A photographer should take the time, every so often, to see things with his own eyes and not through the camera lens.  This sounds easy enough, but gives the irony of the photographer.  The photographer as the chronicler of the event is there as a third-party.  Not a participant, and not an observer, but a recorder of things.  In my view, to be a better chronicler of events, the photographer has two choices:  he has to know what is going to happen so he can prepare for the shot; or he can observe without immersing himself.

The wedding photographer is part of the former.  Today’s weddings and receptions (specially the reception) are setup affairs for the entertainment of the guests.  In this context the wedding photographer can orchestrate every move and shoot or re-shoot as needed.  This forces the photographer to re-create a wedding with every assignment, ending up with all the weddings looking the same.  The spontaneity of the picture would be almost missing.

For a more creative approach, or a novel approach, the photographer has to immerse himself in the event and understand what’s happening.  In this context, after a while, the amateur photographer has to let go of the camera and enjoy the celebration, or event.

Besides, there is a whole lot more fun in taking a picture which is not posed, nor expected.  Treat is as an exercise in creativity.

For candid shots, you need a telephoto lens, and/or a wide-angle lens.  Preferably, you should use an SLR (or DSLR).  But if you only have a point-and-shoot, then open it up to its maximum zoom.  Set the exposure for the lighting before-hand.  It’s necessary to set the exposure first, and allow the camera’s auto-focus feature to work when taking the shot.  This would result in faster focusing.  The aim of the exercise is to shoot fast.  When taking candid shots, you want the subject to stand out.  You can have the camera blur the background.   And double check that the flash is not set on auto-mode.

This takes lots of practice.  It also helps if you have a sense of humor, or an eye for capturing an unposed scene.  It would be good to have some practice in the wild, taking pictures of people, total strangers, in the mall, or at the park, and to do this unobtrusively.  With a wide-angle lens, you can take a picture without looking through the viewfinder.  It’s also particularly effective when taking pictures from a moving vehicle. And with a long telephoto, you can take a photo far away enough not to be noticed.

Candid photography is hard to come by.  And it is this freshness which a lot of ad photographers aspire to, putting a spin on an assignment, making the picture look more natural.  For the amateur, a candid photo is something which was not composed with the subject.  For a professional photographer, a candid photo is something very hard to capture even while it was set up to look that way.