Candid Friend Portraits

I took a trip down to my hometown (Ft. Lauderdale) to visit my parents and hang out with some old friends. The first one is a long-time friend of mine, Rob. We were in my parents backyard having a couple drinks. The second one is my girlfriend Megan who made the trip with me. We were out for a Saturday night dinner with my parents. The last two are my close friend Brad, or Brother Brad a I like to refer to him. Those were taken in his amazing backyard garden.

Enjoy, and as always, C&C is welcome.


Candid Friend Portraits - Rob by FLWill, on Flickr


Candid Friend Portraits - Megan by FLWill, on Flickr


Candid Friend Portraits - Brad by FLWill, on Flickr


Candid Friend Portraits - Brad by FLWill, on Flickr

They all actually came out quite good......for snapshots. My favourite for lighting, comp, bokeh....would be the first one, of Rob.

Thanks for the input. What would make the others better? The second one was taken at dusk and I tried to add some fill from the pop-up flash but had to edit it a bit in LR to make it decent. The last 2 were taken outside in the shade where the fill was a bit overpowering. Composition-wise, I tried to make them all very similar incase they came out good and I wanted to start a "set" of candid portraits of my friends. I wasn't really going for "bokeh" in any of these. I know I shouldn't but I do take a little offense to these being referred to as "snapshots" as I put a lot of time in editing these and the "subjects" are very close to me, so I wanted to make some photographs that spoke to that instead of just some snapshots of us all hanging out.

I know it doesn't matter but my favorite is the last one. It's all in the eyes...

I like the face in the one of your girlfriend. I was reading an article about high contrast lightingthis week and this ones reminds me of the ones I saw in the article. The only downside is the background. A little PP might reduce the focus on it.

Will, I'm curious as to why you had them looking away from you instead of at you and interacting with you. It's very clear in the last pic that Brad was fighting the urge to look at you. As they are, the photos lack any kind of authentic emotion, the poses are stiff. Eyes are so important in portraits. Unless there is something really powerful going in the scene, you almost always have to have the eyes visible, and looking at or toward the camera. My favorite of the group is the third one. It shows part of his environment, you're got a little bit of nice lighting on his hair, now imagine if he were laughing and looking at the camera.

Helene, I labelled them "candid" because in each shot they were immersed in conversation with someone else, hence the looking away from the camera. I know they eyes are the most important part of a portrait and thats why I'm a fan of the last 2. In the last pic, Brad was so deep in conversation with Megan that I doubt he even noticed me.

Thanks for the input! No need to take it easy on me, I'm always looking for ways to improve my photography. I'm terrible at portrait photography and really took these shots to try out some PP techniques I've been learning about. To hear that someone likes even just one of the shots is an accomplishment to me. My comp is a little messed up at the moment but I've been taking a bunch of new portraits so hopefully I'll get some usable ones out of the next batch. Won't know until my computer is fixed and I can see the screen again. :\

Will.....believe me, I wasn't trying to be offensive at all......just wanted to convey to you what "I" saw in those shots. To me, there's a big difference between "snapshots" and "portraits", and I just don't see those as portraits. You don't learn portrait photography over night. It takes a lot of trial and error to get it right, and even then the learning never ends. I've been doing photography for 40 years, and I'm still learning!
Don't be discouraged by criticism and comments by me or anyone else. It's all part of the process of improving and perfecting your craft. You're on the right track...........just needs a little more polishing.
Oh......and everything Helene said is spot on. This lady knows what she's talking about, believe me!

Candid photography: It's straightforward, unaltered, and taken without the subject's knowledge. Timing is everything when you are taking candid photos because you are trying to capture someone's "essence" in a single decisive moment. Maybe it's the old grumpy guy who secretly cracks a smile as a pretty girl walks by or a busy mom catching a few winks on a park bench. I think what we all see in the above photos is the result of trying too hard and/or waiting too long. These all look like you've been discovered and the gig is up. They appear to be posed.

When you are lurking and waiting, it's important that your subject remains as natural as possible. People have fight or flee reactions to the camera. They're either going to start hamming it up (which can also be good sometimes) or they're going to become visibly tense because of your presence. Either way, you have lost the candid aspect of the photo.

I took several photos of Abe Lincoln here at a heritage festival this weekend. I was looking for that one crowning jewel that defined the real man. To me at least, in this photo I see a man lost in his own thoughts. His mind is clearly somewhere else. The Abe Lincoln 30 seconds before this photo was interacting with the crowd, shaking hands, and smiling. Here, the brow is drawn. The lines on his face lengthen and the mood is much more somber. This is the keeper.

I want to share a candid shot of my friend, since that is name of this thread.

One of my instructor buddies at the motorcycle race track.
View attachment 5412

I like the turn that this thread has taken. More pics!!