In his book, Images à la Sauvette, the master of candid photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson, famously introduced the world to a concept he called, “The Decisive Moment.” To put it simply, it’s the point at which all the elements of a photograph—such as lighting, composition, subject, background, and foreground—all align to produce an impeccably-balanced photograph that completely encapsulates the entire story of a moment. It usually involves candid moments, and when it happens, it’s a beautiful piece of artistic synchronicity, and a glorious thing to behold. However, as Cartier-Bresson admitted himself, this is a moment that “rarely happens.”

Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped photographers from constantly obsessing over it. Huge amounts of energy are put into trying to produce these singular images, and yet so many gorgeous, powerful, and amazing photographs come close to achieving it, but never actually do. And since art is open to interpretation, photographers often find themselves debating over whether a given photograph even represents “The Decisive Moment,” and whether a photo that falls short of being decisive still has sufficient artistic worth.

As a result of all this focus, we get treated to scores of complex analysis meticulously debating the differing perspectives on what “The Decisive Moment” actually is and how to capture it. While all of that is very interesting and can be worthwhile, that’s not what this post is about.

In our view, “The Decisive Moment” IS worth your pursuit, but by all definitions, it’s also too rare and it depends on too many factors that are outside of your control for you to obsess over it or for you to believe yourself a failure if you don’t always capture it. If even one element is missing then technically a photograph isn’t a decisive moment. However, it’s all very tricky because none of this is based on an exact science, and a lot of it comes down to a photographer’s instinct and artistic eye, as well as a critic’s interpretation.

That’s why our goal here is to simply introduce you to the general concept of what “The Decisive Moment” is…which we think we did a pretty good job of already…and then tell you that the single biggest skill you need to capture a decisive moment is good ol’ observation.

In our experience there is no greater tool for capturing a good decisive and candid moment than the dying skill of observation. In a world that is increasingly pushing us towards greater and greater self-centeredness and isolation, the ability to direct our attention and concentration on others, and on the world around us, is the biggest key to taking good photographs. You can’t worry about how you look, what others are thinking about you, or sometimes even your own personal comfort.

You can have the best camera with the fastest shutter button on planet earth, the greatest light, the most engaging subject, the most gorgeous scenery, and perfect composition, but if you’re not fully immersed and paying attention, you’ll never catch that special moment. You have to constantly be engaged with your surroundings and always paying attention to human behavior so you can see, and hopefully anticipate, what happens.

For instance, if you see the bride approaching her grandmother during the wedding reception then that means a moment may be developing. If you hear someone starting to tell a joke or a story then that means a moment may be developing. If you see someone’s eyes beginning to tear up then that means a moment may be developing. If you hear a loud or unusual noise then that means a moment may be developing. Your environment is always sending you signals. Be prepared, pay attention, and always go towards the action.

A worthwhile exercise for developing your observational skills is to challenge yourself on a daily basis to consciously take note of what’s going on around you. You can do this even without taking any photographs. When you’re at a party, pay attention to the conversations happening around you. When you’re at a restaurant, see if you can identify who in the room looks like they’re out on a first date or who looks like they’re celebrating a special occasion. Keep your head on a swivel and look for the large and small stories that are happening around you every single day, and then ask yourself: who are these people, what are they doing, and why are they doing it?

Sadly though, even with practice, sometimes what you anticipated doesn’t occur exactly like you thought it would, and that can happen even if you’re the one directing the action. Sometimes you still miss that moment despite all your preparation and all your best efforts. Maybe a wedding guest unexpectedly steps into the church aisle during a wedding ceremony in order to take a photograph with his giant iPad and completely blocks your shot (ask us how we know). However, it’s precisely the difficulty of capturing “The Decisive Moment” that actually makes it so special, but also makes it something you have to pursue with realistic expectations.

The truth is that there are no shortcuts and there is no cheat-mode. Learning to observe the world around you, and capture decisive photographs, takes time and patience. We’ve spent entire weddings anticipating specific moments that we hoped would occur, only to end the day having witnessed other beautiful moments that were entirely different than what we expected. Not even pulling stills out of video footage will guarantee the capture of a decisive moment because all that does is essentially eliminate the issue of shutter-lag and give you more images to choose from, but you still need all the other elements of a good photograph to be present and to exist in perfect harmony (hence, the reason why filming a good movie scene is still very hard work).

So practice being observant and anticipating moments just before they occur. Practice your use of light and composition to narrate the stories within your photographs. Practice your interaction (or lack thereof) with your subjects to elicit the displays and responses you need. Do all of those things perfectly and you might just capture “The Decisive Moment,” but even if you don’t, you’ll still create a lot of amazing and artistically worthy images along the way.

- Breighton & Basette