The challenges of shooting candids at weddings

I was recently trying to pin down exactly what kinds of tactics I was employing when grabbing candids mainly at wedding receptions. Here are a few that I find that I use.

1. Engaged people are easier to photograph in candid fashion. Seek out pockets where people are focused on and talking with one another. Make good use of the time for which attractions (speeches, games) are garnering the attention of guests. To this end, encourage the B+G to make the rounds to each of the tables between courses.

2. Some guests are super paranoid and vigilant about spotting the camera (they then clam up !). If you've made eye contact with the subject you want to be shooting, pivot to act as if you're shooting another table. As you lift your eye from the camera, check back to see if the intended subject is relaxed again and not focusing on your presence. Grab the shot.

3. Try to stalk around with the camera down at your waist level as much as possible, reserving raising the camera up to your eye only when you're ready to grab the shot. Try to do most of your seeing not through the prism.

4. Shoot pre-shots from the hip. If you move to another part of the room with different lighting (or variables are changing with respect to your flash), take a test shot from the hip of, e.g. the table you're considering shooting. Then if needed, make adjustments. Then shoot the table. If you approach the table, shoot, realize you have to make an adjustment, it often happens that as a photographer you're exposed and lose the possibility for candid shooting at that table--at least for a while.

5. Watch the action and anticipate. See that girl laughing uproariously at that dude's joke ? You missed it the first time, but bank on it happening again. Set up for her and just wait it out for at least a few seconds before moving on. Remember that one great photo every minute is a fairly good success rate. Sometimes anticipating well means focusing on the right guest. If the bride is giving her speech, go find and focus on her parents for a few minutes.

6. I tend to prefer shooting candids at a shorter focal length (50mm on a full frame); but for the tougher tables / areas, I'll shoot long.

7. Especially if you're shooting with a fast lens, see if you can get away with not using focus-assist. Take some shots, assess your success rate at grabbing focus in that light.

8. Encourage moody lighting. Not only do guests generally prefer to party in an environment not resembling a supermarket, but it makes it far far easier to be sneaky.

9. If you have an assistant with you who doesn't need to be schlepping at that very moment, mill around talking to them as if you both are guests. While you're talking, watch for nearby subjects, raise the camera quickly, grab the shot, then focus on your assistant again. This tactic is ideal for the stand-up cocktail portion of the day.

10. If you do get caught by your subject just as you're grabbing a photo of them, keep focus, hold the camera in place as you raise your head, engage with them, be affable, and take the photo at a moment of maximum expression (recall: you're still not looking through the prism). People often don't think you're actually photographing UNLESS your camera is to your eye. Alternatively, if you're dealing with the mugging sort or a couple who actually wants to be shot. oblige them.

Feel free to add your own tactics to what is definitely not an exhaustive list.

Great list of tips here. I would say 80% of my brides request "good candid photos."

However, I don't employ number 3. Keeping my camera in a non-shooting position, I find I miss out on photos. I actually suggest keeping the camera at eye level as much as possible. One, it allows you to compose quicker, but two, it doesn't let your guests know when exactly you're taking a photo... so they get use to it.

I find that if you quickly swing your camera up to shooting position, you'll draw attention rather than already having it there. The one bad thing about this, is your arms get tired quickly... so be sure to use a light lens covering a 2 or 3 hour reception.

Cheers, Trent.

I'd say 100% of my brides want good candids. In fact, I'm getting an increasing number of couples who basically tell me that the emphasis for the reception should not be on them, but rather on guests. Basically this means that when the B+G are giving a speech, I'm grabbing 2 shots max of them for every 10 shots of guests I take during that period. Note that I shoot solo, so am not relying on second photographer photos.

Most of my receptions are between 4 and 5 hours so the idea of moseying around for that duration with my camera to my eye wouldn't be practical or kind to my wrist. I also spend most of my time looking for stuff with as wide of a fov as possible (wider than my lenses would allow), and only narrow that when I'm ready to take a shot. I mean, once I put my eye to camera, I will totally hang out there for even 10 seconds getting a decent framing or waiting for a moment. But in general, I spend 90% of my time looking for stuff with my eyes and 10% of it actually shooting--at least when I'm shooting candids.

