The term “Snapshot” should not be unfamiliar to those who love photography. Snapshot is in fact a kind of documentary photography. By nature, snapshot freezes a moment in the most natural, direct and authentic ways, where the photographer captures a person, emotion or scene as it happens from an objective point of view without intruding. As everything happens naturally, one of the characteristics that makes snapshot so treasurable is that it captures a moment that will never happen again the exact same way.

Famous photojournalist Robert Capa once said, “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” Snapshot tends to capture a subject in close range too. Lenses with focal lengths from 35mm to 50mm are commonly used, as these lenses offer an angle of view close to that of the human eye as well as a closer distance for the photographer to feel the subjects.

However, in order not to intrude into the scene or make the subject aware of the shooting, sometimes we have to hide our cameras. One of the ways to do this is to take photographs unobtrusively. We can practice shooting without looking at the viewfinder or monitor in our spare times, and try to look to another direction while taking pictures. Of course this is not the only way. We can also use a telephoto lens to capture the natural expression of a subject from a distance.

Snapshot usually reflects the characteristics of a place. This may seems a bit vague to beginners. To start with, we can look out for places or events that show rich cultural background. For example, local customs in Hong Kong like The Hungry Ghost Festival and Petty Person Beating are good occasions to take snapshots. We should also pay attention to objects like signage, old stores, written words, graffiti etc. to explore the interesting story out of the ordinary.

After we get familiar with the idea, we can narrow down our locations to shoot. For example, pick a place and start taking snapshots of the people, objects and events that take place there. After shooting for some time, these photos, which reveal a single little story individually, can tell a bigger story when put together, and the result can be even more creative and impressive. For the photographic subjects, we can select those people who have a close relationship with the place, such as those working or wandering around. This can be one of the ways to show the everyday lifestyle.

In addition to a good timing, it also requires good sensitivity and sense of composition of the photographer to take a good snapshot. Although it seems intuitive, we can still be in control of the composition based on experience. Sometimes we can even “design” the scene to make it more interesting. For example, using shapes as the main compositional elements or creating photos that show a sense of humor with the use of lighting and contrast. These are actually the fundamental composition skills. We just need to have a sharp eye and be quick and responsive when doing street snapshots.

“The Decisive Moment” theory from documentary photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson had brought significant influence to later generations of photographers. “The Decisive Moment” theory is very broad in meaning. One of the key concepts is to determine when to press the shutter. The timing to take a snapshot lies in a fraction of a second. Even autofocusing may not be fast enough sometimes. That is why most of the snapshot photographers prefer to use manual focus.

In general, we can set the focus distance at around 3m, and use a smaller aperture whenever possible to achieve a wider depth of field. If we have time, we can imagine the shooting and preset the aperture, shutter speed, ISO and focus in advance and then wait at the right distance. This can increase our chances of getting a successful snapshot.