What are good lenses for candid photographs?

Any lens may be used for candids. Candid photographs are simply unposed, relaxed photographs caught "on the fly." Candid doesn't necessarily mean paparazzi-style 600 mm shots squeezed off like a sniper from a rooftop, although if you're thinking like a paparazzo then a 500 or 600 mm might be the ticket, or even a telescope adapter. But what really makes a good candid is a relatively unobtrusive photographer working to be as inconspicuous as possible. This often means pushing your ISO up and accepting some "grain" or "pixilation" as the price of getting the shot.

As any wedding or press photographer can tell you, candids are just unposed pictures of people, and they may be made with any focal length of lens and even a flash depending on the circumstances. From personal experience, I did quite well at receptions and cocktail parties working only with a short 35-105 mm zoom with 400 speed film and a small flash mounted well above the camera. If I had an angle on a small group but no room to back up, I could zoom out to 40 mm or so and make a grab shot. Even when the flash fired they usually had no idea I was there since they were focused on their conversation. If I wanted something a tad more posed, I could call their attention ("Hey, folks, look this way a second …") and be ready to squeeze off the shot the instant they all instinctively turned and smiled. If I wanted to pick off head shots, I'd zoom out to a little longer focal length, always consistent with how much room I had behind me in a crowded reception, and again the subject usually never even noticed the flash. If the light was good enough, I'd turn off the flash and work with the available light.

For a truly candid look it's best to shut off the flash and work at using the light available to capture people doing whatever it is they are doing without their paying any attention to the camera. If they're talking, photograph them talking. Or working. Or just thinking. The best candids are of people doing something that occupies their attention rather than their attention being occupied by the camera. This is the essence of the candid, and the focal length used doesn't matter so long as it gets the job done. The key is to get the subject relaxed enough to pay no attention to the Elephant in the Room - the camera.

Cameras thus should be small, light and above all quiet. Street photographers will work with a variety of lenses, and there is no one "good" lens. The legendary Henri Cartier-Bresson, who practically invented street photography, worked with tiny Leicas wrapped with black electrical tape to make them more unobtrusive and normal 50 mm or slightly wide 35 mm lenses. He despised flash, calling its use equivalent to "taking a pistol to a concert." He used black and white high speed film exclusively, working on processing techniques to get higher ISO's out of it. There was a street photographer who used to work with a slightly wide angle lens and the camera hanging on a short strap on his chest. He would snap off pictures without ever putting the camera to his eye, cropping the pictures later to what he wanted.

A warning: if you are thinking street photography, there are privacy laws that you can violate that can get you in trouble. Be aware of the rights of your subjects and your responsibilities as a photographer!

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