There's no type of photo I love more than a happy laughing candid. There's just something wonderful about being able to sum up all of the joy and happiness of a moment in a photo. 

A candid photo, by definition, is one that is taken informally, especially without the subject's knowledge, so I know it sounds a little counter-intuitive to be telling you how to prepare for something that you're not even supposed to know is happening. Let's be honest here though, I'm sure many of you are guilty of asking your friend to take a lot of photos instead of just one so you could capture the perfect moment of yourself or whoever you're taking the picture with. Now that we've addressed the elephant in the room, here are the do's and don'ts of taking a cute, "candid" photo.

1. Make a deal with your friends (the primary people who will take your photos) to be each other's paparazzi.

Here's some simple math for you: the more photos you take, the higher the probability is that you will capture the perfect moment or at least like one of the the pictures. Make sure you have an agreement with your friends that when they hand you their phone or camera to take a picture of them, you will take multiple pictures in an attempt to capture spontaneous, funny or cute moments aside from normal posing for the picture.

2. Make sure all of your friends know to go for the "candid" look.

It's awkward if everyone is cutesy giggling at one another and then there's just Sarah over there looking confused as hell about what joke she was left out of. Then, once you see how the picture turned out with Sarah looking like a buzz-kill, you're left deciding whether to crop her out or photoshop a cat over her face.

3. Be prepared before and after the desired picture is taken.

If your friend is doing her job of taking multiple pictures of you, you need to do your job by making an effort to stay photogenic throughout the whole photo process. Get on your good side, suck in, check your posture, watch out for double-chin, etc.

4. Adjust your camera or camera phone settings

In order to get the best possible image quality, make sure you adjust your camera settings. Use a high shutter speed so you can take pictures quicker and an HDR setting for high definition. Oh, and for the love of God don't use a flash when trying to take a candid, it takes way too long and it looks awkwardly staged if you have to freeze mid-laugh.

5. Be aware of your background.

Be conscious of your surroundings before taking your picture. It's a bummer to take a great photo, only to find out that there's something distracting going on in the background.  

If you truly want to go all-out, "let's take a photo and pretend it was candid even though it totally wasn't," here are some ways to get you and your friends laughing in order to do so:

6. The fake laugh

Fake laughing at each other can quickly turn into real laughter when you realize how ridiculous you both sound.

7. The ugly face

We all have that one friend who astonishes us with how quickly she can go from perfect 10 to ogre-status in .03 seconds. 

8.The "what on earth is she doing?"
                          

Similar to the friend who can make a hideous face, chances are there is a jokester in your friend group whose weird dance moves or mannerisms will have everyone cracking up in a second. This person can either be in the picture or out of the picture trying to make you laugh. However, if she's in the picture, try to take the picture once she has stopped whatever strange things she was doing and resumes acting like a cute, normal human being, laughing along with the rest of you.

At the end of the day if your picture just isn't working out, don't force it. The only thing worse than faking a candid is faking a candid and everyone knowing it was fake. So, let your "candid" be as candid as possible and if it's not working out just take the L and try again another time.