Want an awesome candid photo? Simplify to capture the essence of the scene. Simplify the subjects and background.
Why are you taking the candid in the first place? It’s to capture a true memory of the scene. Although the photo above does document what was occurring at a particular moment in time, I have no desire to actually look at the photo. Why? It’s that intangible lack of emotion.
Simplify the subject
Candid photos have the most impact when there is only one or two subjects. This is not to say you can’t take a photo with more than one person. But you have to crop the photo later in Photoshop.
Simplify the background
Have a bunch of extraneous people or clutter in your background? Either zoom in before you press the shutter, or crop them out later.
Cute fan, but seems a bit crowded
Let’s punch this scene up a bit by cropping out some of the other Tigers fans.
Go Team!
Now we can see who is the subject of our photo.
Another way to simplify your background is blur it.
Now we're talking!
To give you a feel for the shot, I took the original, cropped it, cut out the subject, and blurred the background. Easy in Photoshop. But it would be easier still if I had composed the shot correctly before pressing the shutter.
Candid shots can really stand out when both the background and number of subjects is simplified.
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