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How To Take Candid Photos Of Your Clients

bride and bridesmaids laughing with each other

Lets talk about that moment a client requests “mostly candid moments, please” for their portrait session.  Does that summon dread?   I remember when this would happen to me and a familiar knot would occur in my stomach and I would think, “Well crap, how am I supposed to get candid moments from these people who already feel awkward in front of my camera?”

Lets face it, lifestyle photography is all the rage.  And I totally see why.  When photographers catch us in a candid moment, we love it.  Our expressions are so natural and it makes the photo feel super true.  There is something so powerful about a true, and not staged, expression.  I dunno what is.  Don’t ask me guys, I flunked psychology.

The Problem

But let me lay it out, primary photographers have a crazy hard time getting candid expressions because our clients are hyper aware that we (and our cameras) are present.

When the tables are turned and I’m in the rare instance of being in front of a camera instead of behind, I am super sensitive to the knowledge that someone is photographing me.  And all of a sudden all of my movements become stiff, and I start holding myself in a way in which I think will look best and all of my expressions become canned.  And I am someone who is constantly around other photographers so I can’t imagine how awkward the experience must be for my clients who are rarely in front of a professional camera.  I struggled for years with the request from clients of having mostly candid photos, and I envied my secondary photographers because they were constantly getting those amazing lifestyle shots.

The Answer

The solution came for me when I started to realize that a photo session is all about experience.  The experience is what adds value to our photography, and people buy photos that were taken during a great experience.  I mean, no one takes photos or wants photos during a bad experience.  Have you ever seen a professional photographer be hired for a funeral?  Maybe rarely, but most often not, because we don’t want to remember ourselves while going through a bad time.

The same is true for photo sessions.  I’ll say it one more time, what makes a photo valuable to a client is the emotion that is evoked when they look at the photo caused by the experience they were having at the time the photo was taken.

Boom, there it was.  I needed to create a great experience for my clients, which in turn would cause me to create awesome photos.

And so, like a bolt of lightening from the sky, or from Lord Voldemort’s wand, it hit me.  I needed to create instances for my clients to interact with each other, creating candid moments, while also causing my clients to have fun.

Photo Session Mini Games

I call these instances ‘Posed Candids’.  I am sure I’m not the first person to come up with the term, and if you’re reading this, and you’re the genius that came up with this term drop me a line so I can start calling them “Posed Candids: A genius invention by so-and-so”.

Anyway, the way I create posed candids is by giving my clients mini games.  Posing is all about having control over the photo session, which, as professional photographers, we should always be exercising, so though the moments are candid, posing is still very important.  Let me lay out the set-up for you:

  1. Spot a gorgeous locale with pretty light

  2. Set my couple up in gorgeous locale with pretty light

  3. Pose my couple in a flattering manner

  4. Cause them to interact with each other

“Ok Danette, but how do you, as you put it, ‘cause them to interact with each other’?!”  Glad you asked.  I come up with mini games.  Whether its having the groom whisper something funny into the bride’s ear, or having the couple blurt out random likes and dislikes to each other, I give them games that are silly enough to cause them to inadvertently laugh.  Then I get shots like this:

couples surprising each other

Having one of your clients surprise the other from behind always elicits a fun candid moment. Left, the groom snuck up behind his bride-to-be. Right, bride-to-be surprises her fiancee with a raspberry on the cheek

Or This:

groom lifts bride into the air

Client Direction (given secretly to groom): “When I say ‘go!’, lift her suddenly into the air!”

And even sometimes, this:

brides and grooms laughing

Sometimes there will be a genuine moment. Be sure your camera is up and at the ready!

So there you have it.  Mini games.  They’re wonderful.  And two-fold, because not only will they cause you to get some gorgeous “candid” moments, the mini games are also causing your clients to have a great time.  And that, my friends, is one of my biggest tricks during my photo sessions.  And the experience, ultimately, is the most important aspect of a photo session, right next to giving your clients beautiful photos.  Right?  Right.

Before your next photo session, sit down and think of some fun scenarios and games that you can play with your clients.  The list can go on and on, and it’ll make for some awesome, and sometimes funny candid moments.  You’re welcome.

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