The decisive moment is the instant of peak action or emotion. Images that capture the decisive moment have a unique ability to affect the audience and tell a story.
Equipment: Canon EOS-1D Mark III with EF 50mm f/1.4L IS USM lens. Exposure: f/2 at 
second and ISO 1000.
The decisive moment occurs in a split second, but a rich complexity arises from the interplay of the subject’s emotion in that instant and how that feeling is interwoven into their life.
When we attempt to isolate a moment that shows an individual’s personality and emotions, our success is contingent on the precision of our selection. The decision about when to push the shutter button must be made with intelligence, understanding, and careful thought.
Famed photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson spent his life seeking decisive moments. In Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer (Little, Brown and Company, 1979), Cartier-Bresson wrote:
“Manufactured” or staged photography does not concern me. And if I make a judgment, it can only be on a psychological or sociological level. There are those who take photographs arranged beforehand and those who go out to discover the image and seize it. For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which—in visual terms—questions and decides simultaneously. In order to give meaning to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what he frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of the mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression. One must always take photos with the greatest respect for the subject and for oneself.
To take photographs is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge in the face of fleeing reality. It is at that moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.
Cartier-Bresson describes exactly the thing we are seeking, the type of photography that literally reveals personality. The resulting image releases information about the subject in psychological terms. We are documenting a moment and examining the complexity of human emotions. We are also portraying raw emotion, the essence of the human experience.
In the book’s introduction, Yves Bonnefoy writes:
Technique is, for Cartier-Bresson, only a means, which he refuses to aggrandize at the expense of initial experience, in which the meaning and the quality of the work are immediately determined. Of what use are shutters of different speeds, papers of different sensitivities? They attain levels of perceptible reality—for example . . . a fleeting gesture or expression, or the lovely texture of skin or fabric—that could not be detected without their assistance.
Bonnefoy highlights an important point: it doesn’t matter what technical means you have at your disposal, as long as they are sufficient to capture a quality image. What is truly important is your instinctive understanding of the “levels of perceptible reality” we are seeking.
To shoot in this style you must be sharp, intelligent, and—most of all—fast. In the same book, Bonnefoy states that success relies on whether or not “[. . . ] he who holds the camera can move into action almost as fast as the shutter, can surrender to intuition, can pounce like a wild, stalking animal on what moves with lightning speed.” The metaphor is a valuable one. Think of instinctive capture as a hunt. You are the hunter seeking your prey, but you are thoughtful and selective about what subject you choose to shoot. If you seek out your subject with that kind of dedication, you will capture the hyper-reality we are interested in, with great results.
Equipment: Canon EOS-1D Mark III with EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. Exposure: f/6.3 at 
second and ISO 200.
