Candid / unposed

Nobody is holding a pose. The subject is mid-action, mid-laugh, mid-sentence, and the frame reads as something observed rather than arranged. Usually they are looking somewhere other than the lens, but a glance straight at the camera can still be candid, as long as the moment was not set up for you. The related idea is Henri Cartier-Bresson's decisive moment, which is about when you press the shutter rather than a second name for candidness; wedding and event shooters sell the same territory as documentary or photojournalistic coverage.

Reach for it on about pages, culture and hiring content, conference recaps, anything where a row of people staring down the barrel would read as a corporate lineup. Mechanically it comes from a longer lens, a subject who has forgotten about you, and shooting through the boring beats between the obvious ones. The keeper is frame forty, not frame three.

Gotcha: almost all commercial 'candid' work is directed candid. You give people a real task, let them talk, and shoot loose. Truly uncontrolled shooting hands you half-blinks, chewing faces, and terrible hands at a rate that will eat your budget. Candid also does not mean unaware: you still need releases from anyone recognisable in a commercial frame.