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Concert photography tips

Experiment. Don’t be afraid to try different settings and long exposures. Long exposures enable you to capture much of the ambient light while freezing the subject with the short bright flash.

Call the venue before you go. Be sure to call the venue to ensure that you are able to bring your camera in. If they do allow photography, be sure to confirm that they allow your type of equipment. I’ve been to an event that allowed photography, but didn’t allow “prolevel” equipment. The management’s idea of pro-level equipment and my idea of pro-level equipment didn’t quite mesh, therefore my camera gear had to be stashed in the car.

Bring earplugs. Protect your hearing. After spending countless of hours in clubs without hearing protection, my hearing is less than perfect. You don’t want to lose your hearing. Trust me.

Take your Speedlight off of your camera. If you have a D70/D70s, D80, or D200, use your built-in Speedlight as a commander to get the Speedlight off of your camera, or invest in an SC-29 TTL hot shoe sync cord. When you’re down in the crowd, your Speedlight is very vulnerable. The shoe-mount is not the sturdiest part of the flash. Back before wireless flash, I had a couple of Speedlights broken off at the shoe, which is unpleasant to say the least. Not only is using the Speedlight off camera be safer, but also you have more control of the light direction by holding it in your hand. This reinforces the suggestion to experiment — move the Speedlight around; hold it high; hold it low; or bounce it. This is digital, and it doesn’t cost a thing to experiment!

Event and Wedding

Photography

Because an event is a limited occurrence, you need to be sure to capture the key moments. In a wedding, this pinnacle is usually the kiss and the cutting of the cake. For an event such as a political rally, you want to be sure to catch the keynote speaker. Events vary, so obviously, for different events you need to capture different moments.

Planning is the key to successfully photographing an event. Be sure to make a list of what you need to capture. Talk to the event planner, the bride, or the person holding the event to find out what kind of images they want. Make sure you have all the photography equipment you need for the setting, enough flash cards, and plenty of batteries for your Speedlights. That last thing you want to do is not be able to finish the job because you ran out of memory or your batteries died.

Photographing events can be very tricky. The lighting situations are varied, people are performing random acts, and you never know what may happen. You have to keep on your toes and keep an eye open for whatever interesting situations may present themselves.

Remember that not all events — especially weddings — require traditional photography. Yes, of course, you want to provide a bride and groom the array of traditional poses, but taking many shots of the in between times can yield great images too. For example, in figure 6.10, some of the candid, pho- tojournalistic-style wedding shots are the most charming of the day.

Inspiration

During a business party or wedding, try to take photos of people having fun and enjoying themselves. Catching the tone of the event is the essential job of the photographer.

Be sure to move around and take photos from different angles. Don’t spend the whole event camped out in one spot. Talk to the people around you to put them at ease. Some folks are shy around cameras. You

don’t want to have nervous looking people in your pictures.

At weddings, take lots of pictures of the bride and bridesmaids getting ready and the families of the bride and groom interacting. Not only does this create a great story line for the wedding pictures later, it gets the families and wedding party used to you and your equipment. Eventually, they stop posing so much and become relaxed.

Event and wedding photography tips

Take lots of shots. When there is a lot of movement and action going on around you at an event, you never know what you may miss if you stop shooting during a demonstration or ceremony, for example. So, you might end up with the best picture of the day just when you were ready to put your camera down.

Be prepared. Make sure you have everything you need. Be sure you have enough memory cards for your camera and batteries for your flash.

Get there early. If you get there early, especially with popular events, you can get some shots of the setup, preparations, and surrounding without so many people to contend with. You can also scout out locations for events that may occur during festivals, for example, so you can find the best location to get your photos.

Be aware. You want to catch anything interesting or pertinent to the event, so keep your eyes open.

Environmental

Portrait Photography

Environmental portraits show people in their environment, which isn’t necessarily in an outside setting. A typical environmental portrait may show the CEO of a corporation with his factory in the background, an author in his study, or a farmer in his field.

The best way to decide what environment to photograph your subject in is to get to know the person. Talk to your subjects to find out what they do for living or what their hobbies are. If possible, visit places of employment, worksites, and other pertinent locations to look for suitable backgrounds.

Inspiration

Find people with interesting lines of work, such as a chef, and photograph him in his kitchen. Maybe photograph a welder or an artist standing near his or her latest piece. You can find something interesting in almost any line of work. You can also photograph someone who has an interesting

hobby as I did in figure 6.14. This gentleman participates in Texas historical re-enactments for fun.

Once again, talk to the person; he or she probably has some ideas for interesting settings as well. After all, your subject knows better than anyone what the most interesting part of his or her job is.