How To Photograph The Beauty In Everyday Life

Photography was invented to capture the present moment and the everyday life that goes with it. Afterwards, people realized the useful and artful qualities of photography. More and more types of photography were invented. But candid photography, the realistic photography of everyday life, remains one of the most popular types It may seem simple to photograph what’s next to you. You just have to point and shoot. But great photographs need a good observer. They need someone who understands what’s happening and knows perfectly how to transform a common subject into a star. Here are some tips to help you master the art of photographing everyday life.

Finding the Best Subjects

Finding subjects for everyday life photography shouldn’t be too complicated. From domestic objects to street snapshots, everything is what we call everyday life. You can take your camera and walk into a park or a village. Observe people going to work, playing with children, walking their pets, and doing their housework. Observe street artists, shops, local markets, and cafes. Look for stories. The key to finding best subject for candid photography is to observe common subject with the eye of a movie maker. Storytelling is essential. Look for characters. Besides actions, gestures and face expressions are also good subjects. If you take the time to notice, the world around you is full of drama.

Traveling

Traveling will always help you find subjects for candid photography. What for local people seems a common thing or action, for you will look exotic (for example, fishing in Greece). New things attract our attention better than things we are used to. We are more careful, more interested, and we focus more on the surroundings. We travel to explore and to fill out portfolio with amazing images. Psychological speaking, we are more open to discover new aspects of life. Travel photography doesn’t necessarily mean to climb the Everest. It means basically going to a new place, even if it’s just the next village or a neighborhood you’ve never visited before.

Finding the Best Angle

Candid photography relies deeply on composition. You don’t have an unique subject, so how you frame it is very important. Try different angles and perspectives in order to make things interesting. Photograph from above or from below, get really close or rotate the camera in an unusual way. Use large resolutions to have room for editing later (just in case you need it). Observe a series of images representing the same subject in different perspectives and decide which one suits it best. After practicing for a while, it will come naturally.

Be Fast

Everyday life happens fast, especially if you photograph streets and people. You have to set the camera fast and this means knowing it by heart. You also have to quickly decide on perspective, framing, and exposure. Don’t overcrowd your images. Try to have simple, clean frames, with only a subject or two. One of the best feature of a photograph is its balance. Balance applies to dimensions, colors, shapes, geometrical features, and even to lights and shadows. Always think of where in the image you want you viewer’s eye to land. All these decisions need to be made very fast. As always, practice is very important. You can start with still images of your everyday day life and then advance to moving items.

Some say that photography is an artistic talent, which you are born with. It’s true, some people find it natural to choose the best framing and see the best subjects. But even for them, practice and a solid knowledge of camera using are defining. You’ ll also see that masters of photography very often return to candid photography (even when they are fashion photographers or surrealist artists). This is because the very essence of photography stays in little, common stories, that make our everyday life.