A Beginner’s Guide to Candid People Photography

Shooting people can be rewarding, frustrating, exhilarating and fun, all at once.  Over the last few years, typical portrait and posed photographs of the family have gone way to more of a photo-journalistic style of shooting, and candid photographs of people have emerged as what more and more consumers want.  Rather than awkward, posed photos with fake smiles, the value seems to be higher on those candid moments.  To shoot candid people photography, lets first take a look at what candid means.
The dictionary definition of candid, in relation to photography is,

photography of subjects acting naturally or spontaneously without being posed

Seems simple enough, but getting it done right can be very tricky.  Unlike photojournalism, where the goal is to document what happens, candid photography requires you, the photographer, to have some interaction with the subjects you’re shooting.  Note that one of the key words in the definition is acting, and this can help setup the entire session for you.
photo © 2010 Greg Livaudais | more info (via: Wylio)

This lovely photo of a child blowing bubbles is a great example of a candid photograph, but it could have easily been staged. Because it’s hard to get children to do exactly what you want, often it’s a good idea to give them tools that will enable them to do what they want, and benefit the photograph in the end.  What child doesn’t like to blow bubbles on a sunny summer day?  They can now run around the yard as they wish and you can wait till the right moment to photograph them.  This is how blurring the line between candid and photojournalism is developed, because you’ve helped to influence the photograph.  Your influence is what will make a great candid photograph.

photo © 2010 Andrew Stawarz | more info (via: Wylio)

In this wonderfully candid photograph, we see two friends at a park enjoying the company of each other, obviously laughing at something, each other, or possibly at something funny the photographer just said.  Unlike posed photography, and very much like photojournalism, waiting becomes the primary game for candids.  Had the photographer simply asked two friends to sit out in the middle of a park on some grass, chances are this would be a very boring photograph.  Because the photographer waited, or started a conversation that led to laughter they were able to create this wonderfully candid photograph.

photo © 2010 Emmanuel Dasalla | more info (via: Wylio)

Here, we see a candid moment between two people who care about each other and are enjoying a sunset together.  By putting the people in a situation where they’d naturally be able to interact, the photographer has one again allowed a candid moment to spontaneously happen.
Candid photography of people is one part photojournalism, one part portraiture, one part creative planning and one part unintended interaction.  If any of these parts go missing, the ability to capture the candid moment disappears and you’re left with what will appear to be a posed photograph, one that looks forced or one that appears to be too photo-journalistic.
Because you, the photographer have the ability to act as set director and enabler for the people you’re shooting, you have an upper hand compared to a documentary photojournalist.  It is your responsibility to create or encourage the situations you want to capture, not relying solely on what could or might happen.

Photo Mean Memory

Are u agree that when u take a photo, that photo will become your memory???
For me, i WILL answer YES...
Because owe u take the photo, for the next minutes,next hours, next years all may be forever.
You can imagine that a day when you in the ages of 65years old, you open the older album,
you see your primary school's photo, you refresh back what you have did at that times.
Or may be u see ur secondary's school's photo, you think bac how sweet you are with your dear boyfriends.
On the other hands,  can be say in other ways.
When you loss a dear Grandmother, you can see the photo that when she still alive.
At least you still can feel your grandmother forever in your memory and deeper heart.
That why i very like take photo.
Photo means life, it mark down whatever we done in the world.
When I go outing i will take the best memory with my friend

When my grandmother's birthday, i also take a photo , so that i never forget her smile =)

When i boring i take pictures too.haha

I LOVE PHOTO, FOREVER LOVE.

How to Shoot Landscapes With Bright Cloud Cover

A common problem for landscape photographers is shooting during overcast conditions in which the cloud cover is effectively a light source. White or bright overcast cloud throws up the issue that the ground and the sky require two different settings in order to expose both properly. Expose for the ground and you get a washed out, highlighted sky. Expose for the sky and you get an under-exposed ground.
Assuming that you absolutely want to include the sky in your shot (not including the sky is sometimes the simplest solution), there are two main ways to attack this conundrum.

Photograph by Brook Peterson

Get Your Filter On
Almost every landscape photographer worth their salt will have a set of graduated filters for these (and other) conditions. The Cokin filter holders are popular among many DSLR users and hold the various graduated filters that a perfect for this situation.

Photo of an ND Grad Filter by Scalespeeder

Which filters will you need though?
For bright overcast skies with the ground darker, the obvious filter to use is a Neutral Density Graduated Filter (ND Grad). As these filters are graduated from dark to light (see image above), the effect is to darken the sky while keeping the ground at the same exposure. There are several that you should consider carrying in your pack.
The ND Grad 1 (ND 0.3) will darken the sky by one stop. The ND Grad 2 (ND 0.6) will darken it by two stops. Combined, the ND0.3 and ND0.6 will darken the sky by three stops. You can also get an ND Grad 3 (ND 0.9) which is also quite common in ND Grad filter kits. On a Cokin filter holder which has three slots, you can stack these in front of each other or use only one or two.
You can also get ND 2 Grads filters which have two different levels of graduation as well as a clear area at the bottom of the filter.
And finally, if you would like to draw specific attention to the horizon, then you can invert two of your ND Grad filters (ie. put one upside down) so that the sky and the foreground are both stopped down to give an effect similar to the photograph below. (You can also buy a single filter that’s graduated from both the top and the bottom to give the same effect). Notice how the top of the sky and the bottom of the foreground are darker and the horizon is brightest.

Photograph by Phil Price

For a great primer on using strong ND Grad filters, check out this article by Chris Gin, a New Zealand landscape photographer and friend of Light Stalking.
What If I Don’t Have a Filter?
If you don’t yet have any ND Grad filters, then there is another option!
Hopefully you have a tripod (alternatively, you can make sure you stabilise your camera some other way) and some post-processing software.
With this second option, you will need to take two images using different shutter speeds.
The first one, you expose so that the sky is properly exposed (the ground will be terribly under-exposed in most cases).
The second shot, you expose so that the ground is properly exposed with a longer shutter speed (the sky will usually be blown out with highlights).
Note: Leave the aperture and ISO the same for both shots. You don’t want different depth of field or noise for each shot. Change only shutter speed.
Next you will want to open both images in Photoshop and, after selecting one as your base, import the other so that you have two layers. (Simply open the second one, hit CTRL-A and CTRL-C, then open the base one and hit CTRL-V).
Use the eraser brush tool at a large size with a soft edge to simply erase the poorly exposed area of the top layer. This combines the well exposed ground with the well exposed sky.
Light Stalking’s Chistopher O’Donnell also has a good tutorial on combining layers over at the Photo Argus that is worth a read for an alternate method.
These are the two most basic ways to deal with overexposed and cloudy skies for landscape photography. It’s nothing particularly technical, but knowing these simple techniques can save you from the heartache of those blown out skies on overcast days.