I agree that sometimes when I swing the camera up (although I'm a pretty cat-like, flow-y mover) it can attract the attention of my intended subject. But that's when I'll rely on one or more of the other tactics I've listed.

I'm not a fan of candids. I find photos of people who aren't engaged with the camera boring. Mouths open during conversations, backs of heads, etc. Plus great candids are really difficult to shoot. I take very few candids, I tell couples this before they book and if they really want them I send them to other photographers. I know my style, and my strengths, and I don't want to photograph every wedding.

Anyone got any great candids they can post to help change my mind?

To me, candids are kind of "filler" photos. I'll shoot a fair amount at the ceremony and reception but it's never a show stopper if I don't shoot too many of them. I usually use my 70-200 for these types of photos and try to shoot them when they are engaged in some kind of conversation or perhaps reacting to speeches, etc.

I just walk around the room shooting and don't have tactics as such. A 70-200 + 1.4x extender on one body and a 50 on the other. No sneakiness etc. By the time the evening reception comes around I've already built a rapport with the guests from when I did the group and family photos. I normally get good ones of 90% of the guests there.

Well, if the subject is playing along, then it's not really a candid is it?

nicksan wrote in post #16332220
Well, if the subject is playing along, then it's not really a candid is it?

Who says they are playing along? They just aren't nervous etc about a guy wandering the room with a camera.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #16332244
Who says they are playing along? They just aren't nervous etc about a guy wandering the room with a camera.

The members who's post was removed. I wasn't responding to you. Should have quoted that member.

we shoot a lot of candids. But we are finding that the clients actually like couples shots in a more relaxed candid environment like a reception. So, we go around and snap couples shots and groups of people hanging out v/s trying to capture a lot of candids. Basically we see people together and ask them to smile for the bride and groom. Every wedding we got 150-200 shots of various guests smiling and looking happy and our clients love this........seems to work better than shooting real candids.

Also focus on the people who are likely to die sooner. Those photos more often than not mean a hell of a lot to a couple and their family.

Just to be clear about what I'm setting out to do when grabbing candids during the reception--my aim is NOT to treat the reception time as a time to ping off the guests one-by-one (or even in pairs) as if I'm just going around to get a photo, any photo, of every person in the room. I always tell my clients that my main imperative is to capture the atmosphere of that time as authentically as possible such that as a whole the photos do a decent job at answering the question: what really happened at our awesome party ?

I don't think that posed photos for which guests are prompted to look at the camera and smile really tell that story and answer that question. That kind of shooting seems like just 'cataloguing' to me--it's just too easy and results in a collection of photos that all look almost exactly the same and do zilch to tell a story. This isn't to say that I'm very good at getting unique and particularly compelling candids (that's obviously really, really hard given that most of the time the circumstances themselves aren't conducive to that), but I still have that as my goal.

That's a great point, Peter--I always make sure I know where those folks are seated.

I go opposite. I do 85 to 135 for candids because I can be further away and less likely for them to notice me and want to turn and cheese for the camera.

I like the 35 for the dance floor because I can get up in there with it.

Christopher Steven b wrote in post #16333302
I don't think that posed photos for which guests are prompted to look at the camera and smile really tell that story and answer that question. That kind of shooting seems like just 'cataloguing' to me--it's just too easy and results in a collection of photos that all look almost exactly the same and do zilch to tell a story. This isn't to say that I'm very good at getting unique and particularly compelling candids (that's obviously really, really hard given that most of the time the circumstances themselves aren't conducive to that), but I still have that as my goal.

+1 I find those shots to be really unauthentic when capturing the mood and atmosphere of the wedding day.

umphotography wrote in post #16332953
we shoot a lot of candids. But we are finding that the clients actually like couples shots in a more relaxed candid environment like a reception. So, we go around and snap couples shots and groups of people hanging out v/s trying to capture a lot of candids. Basically we see people together and ask them to smile for the bride and groom. Every wedding we got 150-200 shots of various guests smiling and looking happy and our clients love this........seems to work better than shooting real candids.

This is exactly my approach and the couples really appreciate and value these photos. I try my best to get to everyone, but that can be a challenge with larger weddings.

And I leave the "candids" for the dance floor.