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Taking Spontaneous Photos And Portraits

By Craig Ellyard

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 26Jul2009
Word count: 438
Viewed: 263 time(s)

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Taking spontaneous or natural photos form the majority of pictures taken by amateur photographers. That won’t come as a shock to anyone as a natural or candid picture covers virtually any photo that isn’t arranged as a pose.

Spur of the moment portraits, taken without prior planning and the use of a tripod, are the easiest photos to take but can produce some very good, and often unexpected, results. This often happens when we are just out and about with our camera on the off chance of something interesting happening.

Quite often some the best informal portraits are taken at weddings. With plenty of relaxed people around, with the possible exception of the bride and groom, and lots of social interaction going on there will always be endless opportunities for taking the un-posed or surprise shot. The best photos are invariably taken when people aren’t even aware that they are photographed. Interestingly, even professional photographers are now making more and more use of spontaneous or candid photos when they have been commissioned to shoot a wedding.

Of course the problem with taking spontaneous photos is that quite often you aren’t really sure of exactly what you have managed to capture until you preview the photo on the cameras LCD screen. Hopefully, there will be revealed a great shot full of character and impromptu humour.

Unfortunately though quite often all that will be revealed is an indistinct tangle of people with the main subject nowhere to be seen. If that happens, and it will, then just shrug your shoulders, delete the failed photo and move on in search of your next shot.

Although candid photos usually come from a spontaneous moment they can still be planned to some degree to remove the uncertainty about getting the exact image that you want to capture. Try and anticipate your subject movement and how a certain situation might evolve. It is important to use the right focal length for the shot you are trying to create. To lessen the impact of the background use a telephoto lens but for group shots or make a feature of the background a wide lens is best. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with using the camera in a landscape style instead of the usual upright position. Another tip for getting the most from your spontaneous photos is to make more use of the background.

Don’t always try and make the subject ‘big’ in the shot, let the background into the picture. This helps to create context and a sense of scale and will improve your more candid photos enormously.

Insight Photographers are based in Hull, East Yorkshire and are specialsts in wedding photography, corportae work, head shots and portrait photography

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