Latest / Wildlife and Adventure Photography / The secrets to successful event photography

Transcript

The secrets to successful event photography · Wildlife and Adventure Photography

• 0:17
  > Graham>Hello and welcome to another podcast. Now this podcast is looking at event photography and by that I mean things like weddings, more family events rather than corporate or I will touch on corporate events. So it's really aimed at you.
• 0:32
  > Graham>If you're doing this more in an amateur way, let's call it that, rather than a full on professional photographer. So having said that, before I dive into it, just a reminder to ask you if you would kindly like and subscribe if that is possible. Where you're listening to this. not very many people who listen to these podcasts, subscribe to them. A few of them like them or well, dislike them as well if you like. but it's always good for me to get some feedback and it also helps me with the algorithm. So I'm sure everybody says this to you so I won't be different there.
• 1:06
  > Graham>Okay, so getting into it, what's really prompted this is if you are asked to do something that might be a little outside of your comfort zone, and here I'm thinking about the kind of situation where somebody, a friend or a family member, sees that you've got a nice camera so that automatically means that you can photograph their wedditing for them or that kind of thing. So what are the kind of things to think about? So that's really what I want to focus on in this podcast.
• 1:38
  > Graham>So broadly speaking in terms of the skill set. So this is important and this is going a little outside the photography.
• 1:47
  > Graham>But what is really helpful is being able to engage with people who you are going to photograph because you might ask them to not necessarily pose specifically, although you might do that, but just get people to basically behave themselves, look at the camera, that kind of thing. So having ways to just engage with people and it will depend a little bit on the audience, it will depend a little bit on you and what you're comfortable with because it is important to be yourself, to be genuine. Although if you practise a lot you can be somebody else. So you can be, if you're kind of quite an, a quiet sort of introverted person. You can practise just being a little bit extroverted and maybe having a bit of fun, with people as you're posing them. So if you want them to smile or just give you some sort of a pose, you can say things like, imagine there's a party in your mouth and everyone's invited, some sort of dumb stuff like that. But might, if it's unusual, it gets a Smile, it can get a more natural smile and of course that's the kind of thing you want.
• 2:48
  > Graham>So some of this will be very similar to the kind of things you would do in portrait photography, which is again a critical part of portrait photography is being able to connect with the model or have whoever you're photographing. That is they need to be relaxed with you, they need to trust you because all that will come across in the photographs.
• 3:11
  > Graham>So interpersonal skills are one aspect of it and it might be something you need to brush up on a little bit.
• 3:17
  > Graham>the other thing is to be ready, have good reflexes, be ready to catch those little moments that happen. Now some of them you could probably predict like bride and groom kissing, that kind of thing. That's always a favourite picture at a wedding.
• 3:34
  > Graham>But think about the evententure're wr. There might be other things going on.
• 3:37
  > Graham>So if children are involved often they'll do things that make really good photographs. But you've got to be ready to go at anyime. So in that case this is really bringing up the kind of skills that you would want if you were doing wildlife photography for example, where you need that same discipline. You need to be able to get a well exposed photograph, be able to freeze the action if that's what you intend to do and be ready for the unexpected when it happens. And then the final thing in terms of your skill set is to be able to handle changing conditions. So that might be the weather which dependingon where you live might be very changeable or it might be very stable. That makes life easier.
• 4:24
  > Graham>But you need to understand how to use the light obviously.
• 4:26
  > Graham>And as I'm going to assume that at least some of these event, this event work will happen outside and that requires you being able to make the most of the lighting you have, whether it's soft lighting which is really ideal for most types of photography, or it could be quite harsh lighting in which case you've got to be looking for places where you can get some sort of a shadow over people's faces.
• 4:52
  > Graham>Particularly the difficulty in bright weather is people tend to squint anyway even if they're not directly in the sun. You always get that level of squinting. So just be aware of that and look for perhaps little side locations where you're shooting that you can use to get a one or two portrait, something like that in a shaded area so that basically their eyes are open and they're not squinting at the camera.
• 5:18
  > Graham>so they're really the, so broad Skill sets.
• 5:21
  > Graham>Now I'm going to come back to these, but I want to talk about gear for a moment. So again, what kind of gear do you want to use?
• 5:30
  > Graham>DSLR is your traditional photography gear or slr, going back further to film cameras. and obviously we have mirrorless.
• 5:39
  > Graham>So really if you've got a reasonable DSLR or a reasonable mirrorless camera, they should be fine.
