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04/05/2006 10:43:18 AM · #1 |
What makes a great candid in your eyes? Any samples?
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04/05/2006 10:46:25 AM · #2 |
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04/05/2006 10:48:24 AM · #3 |
I don't have many candids in my portfolio, but I do shoot them LOTS!
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04/05/2006 10:49:41 AM · #4 |
 
Candids in my opinion are best when the subject is totally unaware of the photographers pressence and is engaged in a personal act, such as posted above.
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04/05/2006 10:51:37 AM · #5 |
some of my own candids that i just am so glad to have captured:
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04/05/2006 10:52:03 AM · #6 |
What makes these good or great?
Edited: That question wasn't a challenge...just curious why you posted them.
Message edited by author 2006-04-05 11:04:00.
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04/05/2006 10:52:39 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by pawdrix:
What makes a great candid in your eyes? Any samples? |
Oh, and why are YOU asking, eh, and not sharing? You've got some of the best candids of nyc characters I've ever seen!
Bah!
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04/05/2006 10:52:43 AM · #8 |
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04/05/2006 10:55:03 AM · #9 |
This is something I posted in the Candid mentorship thread last year:
A Candid Approach to Photographing People
Eight ways to take more natural portraits
By Robert Winkle
1. Trust your instincts
If a person intrigues you, don't equivocate about taking a shot. When you're pressed for time, it's tempting to tell yourself to come back later, but in candid photography you rarely get second chances.
Once you decide to shoot, be simple and direct. Take the obvious approach first, then try unusual angles. If your photography happens to be going extremely well, don't move on until you've exhausted the possibilities.
2. Blend into the background
The best candid photographers become part of the scenery. This could involve hanging around a place long enough, until others begin not to notice you. It's unlikely that, suddenly arriving on the scene, you can immediately take pictures in which people appear natural and relaxed.
In a public place, do what others are doing, whether it's reading a magazine in a park, watching a ball game, or feeding the squirrels. The object is to fit in. Achieve that, and your photography will be little cause for concern.
3. Try to capture a moment
Don't be cheap about film (in our case - memory space!), but don't wildly photograph everything that happens. Be selective. Develop skill in reading other people's behavior. Even if you're in a foreign locale where you don't understand the language, you can often see when a significant action, gesture, or expression is imminent. Wait for it, and when it comes, act.
4. Look for people who are doing things
When people are occupied, especially with work or with activities they enjoy, a photographer can often move among them with effective invisibility. Parents with children, people playing sports, craftspeople at their trade, couples too tied up with each other to notice anything else, waiters and waitresses, shoppers—all are fair game.
Their unguarded, unposed expressions can say more than a formal portrait. If you want them to look toward the camera, make a friendly comment or ask a question. You can also hold the camera up to your eye and wait for the inevitable glance in your direction.
5. Get to know the subject, or just be an observer
If you're a person who makes friends easily, by all means take advantage of your gift. Once you get to know people, they show a side kept hidden from strangers.
Simply establishing rapport with someone can bring down the defenses that get in the way of a good candid shot. After talking to a shopkeeper about his wares, you may find him a more relaxed and willing subject.
There is just as strong an argument, however, for being a dispassionate observer. Some of the best candid photographers record only what they find; what is there before they arrive and after they leave.
They try not to let reactions to the photographer creep into their pictures, and they don't impose themselves on the subject. This more objective approach might better convey realism. Of course, nothing prevents you from being friendly in one situation, dispassionate in another.
6. Don't press your luck
Although you may have every right to photograph whomever you wish in a public place, if someone objects it's only prudent to stop. There's also little point in trying to make extroverts of people who claim to be camera shy. With all their protestations and avoidance maneuvers, they invariably come off looking bad.
You usually don't have to ask for permission to take a picture, but it may be advised if you think your subject perceives the camera as an intrusion. People can seem to be looking daggers at a photographer, but when disarmed by an unexpected request for permission, their stern demeanor can dissolve into friendliness.
Many people, perhaps the majority, like to be photographed, and some will even volunteer to pose for you. Don't pass up the opportunity. Willing subjects tend to be the most photogenic.
7. Experiment
Photograph from cars, buses, and boats. As you walk down a street, try shooting without breaking stride. To shoot over a crowd, hold the camera above your head the way press photographers do. Tilt your camera to add drama to a closeup. Turn away from the standard fare of pretty people in pretty situations.
8. Don't be overly concerned with technical perfection
In quick-shooting situations, different standards apply. A good picture may be lurking behind an apparent error. Cosmetic defects—fuzziness, less-than-ideal exposure, awkward composition—can actually be desirable. Such imperfections speak the human, gritty, momentary visual language that sets candid photography apart. |
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04/05/2006 10:55:14 AM · #10 |
Originally posted by pawdrix:
What makes these good or great? |
In my opinion, it is the "uncontrived" and spontaneous nature of candids that I am so attracted to. When people aren't looking, everything's so much...truer. Realer. Are these words? :)
Candids bring out the quirkiness of individuals, the joy in their unawareness, and truly, I feel like I capture a real spirit of things, instead of arranging everything to create a spirit. Si? See? Hmm.
