A candid portrait is a photograph captured without a staged and posed appearance.  The subject is usually unaware of the image being taken.

The idea of a candid portrait is to capture people acting naturally. They should be unaware they are being photographed, as their behavior often changes once they become aware of the camera.

examples

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Case Study: Alfred Eisenstaedt

Eisenstaedt was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist, well known for his candid photography throughout the 20th century, documenting the rise of hitler and many other occasions throughout the war. He began his career before World War II, having first started photography at age 14, and in 1936 Eisensatedt became one of four original staff photographers for the new magazine at the time, ‘Life’. In Times Square (1945), VJ Day (Victory over Japan day) provided Eisenstaedt with the opportunity to capture the image he is likely most famous for.

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Photoshoot Plan

Who: Strangers/ acquaintances- ie: street photography

What: Subjects performing actions: Working, smoking, reading, on their phone etc.

Where: Workplaces, Schools, Town, Parks, Public spaces to avoid a breach of privacy

How: Daytime, full body portraits, half body portraits, possible headshots.

Photoshoot:

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Final image editing:

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Using photoshop, I aimed to enhance the vibrant colours of the market. I increased the vibrance and saturation of the image, as seen below.

I also experimented with black and white imaging. I ensured all the tones were different to create a highly contrasted image. (pictured below).

However, I felt as though the black and white filter caused the subject to blend into their environment, defeating the point of a portrait.

Final Image:

Rather than directing their subjects to pose in a certain way, candid photographers take their photos unbeknownst to the subject.

The subject’s environment is extremely vibrant, juxtaposed by the sombre expression and dull clothing the subject is wearing. The fruit in the foreground and colourful packaging behind encircle the subject, with the dark tones of their coat and hat enhancing

The lighting in the image is unnatural, with LED lights that act as horizontal leading lines as well as the shelving to direct the viewer’s eyes to the subject, and the structure directly behind them acts as a sort of frame within a frame, outlining the subject.

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For these images i opened up my original edited photo on Photoshop and used photo filters in image adjustments, selecting each different colour and increasing them to about 80% density. The first three are the primary colours, and the next three are the secondary colours. My favourite colour filters are the warmer tones, like red, orange and purple because they match the pink paint streak on my shirt and warms up my skintone

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Here i experimented with different dark filters. First was classic black and white which adds a defined aspect to any picture. I adjusted the contrast, shadows and highlights to the pre-set black and white setting. To invert i only used the invert filter in image adjustments, which gave it an alien, somewhat confusing and odd view. I chose threshold to blacken the image and give a silhouette feel, still with detail. I adjusted the levels and highlights, and made sure that specific details such as the sleeves and shoes were maintained, but opted to have a blacked out face