Shooting Candid Photos
When I first started photography, it was candid photos that really helped me.
After I got my first camera, a Samsung NX 500, I tried to test it out be doing a little family photo session with my kids. They hated it! I was trying to pose everyone and get them to set still.
After a couple of emotional brake downs, I gave up and put the camera away.
The next time I tried to take photos of my kids, I decided to try something a bit different. Instead of posing everyone, I decided to just kind of fellow the kids around and hang out with them while taking some photos.
This was a game changer for me!
Here are some tips and tricks for taking candid photos, specificity of kids.
Taking Candid Photos
When I was taking candid photos of my kids, I would take them out to the barn yard to play with the animals or go play in the yard. This was great because I didn’t really have to tell them to do much of anything. They were distracted playing.
I wanted to try to mimic this in sessions with my clients. If I kid was giving us a hard time, I would try to find something for them to do to get their minds off of the camera. Give them something to interact with, a toy or a sibling or anything you can think of.
It’s always kind of heard for parents to understand when their kid starts misbehaving during a session and they are telling them to stop, look at the camera and smile. I tell them, "no, it’s ok, let them play". These are some of the best photos!
Taking Fake Candid Photos
This is more for adults but can work for kids too sometimes, and that is to have them look off into the distance past the camera. You can have them look up into the sky or down at the ground. You can also have them close their eyes or have them look just past the camera. Also, try telling them not to smile or crack a well-timed joke.
If there is more than one person in the photos, you can have them interact with each other depending on the relationship. Try asking them questions that require them to look at each other, like, what is the other person's eye color. This could trigger some strange looks at each other which could readily in some great laughs.
Conclusion
As always, practice makes perfect, so don't give up.
I hope this gives you some things to think about when it comes to getting some great candid photos!
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