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04/05/2006 10:57:16 AM · #11 |
Originally posted by kdkaboom:
Originally posted by pawdrix:
What makes a great candid in your eyes? Any samples? |
Oh, and why are YOU asking, eh, and not sharing? You've got some of the best candids of nyc characters I've ever seen!
Bah! |
I'm curious what other people think makes a great candid.
...but for me...I look for an interesting looking person or people doing something interesting. NOT just a shot of someone unaware that they are being photographed.
Emotion? Let me think about that one....
A while back someone posted a string of candids they took...one for example, of people just standing by a bus stop. They were all candids but totally boring as well.
So what makes a candid jump???
Message edited by author 2006-04-05 10:59:35.
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04/05/2006 11:03:56 AM · #12 |
Here are a few from the SF GTG I wish I could enter.
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04/05/2006 11:04:43 AM · #13 |
Originally posted by pawdrix:
I'm curious what other people think makes a great candid.
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I think the answer is going to be different for everyone. Men (generally speaking and not on a perverted level) would rather look at a candid of a beautiful woman rather than a small child doing the exact same thing (maybe laughing, for example). A father would be drawn to candids that remind him of his kids. A depressed person maybe feels a connection to lonely candids. People from the United States like to see candids from other cultures (this one is obvious on this site, i imagine you agree). Some people like motion blur, others like shallow depth of field. Pure street shooters like B&W and the look of a 35mm lens.
I could go on and on :) |
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04/05/2006 11:08:25 AM · #14 |
for me personally, i like it when they tell a story. they ask you to think about the people in the picture; who they are, where they're going, where they've come from. They take a slice of someone's life and expose it for that moment in time.
to quote Doisneau, who in my opinion is one of the pioneers of candid photographers as we know it:
""I never noticed time passing, I was too taken up with the spectacle afforded by my contemporaries, that gratuitous, never-ending show for which no ticket is needed, and when the occasion rose, I offered them, in passing, the ephemeral solace of an image."
  
  
P-ness
Message edited by author 2006-04-05 11:08:52. |
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04/05/2006 11:08:44 AM · #15 |
This ones cool....dare I say...great?
Pedro said: "for me personally, i like it when they tell a story. they ask you to think about the people in the picture; who they are, where they're going, where they've come from. They take a slice of someone's life and expose it for that moment in time. "
I think you nailed it..."telling a story" is the key element for me.
Message edited by author 2006-04-05 11:11:56.
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04/05/2006 11:10:57 AM · #16 |
I think a huge factor is expression/action. What the person or people are doing, and their reaction to it.
There's something about seeing a person's honest reaction to an event that makes the viewer feel like they are sharing a private moment with that person. To capture a particular reaction or emotion on camera freezes that moment forever.
This picture of a friend's son isn't a technically great photo, but for me it captures a brief moment of excitement and surprise.
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04/05/2006 11:17:00 AM · #17 |
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04/05/2006 11:18:51 AM · #18 |
| can you smell Blue Steve? |
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04/05/2006 11:23:45 AM · #19 |
Originally posted by pawdrix:
This ones cool....dare I say...great?
Pedro said: "for me personally, i like it when they tell a story. they ask you to think about the people in the picture; who they are, where they're going, where they've come from. They take a slice of someone's life and expose it for that moment in time. "
I think you nailed it..."telling a story" is the key element for me. |
THANKS! Here's another one from last year (in Pedro'esc style) :-)
Message edited by author 2006-04-05 11:31:16. |
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04/05/2006 11:26:38 AM · #20 |
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04/05/2006 11:28:32 AM · #21 |
the real question is: Of Skip's 10 shots, which did you click on first?
:) |
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04/05/2006 11:32:30 AM · #22 |
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04/05/2006 11:33:09 AM · #23 |
Originally posted by hopper:
the real question is: Of Skip's 10 shots, which did you click on first?
:) |
Mother and baby. 1) the lighting and DOF conveys the softness and tenderness of the image, and 2) I'm a Dad of two young kids, we tend to look at this stuff. :-) |
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04/05/2006 11:42:10 AM · #24 |
#8 but that's 'cause I recognized Mark Martin.
I'd have clicked on the little girl at the bottom first. |
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04/05/2006 12:07:51 PM · #25 |
Originally posted by Rikki:
can you smell Blue Steve? |
Not smelling Blue...
It's a roll of the dice who you bump into on the street. I'm hoping/praying that the pavement will be ripe with loonies this week.
Awesome Skip...the first one caught my eye. Killer.
Message edited by author 2006-04-05 12:28:57.
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