Candid of a 7 year old C&C Welcomed

Just out of curiosity, how do you define the difference between a candid and a posed shot? I ask because this seems to be a posed shot to me.

I call this candid because I was hanging out in his room just watching him while he was showing me stuff and chatting. There was no direction to him on my part... I just caught a moment with him.

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Originally Posted by Mike Buckley

Just out of curiosity, how do you define the difference between a candid and a posed shot? I ask because this seems to be a posed shot to me.

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Originally Posted by KimC

Would be interested to hear a few of the rules you consider to be most important Manfred.

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None of them. I find that a holistic (whole picture) approach works best for me.

I posted a reply to a similar question on the following thread (https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/fo...ead49336-2.htm), but will copy it here to make it easier to find:

"You missed my point, Izzie. Anyone who has looked at composition runs across these terms, so my response bordered on the silly, but then cynicism does not always come across particularly well in the written word. I know what they are and of course as Ted has pointed out, they have been around for a long time.

I've read all kinds of books and articles on composition. Earlier on this year I took both a photographic composition course and a photographic portfolio development course at the local community college in order to hone my compositional skills. The most important thing I learned about the rules of composition can be summed up as:

"The rules of composition work, except when they don't".

In my experience photographers go through three stages when it comes to composition:

Stage 1 - Novice - generally create mediocre to average images, with the occasional standout. They eventually figure out they don't know why they get the occasional standout, but hear about "good composition", so then...

Stage 2 - Intermediate - Study up on composition (as well as improving their technical skills). They find that both of these things result in "better" images, but things are still hit and miss. Even though they slavishly follow the rules of composition, their images really are not as good as they would like them, but the number of "keepers" goes up from what they had when they were novices. They even start noticing that some of their best shots have come about by "breaking the rules of composition". This is their breakout moment.

Stage 3 - Competent photographer (Advanced?) - these photographers have outgrown slavishly following the rules of composition and recognize "a good shot". More often than not, they are quite familiar with their camera and how get the best out of it. They recognize that they need to look at the whole image; how the viewer will see it and how they will lead the viewer into the image. Some of the rules of composition might still be in use, but rather than looking at the Golden Rule, the Rule of Thirds, Diagonals, etc, they will start seeing the image in its entirety and "designing" their shot using a holistic approach.


I can honestly say, my photography improved immensely when I realized I reeded to ignore the rules of composition and just work on images that looked good. Start looking at good images by the great photographers and I think you will find that many of their works break the compositional rules that we have learned about. "

Hello to you Sir :-) Thank you very much for your comment. I agree about the crop too.

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Originally Posted by Otavio

Hello, Kim. Long time no "see". I liked your portrait and it looks quite a lot better after Dave+Mike crop suggestions, IMO. It brought more viewer's attention to his beautiful eyes.

Nice job!

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Thank you Manfred for reposting the response here.

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Originally Posted by GrumpyDiver

None of them. I find that a holistic (whole picture) approach works best for me.

I posted a reply to a similar question on the following thread (https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/fo...ead49336-2.htm), but will copy it here to make it easier to find:

"You missed my point, Izzie. Anyone who has looked at composition runs across these terms, so my response bordered on the silly, but then cynicism does not always come across particularly well in the written word. I know what they are and of course as Ted has pointed out, they have been around for a long time.

I've read all kinds of books and articles on composition. Earlier on this year I took both a photographic composition course and a photographic portfolio development course at the local community college in order to hone my compositional skills. The most important thing I learned about the rules of composition can be summed up as:

"The rules of composition work, except when they don't".

In my experience photographers go through three stages when it comes to composition:

Stage 1 - Novice - generally create mediocre to average images, with the occasional standout. They eventually figure out they don't know why they get the occasional standout, but hear about "good composition", so then...

Stage 2 - Intermediate - Study up on composition (as well as improving their technical skills). They find that both of these things result in "better" images, but things are still hit and miss. Even though they slavishly follow the rules of composition, their images really are not as good as they would like them, but the number of "keepers" goes up from what they had when they were novices. They even start noticing that some of their best shots have come about by "breaking the rules of composition". This is their breakout moment.

Stage 3 - Competent photographer (Advanced?) - these photographers have outgrown slavishly following the rules of composition and recognize "a good shot". More often than not, they are quite familiar with their camera and how get the best out of it. They recognize that they need to look at the whole image; how the viewer will see it and how they will lead the viewer into the image. Some of the rules of composition might still be in use, but rather than looking at the Golden Rule, the Rule of Thirds, Diagonals, etc, they will start seeing the image in its entirety and "designing" their shot using a holistic approach.


I can honestly say, my photography improved immensely when I realized I reeded to ignore the rules of composition and just work on images that looked good. Start looking at good images by the great photographers and I think you will find that many of their works break the compositional rules that we have learned about. "

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Very nice image Kim, I like the lighting :)

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Originally Posted by KimC

. . . I created a great rapport with the 7 year old . . . decided to play creatively with a few. I processed this image to be a bit moody and focus on his beautiful face. . . I call this candid because I was hanging out in his room . . . There was no direction to him on my part. . . I just caught a moment with him.

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You nailed the Moment.

You nailed the Available Light.

In the greater part of it, this image exhibits best nuanced Post Production apropos the enhancement of the portrait art, of all your work which I have viewed.

You've raised Your Standard to the next Level, in this specific Genre of The Craft.

Brava.

WW

Thanks for taking the time to comment Binnur -- appreciate it.

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Originally Posted by bnnrcn

Very nice image Kim, I like the lighting :)

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Thanks for commenting Bill. I have been working hard to get to that next level; so it's nice to hear I'm making progress :-) !

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Originally Posted by William W

You nailed the Moment.

You nailed the Available Light.

In the greater part of it, this image exhibits best nuanced Post Production apropos the enhancement of the portrait art, of all your work which I have viewed.

You've raised Your Standard to the next Level, in this specific Genre of The Craft.

Brava.

WW

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Gorgeous image! Your work is beautiful!

Thank you for your comment Christina. Nice to have you back on the forum.

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Originally Posted by Brownbear

Gorgeous image! Your work is beautiful!

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I firmly like the crop , it simply emphasizes his facial features more so.

Agreed Raymond. Thanks for commenting.

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Originally Posted by selig1656

I firmly like the crop , it simply emphasizes his facial features more so.

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