4th Blog Post, First Published November 29, 2015, as a Newspaper Column.
(This post needs to have the photos and some additional text added and I’lll do that as soon as possible).
Hi, and welcome to the photo Blog, “(High)-Light & Shadow.”
Thanksgiving has come and gone, but more holidays are just around the corner, which means “Tis the Season” to photograph family and friends in all sorts of situations. So, today, I’ll talk about some helpful tips when photographing people.
Take a quick look at some family photos through the years, and choose the ones you like best from those you aren’t too crazy about, without counting poor lighting, focus and exposure as reasons to dismiss any photos. Try to determine what it is about the PEOPLE that makes some photos better than others?
Most likely, the people in the ones you like appear more relaxed and more themselves, while they look more fake, stiff or posed in then ones you like less.
The suggestions below apply best to situations that are spontaneous, conversational, interactive and/or filled with emotions. These tips are intended to help you learn new ways to catch “THE moment,” those elusive candid photos, as they happen, and in the natural, un-posed manner we’re wanting to photograph, thereby helping to increase our enjoyment of photographing people and of the resulting photos of them.
“As they happen” is the key. The key is to learn to LET the candid moments happen on their own, without our involvement in those moments and without our subjects being aware, or too aware, that our camera is on them.
Use Longer Lenses
The first tip to achieving these results is to use a longer lens, or a longer setting on a zoom lens, to move us further away from the subjects and out of their conscious thoughts, allowing them to act more naturally. When photographing events or family, I usually use a semi-long to a long telephoto setting on my 50-300mm zoom lens. This choice allows me to shoot close-up shots from 10 to15 feet or more away from my subjects so I basically blend into the background of their view and my subjects usually have no idea I’m photographing them.
Be a Fly-On-the-Wall
The second tip is to be sure not to draw attention to ourselves. This is related to the first tip, but whether we are close to our subjects or not, we are more likely to get better shots if we allow the subjects attention to remain on whatever they are doing rather than on the fact that we are photographing them. When we photograph family and friends at various holidays, birthdays and other events, our goal is usually to record our loved ones participating in the event, so the less involved we , the photographers, are in what our subjects are doing, the more candid and natural their expressions and body language will be in those photos.
Anticipate Your Shots
The last tip is to anticipate the moment to release the shutter. This tip has four basic parts to it. First, as you see a situation you want to photograph, quickly adjust any camera settings you need to change for that shot so you aren’t still fumbling with them when the moments happen.
Next, quickly check the scene for any distracting elements in the foreground and background, adjusting your vantage point to remove all or most of the distractions from the frame.
Third, quickly compose the scene in the camera and then fourth, patiently wait for the shot to happen and then, capture the moment.
A powerful way to learn how to anticipate the moment is to observe life around us and especially to observe peoples’ mannerisms, expressions and movements. Observe how people act in different kinds of circumstances. Watch how people move their heads and their eyes when in conversation, how they fidget, how they laugh, how often they blink, etc., etc., etc. Observe life, in your mind or through your camera, patiently waiting for the shot to happen and then release your mind’s or camera‘s shutter as the moment reveals itself to you. And then stay in your position waiting for a few more moments to happen so you can capture them too.
If you really want a good photo of a situation, it’s best to shoot a number of shots because of all the little things that can reduce a photo’s aesthetic value. A blink lasts around 2/5 of a second and in a group of 4 or 5, you are likely to catch someone blinking in perhaps one in every 4 or 5 shots, and capturing any part of a blink is unflattering to that person.
I hope you got some good photos over Thanksgiving, and that these tips will help you get even better photos at some of the upcoming holiday events.
So till next time, keep your eyes open, your camera handy and your imagination flowing.
Thanks!!
HighLight & Shadow 