Capture better candid street photography images

The best candid street photos are natural, un-posed and capture real life as it should be. The best candid shots are raw and gritty. To capture this type of photo a street photographer needs to be discreet, stealthy and like a ninja. Street photographers need to blend in to the background and must have the ability to spot a photo opportunity, dial in the camera settings, take the shot and put the camera away quickly, efficiently and without being spotted.

Candid street photography isn’t easy and you have to be prepared to put in the time and effort to get great photos. Capturing great candid street photography shots is easier if you use the right equipment, and the right lens in particular.

Many photographers seem to be under the impression you get the best candid street photos staying a long way off the subject using a long reach tele lens to zoom in for a frame filling shot. This is one method but using a long reach lens seldom results in an engaging photo. The other problem with long tele lenses is they often attract unwanted attention as this set up looks suspicious.

Rather than using a long tele lens you should use a small and discreet lens with a shorter focal length and get in nice and close to the subject to get an engaging frame filling photo. Getting great candid street photography shots from close quarters is actually very easy and most subjects won’t even be aware what is going on. I say most subjects because there are always going to be one or two subjects who do realize and play up to the camera or act unnaturally.

If you use a small and discreet lens and change your approach so you get nice and close to the subject I guarantee your candid street photos will improve.

The lens I use for candid street photography is the Canon 40mm f2.8 STM lens (full review here)

Focal Length – Full frame/APS-C:- 35mm/ 42mm/ Aperture:- 2 - 22/ Min focus:- 9.4"/ Dimensions:- 3.07" x 2.46"/ Weight:- 11.8oz/ Image stabilization:- Yes/ Price (approx.) $USD/£ GBP:-$550.00/£445.00 

The reason I bought and use this lens for candid street photography is because of its size. Being a pancake lens this lens is tiny, light and doesn’t attract attention. I appreciate the f2.8 maximum widest aperture isn’t the best, but don’t let this put you off buying one. Camera shake should not been an issue (not least because this lens’ tiny dimensions) and the depth of field at f2.8 is more than sufficient to blur out the background.

The 40mm focal length may seem like a strange one but it is in fact very useful, and perfect for those times when the field of view of a 35mm lens is slightly too wide and the field of view of a 50mm lens is not wide enough.

All things considered this lens is fantastic and gives the biggest bang for the buck. For the price the image quality is awesome and the build quality very good and I struggle to see how Canon can make a profit on this lens.