Before you read any further, you might want to check out the first three parts of this series: Walking - pt. 1, The Moment After - pt. 2, and Posers - pt. 3.
Candid Moments
Today is going to be all about my thought process behind capturing candid moments. I did write a little bit about creating candid moments from what started out as posed moments in pt. 1 and pt. 2, but today I'm going to focus on moments that are actually candid. In other words, basically every image I make during the wedding day that happens outside the portrait sessions.
Jenny and Adrian
This first candid moment happened during Jenny's getting ready shots. Her mother surprised her with a necklace to wear that day.
I love this frame because I didn't have to tell you anything in the previous paragraph. It's clear from the picture exactly what is happening. A great image should be able to speak for itself, without the photographer standing over your shoulder explaining the moment to you. I included this image because it's a classic "candid moment". That is, a completely unposed, unplanned moment, captured photojournalism style.
Now, in these next few images, I'm going to try to break the mold of what a candid image can be.
Here, Jenny and Adrian are walking though a garden area during a quite time before their ceremony. I suppose this image could be considered posed because half the reason they were walking through the garden was so that they could have photographs and video taken of them.
Natalie and Sean
I loved this huge mirror in Natalie's waiting room before the ceremony. Then when all her bridesmaids crowded around her and started fussing with her hair, I knew there was a moment here I had to catch.
Ryan and Sarah
This candid image is a mixture of luck and skill, like I suppose many images at a wedding are. What really makes this image sing is the setting. Ryan and Sarah chose to have their wedding at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal. The dome of glass behind them let in amazing light all afternoon, and then during the time of the evening when the dance floor is usually crowded with dancers, people just cleared off and made room for Ryan and Sarah. The sky outside hadn't gone completely dark yet and I was able to expose it a couple stops below Ryan and Sarah. I love the reflections in the window of mostly just Ryan and Sarah over and over again. No one else was lit up because my lights weren't pointed at anyone else. Also, Ryan's head is positioned perfectly inside one of the squares of glass - completely uninterrupted. The light turned out working well too, which was a huge pain to achieve inside a glass ceilinged dome.
I really didn't give them any instructions though, and I just let them walk and enjoy each other, so this is at least close to candid. In this image, I decided to focus on the tree branches above them in the foreground. This is one example of trying to take a candid moment and see it in an artistic way. There is never much time to do this, but it's a good challenge to add visual variety to candid moments.
Natalie and Sean
I loved this huge mirror in Natalie's waiting room before the ceremony. Then when all her bridesmaids crowded around her and started fussing with her hair, I knew there was a moment here I had to catch.
Any time there is a mirror in a room, I'm going to find a way to use it. They just naturally add so much interest to the final image. Here, I like that the mirror multiplies the number of girls bent over Natalie, and it also allows us to see her face and get a hint of the architecture in the room.
Ryan and Sarah
This candid image is a mixture of luck and skill, like I suppose many images at a wedding are. What really makes this image sing is the setting. Ryan and Sarah chose to have their wedding at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal. The dome of glass behind them let in amazing light all afternoon, and then during the time of the evening when the dance floor is usually crowded with dancers, people just cleared off and made room for Ryan and Sarah. The sky outside hadn't gone completely dark yet and I was able to expose it a couple stops below Ryan and Sarah. I love the reflections in the window of mostly just Ryan and Sarah over and over again. No one else was lit up because my lights weren't pointed at anyone else. Also, Ryan's head is positioned perfectly inside one of the squares of glass - completely uninterrupted. The light turned out working well too, which was a huge pain to achieve inside a glass ceilinged dome.
So, while this image of Sarah and Ryan dancing had a lot to do with luck, it also wouldn't have worked if I didn't have the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, lens, on camera flash, and off camera flash dialed in to where I needed them before the moment happened. Mastery of equipment allows lucky moments to happen.
Heather and Dave
Even though this final image is candid, I still spent about five minutes setting it up. I took Mindy outside with me to test my flash strength both on camera and off camera (you can see the rays of light from the off camera flash coming down above Dave's head.) I knew they were going to be moving and I knew they were going to have lines of people on either side of them. I decided to close down the aperture of a wide angle lens in order to get the crowd more in focus and run backwards about 10 feet in front of them the last half of the exit.
Heather and Dave
Even though this final image is candid, I still spent about five minutes setting it up. I took Mindy outside with me to test my flash strength both on camera and off camera (you can see the rays of light from the off camera flash coming down above Dave's head.) I knew they were going to be moving and I knew they were going to have lines of people on either side of them. I decided to close down the aperture of a wide angle lens in order to get the crowd more in focus and run backwards about 10 feet in front of them the last half of the exit.
The shot worked, and again thinking though this candid moment ahead of time and understanding how my equipment works enabled me to get the shot I had planned on.
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