GoingCandid

Going Candid…
How to jump into people’s faces…
I like candid portraits and I really go close. Up to about 3.5 feet is normally the
distance I go with my 50mm on my Nikon D7000. This gives pretty interesting
portraits and intensive looks of the strangers you shoot. I never ask neither
before nor after, because it will not be the same as a candid portrait:
"If you ask before, they look different into your camera.
If you ask afterwards, you have to delete a good photo."
But how do you get that close? Here are some tips I can give you.
The right place
It's important you do something like that in a very crowded area. Either at a
railway station, at bus stops, a festival or any other place where there are lots
of people. Another advantage is, when people are standing still. Moving people
are much more difficult to portrait. So ensure you get them somewhere
they have to stand still. Even a zebra crossing is a good place. They wait at the
red light and you can shoot them. You have to remember that they will always
tend to look into the direction where the cars, the buses or trams are coming
from. If you stand at the other side, they will not look into your camera. Be
sure to choose the right side regarding light and the direction they will look.
The right models
A candid portrait is one thing, a character face another. You have to find the
interesting faces. I like old people who have a face telling a story. Not the average
guy, people who stand out of the crowd. In big cities there are plenty of
them, you just have to watch out for them. Just walk around in the places
mentioned above and keep your eyes open. You will see them.