Candid street photography: lose your inhibitions and shoot portraits with impact

Candid street photography: lose your inhibitions and shoot portraits with impact

All images by Ben Birchall

Candid street photography is quite possibly the hardest discipline to nail. Even the best street photography tips, while improving your camera techniques, will struggle to help you overcome your natural inhibitions of getting in someone’s face with your camera. Find out below how you can make some simple changes to your approach and start shooting street portraits with more impact.

 

The fear of embarrassment when photographing people in a public place, combined with rushing adrenaline makes a heady cocktail for disaster. But fear not, help is here: fit a long lens (around 200mm), choose a high ISO above 200, select an Overall metering pattern, switch to Shutter or Aperture Priority mode and keep the Continuous shooting mode active.

Now your camera’s ready – a ‘fire and forget’ weapon that enables you to pick out subjects without worrying about settings, leaving your mind free to make more creative choices, such as framing and timing.

In the UK we all have the right to take pictures of people in public places, so if you’re brave enough, dare to get a little closer. The natural candid element you’ll sacrifice if spotted will be offset by the fantastic frame-filling street portrait you’ll capture if you can use your charm to get your subject to pose.

How to get close to your subject

Some of the best people pictures, especially street portraits, will come by getting close and within a few feet of your subject.

Begin shooting from a distance on a long lens but slowly approach your subject, recomposing to get tighter portraits and wider shots.

Long focal length

 

Short focal length. Our image at the top of this page shows the effect of a long focal length shot close-up.

If your subject sees you and knows you’re taking their picture they’ll clam up. At this point you’ll have to decide whether to carry on shooting.
If you do decide to, lowering the camera and smiling works wonders. Engage them in lively conversation and they’re usually more than happy for you to carry on.

The best locations for candid street photography

This huge mirrored globe in Bristol’s dockside area is a well-photographed piece of architecture. We waited patiently from a distance until someone came along to take a snap of their reflection.
Fortunately for us, the boy stood on a bollard to take his picture, providing ample interest. We focused on him quickly, recomposed and fired the shutter to grab the shot.
Not all candids have to be tight with frame-filling people. Find photo locations where people interact with the surroundings or each other.
Maybe there’s a favourite bench in your local park where lunching workers take a nap? Wherever you choose try to capture an action ‘moment in time’ rather than a static person shot. Look for colour and interesting features to help keep the interest levels high and to grab a viewer’s attention.

Street entertainers
 
We all love to shoot street entertainers and musicians, especially when visiting other countries or cities. They make fantastic street portraits because they’re colourful, animated and, above all, used to having their picture taken.
Use the ‘fire and forget’ settings for the same creative freedom to compose and frame properly.

Get down to the entertainer’s head height for more intimate-looking shots. Don’t be afraid to bend down, kneel or even sit on the floor to get the results. Nobody ever died from embarrassment or a dirty bum!
There’ll be plenty of action so keep firing away on Continuous mode, focusing on the all-important face and eyes. And don’t forget to grab a few wide-angle shots too.