The "Candid" Moment in Photography

What is a "Candid" image?

A candid image is an image captured in the spur of the moment, spontaneously. Where the photographer captures the subject being themselves, in their most natural state. Wether thats laughing, smiling, angry, sad or even jumping. The photography comes to life with these relatable moments.

Some might think when they see a candid image it is completely at random, it could be.

Thinking the photographer just got lucky with his photography or was just at the right place at the right time.

But more so than not, in my experience,  it requires a lot more skill and planning than one might think.

​Understanding human body language is incredibly important when it comes to getting that candid natural shot filled with soul.

Whether thats noticing a smile coming on or realizing a passionate outburst of happy energy is building up.

More so than not it's a lot more subtle.

For instance, that moment you notice the groom standing 20 feet away from his bride deep in thought observing her moves and completely consumed by her beauty and happiness. 

He begins to take steps towards her with a smile on his face ready to embrace his now wife with nothing but love.

The walk over is just as captivating as the embrace is.

Learning to spot these moments takes a lot of practice, patience and most importantly.... understanding.

i think street photography helps develop a lot of these knowledgable practices.

You can speak to a street photographer about a lot of tactics and all kind of beliefs but the one thing they will all tell you is that the goal is to get the subject in their most natural state.

in a moment they are just being who they are, themselves.

That might sound simple... but it's not that simple.

Seeing a camera usually spooks people and alters their natural state, their natural aura.

This is why most street photographers use smaller cameras with little intimidation.

Although i think it goes much further than that.

Understanding body language and reading a scene/situation gives you the ability to predict where someone will end up and more importantly allow you to fly under the radar unseen.

For example, the guy that just walked into the pizza shop to buy lunch will either sit down and eat in the pizza shop or come back out munching on a slice in his hand.

Paying attention and understanding this and many other social cues goes a long way when it comes to candid photography.

Over time these things just stick out and predicting moments before they even happen becomes a bit easier making it much easier to predict those candid captures before they even occur.

Your situational awareness begins to sharpen.

This allows you to be ready in order to execute that natural candid image, they wont even see it coming or notice you got it.

That to me... is capturing Soul.

"Ahhhhhhh"