspected or authentic photography or the unplanned taking of snapshots. The idea behind it is to capture situations and moments with the camera in an unspecified, natural and thus as realistic manner as possible. Candid photography can be found in many areas of photography, such as wedding reportage, event and concert photography or street and reportage photography. Whenever we want to focus on what is happening, whenever the subject does not interact with the camera, it is candid photography.

The aim of this type of photography is to photograph real moments without any interference. This is also what makes candid photography so exciting. As a photographer, you can't always guess and never plan what exactly will happen. Accordingly, you have to react quickly to the circumstances and act as inconspicuously as possible. 

IMPORTANT: ONLY TAKE PHOTOS WITH CONSENT!

As a photographer of candid, authentic photos, you are always looking for situations in which you can capture people or events in a picture without being noticed. But be careful: you have to ask for the consent of the people in the picture before or after the recording, but in any case before publication. If you are booked as a photographer for a larger event, there is often a rule that visitors to the event agree to the recording of image and video material by participating. But always play it safe and get the consent of the people you want to photograph - regardless of whether you are taking photos at weddings, large and small events or simply on the street.

So let's go to our 5 Tips To Take Your Candid Photography To The Next Level shall we?

Tip 1: act unnoticed

For perfect, authentic snapshots, you should take photos as unnoticed as possible. As soon as your subject or subjects feel observed, they no longer act naturally or interact too much with the camera. But how exactly do you go unnoticed as a photographer?

There are several options for undetected photography: One approach is to position yourself at some distance and take a photo from there unseen. A telephoto lens like the NIKKOR Z 24–200 mm 1: 4–6.3 VR is ideal for this , so that you can take pictures of your objects from a greater distance without any problems. But also without a telephoto lens, for example with the NIKKOR Z 24–50 mm 1: 4–6.3, you can take wonderful candid pictures. For this you can lie in wait at a place close to or in the middle of the action and wait until a nice situation arises. You first choose a rough motif or a special perspective. Then, if you like your composition, you wait until something beautiful, exciting or unusual happens in this section and at that moment press the shutter button.

Another practical tip that we often uses is “hip photography”. So you can hold your camera loosely in your hand in automatic mode and at hip height and press the shutter button while standing or in motion without being noticed. The advanced eye autofocus of the Z-System is of great help here - eyes and faces are recognized and focused fully automatically. So you get razor-sharp images even when taking photos from the hip. 

Tip 2: the silent mode

Imagine you want to take photos during a wedding ceremony or at an event and take a picture of the ideal moment. You press the shutter button and it clicks in the middle of the silence. Then you are definitely no longer unnoticed and have disturbed the wonderful, natural and unique atmosphere. 

The Z-System's silent mode is incredibly practical for unnoticed photography at this point. You can simply switch off the click sound when the shutter is released in the settings of your Z camera and thus take photos completely silently. So your motives feel less observed and can indulge in the moment completely naturally, while you can photograph it without further distraction.

Tip 3: continuous shooting

The next tip for Candid Photography is to take a series of pictures or to take many pictures in a row. Here you can use your camera's settings for taking a series of photos, or you can simply trigger several times yourself. With a single or a few shots of your subject, you miss features that you can ideally capture with the help of many shots. This type of recording is particularly suitable for moving objects such as a chain carousel at the fair. With the series picture recording, you can capture many pictures and thus different aspects of your subject one after the other and decide on the best one or the best afterwards. 

Tip 4: play with the "time mode"

The fourth tip is to play with the “time mode” - this tip not only applies to unnoticed photography, but also plays a major role in other areas of photography. The "time mode", ie the automatic shutter S on your camera, is often underestimated. In this mode you can give your camera a certain time. Regardless of whether you want to freeze or blur movements, it is always a nice effect to make the time visible in your recordings. For example, you can make time visible by blurring a moving element with a longer exposure time. On the one hand, this works well for people who are walking through your image section or for other objects in motion such as B. a Ferris wheel or a chain carousel.

Take photos by hand - try it out!

Of course, a tripod is always used for a longer exposure time. But if you don't have one with you and can't find a stable surface on which to place your camera, you can try and practice taking pictures by hand. This takes a steady hand and a little patience, but this also gives you the opportunity to get great photos. Pick a camera that supports you and is equipped with 5-axis image stabilization. This allows you to take photos with exposure times that are up to five exposure levels longer. 

Tip 5: the look / the processing

Once you've applied our tips on candidate photography and captured some nice, spontaneous snapshots, it's time to start RAW development. With the help of the subsequent image processing, you have the opportunity to give your pictures a very unique look and to get the last bit of potential out of your already good shots.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!

This was our "5 Tips To Take Your Candid Photography To The Next Level" article for you. I hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to leave us your question down below in the comments. We would love to hear from you.