• 5:47
  > Graham>the only reason you would want something more upmarket, and this is going back to the professional area, is that if somebody has hired you to shoot their wedding, and I don't know what you're charging, but hopefully you're charging maybe 1,000, do $2,000, whatever currency you're using. And the important thing to remember there is that if it's somebody who has paid you a lot of money to do this, they will expect you to turn up with a camera that's more expensive than the one they're using.
• 6:18
  > Graham>So this is the main reason for turning up with something that's more of a flagship model or at least a high performance camera. Again, if you're doing it for friends, if it's more of a social thing, if it's more of an amateur thing, then probably what you're using is fine. If you're happy with it, if you're getting good results from it, don't change it. And the reason for that is simply that you know what you're doing with it. You don't have to think too much about the settings that you're using to get a good exposure because you already know them. You're used to doing whatever your normal type of photography is and people will be more interested in the results that you're achieving. I mean, sure, if you've got a nice camera, that's great and it may well become a talking point and the chances are there'll be somebody else there who has a nicer camera than you. You just don't know. But the important thing is the results in this situation. so don't worry about, don't get intimidated by people with really impressive cameras because the chances are that at least half of them really don't know what they're doing.
• 7:16
  > Graham>So if you do, you're well ahead of the game.
• 7:20
  > Graham>In terms of lenses, I would recommend that you use a zoom lens, so, something in the region of either a wide angle zoom, 24 to 70, something like that, or even a, short telephoto or 70 to 210, something like that. If you've got something that has a longer range and my favourite for that kind of work is a 28 to 300. But it's quite an expensive lens. But it is brilliant because it allows me to shoot groups, but it also allows me to zoom in pretty much instantly, on any kind of detail thing that's happening. So it might be children doing something or a kiss happening and I can get him really quick. so that's really good.
• 8:07
  > Graham>The problem with zoom lens is that their low light performance 10 it isn't as good as you would get with a prime lens, but obviously with the prime lanes you're limited to the magnification that you get with that particular focal length, whatever length you're using. So there is a trade off and it's likely to come down to the lenses that you have available. So I would keep it simple, use something that you're familiar with. I prefer zooms, but you need to be aware of low light performance.
• 8:39
  > Graham>And the other thing to remember is that it may not be appropriate to use a flash.
• 8:44
  > Graham>So if you are, let's say, photographing a wedding, there is a religious aspect to, unless it's just a civil wedding, but even so you have to respect the place that you're in, whether it's a, registry office or a church or wherever you are. So it is important to treat that with respect. And flash guns are not ideal. Using flash is not ideal in that situation because it is very distracting.
• 9:10
  > Graham>And the other thing that I recommend if you are photographing a wedding is that wherever that wedding is taking place, speak to the celebrant, whoever is conducting the wedding and just introduce yourself to the photographer and just ask them are there any particular parts of the ceremony where they would prefer, you not to take photographs? And obviously the other thing is to be discrete anyway, make it clear that your intention is to be very discreet when you're taking photographs, but also ask them if there are any parts of the service because certainly, in religious ceremonies there are some parts that the people there feel are quite sacred and it may well not be appropriate for you to sit there blasting away with a flash gun for sure. So work with the people who are organising the event and carrying out the event and have them see you as somebody who is willing to work with them to respect what they're doing.
• 10:13
  > Graham>And you'll probably get a lot further, than people who just sort of barge in and blast away with their camera. I definitely don't recommend doing that.
• 10:22
  > Graham>It's important to respect what you're doing. The thing to remember is this isn't a photoshoot. This is, an important event in two people's lives in the case for a wedding.
• 10:34
  > Graham>And while they want to have memories of it, and there's certainly a lot of things you can do with wedding photography particularly.
• 10:43
  > Graham>but because there is a sacred element too that needs to be respected because that is the primary reason for having that event. there may be other things. It could be award ceremonies, things like that. Again, if somebody is, master of ceremonies, it's always a good idea, I think, to just introduce yourself, ask that same question.
• 11:02
  > Graham>Just, just introduce yourself and say that, you've been asked to take photographs of the event. you obviously want to respect the event, not, get in the way of anything. ah, are there any parts where they would rather you didn't photograph? And if you've picked a location that you think will give you a good view, just make sure they're happy with you being there.
• 11:22
  > Graham>Now look, there's always the danger that they'll say no.
• 11:25
  > Graham>And if that's the case, just look for a compromise.
• 11:28
  > Graham>But it's far, far better to have these people on side because then everyone's working together. The last thing you want is to be taking photographs. Then you actually stop the ceremony, basically get thrown out. That's really not good for the people who are there. It's not good for you. It's definitely not good for your reputation if you want to do this professionally. So be very sensitive.
