What is Candid Wedding Photography?
Candid or Photojournalistic Wedding Photography is the buzzword in the Wedding photography industry today. Everyone who wants to book a wedding photographer wants to go beyond what a traditional photographer gives. Earlier no one had an option since there was only one type of Wedding Photographer. But since the advent of Candid Wedding photographers, the older category of wedding photographers who do not shoot in the Candid style are known as traditional Wedding Photographers. (You can read Difference between Candid & Traditional Photographers for further info on differences between the two.) We will try and explain candid photography by describing Candid Wedding Photographers & The Art of Candid Wedding Photography together.
A candid shot of the bride getting her hands adorned with henna. Check the full gallery here.
Definition
By definition, Candid wedding photography is that style of Wedding Photography that has the photographer photographing his subjects without them posing for shots, ie. clicking pictures of events as they happen. A candid photographer moves around in the crowd looking for emotions, smiles, happenings, memories or whatever you may call them. In short, they hunt & capture moments that happen in the wedding without interfering and making the guests/family/bride & groom pose.
Stealth Operators
Unlike a traditional photographer who will call out to the guests, guide them and will have a vocal presence at the wedding, the secret strength of a candid wedding photographer lies in his ability to remain inconspicuous. Guests by default have an allergy to photographers. The presence of a photographer can make them conscious, uptight and artificial. They will not let their guards down, lest the photographer get them in an odd un-poised moment that they later regret. This is natural tendency of all human beings. Skilled candid photographers understand this and work around guests with stealth, such that they don’t interfere with the natural emotions of the event.
The bride weeps as her mom consoles her. An example of a true Candid Photograph!
Capturing unadulterated Emotions
This is in a way an extension of the previous point. We believe that interference by a photographer adulterates the true emotions of a subject. Ask a weeping bride to pose for the camera & you have ruined a brilliant picture. But capture her as she looks at her parents & weeps and you have a winning shot!
Using off camera light in a way that makes pictures look totally natural, like a no artificial light was used at all!
Making the pictures look Natural
Another aspect of Candid photographers is they take artistic photographs using as much natural lighting as possible in contrast to the traditional photographers. Wedding Photography using ambient light is tricky since it might result in high noise blurry pictures if not done right. Where possible, photographers try and take pictures with off-camera light sources. Where the lighting is good, they avoid using artificial lights completely. This helps in giving more depth to the pictures rather than flat pictures that lack depth when the on camera mounted flash is used.
This kind of picture can only be taken by a photographer lying flat on the ground, a product of passion!
Fuelled by passion
Almost most of the top candid photographers who are our contemporaries whom we interact with on a regular basis through networks, events and working together are into this because they have been passionate about photography as an art and science. We ourselves had careers in Information technology that was overwhelmed by our passion for photography & art. 7 years later, this strong passion & an artistic sense has kept us going from strength to strength. This brings us to our next point, the artistic bent & eye.
Artistic Eye
A Candid Wedding Photographer will always have an artistic eye to for pictures. The most successful candid photographers have a good eye. A good eye makes good pictures. Unless you have a good eye, you will never be able to make good pictures, even after following all the rules a candid photographer must follow. Photography is a form of art, and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling himself. If you like the style of a particular kind of photographer, it is because he has a great eye for photography. We have observed this – almost all the successful candid photographers have a good eye.
Post Processing
Yes, post processing! This is a huge component of Candid Wedding Photography. The primary reason being Candid photographs have great scope for color balancing and adjustments compared to flat pictures with the flash fired on them. This is because of the depths caused by shadows in the candid style of taking a picture. A good candid photographer will always have great post processing skills too!
Conclusion
There is a strong correlation with correct framing, composition, depth & candid photography. Just by pure definition, Candid photography is the art of taking pictures in a Candid manner without interfering with the subjects. But candid photography is much more than this! The above points mentioned together describe the art of Candid Photography. Do check out more of our work on the website or the wedding guides to learn more about Candid Wedding Photography.
