Tips for Taking Great Candid Photos

Formal, posed photos are a nice way to document special occasions like weddings, graduations, proms or even family portraits. Of course formal photos are important, but they sometimes miss the mark when it comes to capturing the mood and emotions of the day. Candid photos, on the other hand, are a fantastic way to freeze moments in time and capture special memories. These photos tend to be more personal and often more meaningful than formal photos.

Here are some tips for taking candid pictures that will help you get natural, spontaneous photos that perfectly capture the feelings and events of the day.

Don't Be Obvious

If people see you with a camera their natural instinct will be to pose. The best candid photos are the ones where people are being natural and acting like themselves. Try to be as subtle as you can when taking photos and hang back a bit from the action. If you have a good zoom on your camera it is a lot easier to blend into the background and keep from being noticed. The less people notice that you are there the better, more "real" photos you will get.

Wait Until People are Busy

If people are working on something or are doing some sort of activity they are a lot less likely to notice a camera pointed at them. Keep your eyes open for activity when you are at an event and try to capture people when they are in the thick of it to catch them being themselves.

Kids make some of the best subjects for candid photos because they tend to get so involved and absorbed in the things they are doing that they won't even notice you there with a camera.

Take Multiple Photos

Don't count on one shot coming out perfectly. When you see something great going on snap a series of photos one right after the other. You'll stand a better chance of getting good photos where everyone's eyes are open, all the subjects are in-frame and nothing is out of focus. Nothing is worse than taking what you think is going to be a great photo only to find out later that your thumb got in the way!

Keep Your Camera with You All the Time

You never know when the perfect photo opportunity might arise, so you should carry your camera with you at all times. Consider getting a neck strap for it so it is easily within your reach right when you need it. If you carry it in a case on your shoulder you will have to dig it out each time you want to use it and by the time you get it out it may be too late to get the shot you want.

These tips should help you get better, more natural looking candid shots that really capture what they day was all about. Have fun!