• 11:48
  > Graham>So having said all of that, prime lenses are going to be better in low light. but a telephoto gives you more flexibility. So if most of what you're shooting is outside, then I would definitely go telephoto. If there's an inside component to it.
• 12:05
  > Graham>I would just look at, the low light options that you have.
• 12:08
  > Graham>Maybe run with the prime lanes just for the internal stuff and switch back to a telephoto if you have one for the rest of it. one other tip, this does refer back to wedding photography. This is just a tip for you, by all means, shoot all the preliminaries before an event happening. So whether it's a wedding or something else, but people arriving, maybe keep people getting ready whenever it might be, the event itself.
• 12:32
  > Graham>And then people afterwards maybe do group shots, that kind of thing. But when it comes to indoor photographies, this might be the reception afterwards. In the case of wedding, a great tip that I, had from a photographer I learned from was to just buy a lot of disposable cameras and leave one on each table with just an instruction for everybody on the table to have a few photographs. just use that camera to take photographs of each other and then collect them at the end. and the reason is that it just gives you another set of images which are kind of fun, they're kind of candid.
• 13:06
  > Graham>And you'll have some record of the events afterwards. Now obviously a lot of people are going to be using their smartphones.
• 13:15
  > Graham>You'll have that kind of stuff going on.
• 13:17
  > Graham>So what I would suggest again is to think about. And here we, I get drifting into the kind of photographs you're going to take.
• 13:26
  > Graham>But take candid, by all means do the group shots if that's what you've been asked to do and get very clear on the sequence of it. Actually put together a shoot list.
• 13:35
  > Graham>So for a wedding it's probably bride and groom, bride and groom's parents, if there's been divorced, a divorce is some sort, they need to figure that out and which order to do them in.
• 13:44
  > Graham>If it's another kind of event, let's say it's m, an award ceremony, people arriving perhaps, maybe do a, kind of people get the event ready, that kind of thing. so that you're putting together a stories, this is all about creating story these and think about how you're going to present these images. Are they going to be standalones?
• 14:01
  > Graham>Are people going to buy individual pictures? Are you going to put them together in a photo book? are they going to be a gallery online somewhere that people can log into and order photographs? So how are you going to do it?
• 14:13
  > Graham>What kind of quality do you need? That's another important thing to think about. But the style of photographs, definitely you want to be thinking about candidids.
• 14:22
  > Graham>So that's where a telephoto is really helpful because you can get really natural shots of people talking, laughing, whatever they're doing, but shooting them from a distance so that you're not part of it so you're not interfering with what's going on in the event.
• 14:41
  > Graham>again having a second photographer is quite handy depending on the kind of event you're doing because you might have somebody shooting more formal photographs maybe with a flash if that's appropriate for where you are. but you could have somebody else wandering around just taking photographs. It is important that the people understand that photographs are being taken and making sure everybody's happy with that. that's something just to check with the Organisers that people are happy and they know that that's what you're doing. so I would say your responsibility is to raise it. Unless you're organise an the event but it's the organizer's responsibility to flag to people that photographs are being taken. But dep. Again depending on the wedding, if it's family thing and you're part of the family, unlikely to be an issue. but if it's a more formal event and you're being asked to come in as an external person then you might need to think about that.
• 15:32
  > Graham>Okay, I've already spoken a little bit about lighting so you do need to think about the kind of lighting you're using. I much prefer to work with natural lighting because it's simple. There's no setup. The sun's up there, there might be clouds.
• 15:50
  > Graham>that's already done for you. However, if you are going to use artificial lighting you need to just make sure you're very familiar with it, you understand how it operates.
• 15:59
  > Graham>If you are using flash, then think about how you're using it. are you going to shoot the flash directly at people? Are you going to use it as a fill in? So possibly lower power or using it in bright sunshine, but as a way of filling in the sort of shady areas. If the sun or whatever your main light source is is behind the subjects then it can be very useful to have a flash gun just to fill in, act as a fill in flash. Think about that. you might have a reflector that you can use that might be another way of doing it. Particularly if you have someone with you who can just hold. It could be a proper reflector or just something you're using to act as a reflector. if it's more studio lighting then that would need to be gear that you're familiar with. Then you know exactly what you're doing. So I'm not going to touch on that. You might even be able to put something together yourself. If you're a little bit creative. You might even be able to come up with some lighting too maybe to help illuminate the event, but also to give you a bit of extra light on your subjects. So have a think about what you can do, what your options are. But as I say, the simplest thing is to use natural sunlight, possibly a fil in flash. A lot of cameras these days have a pop up flash that may or may not be good enough for what you want to do. But it's definitely something you've got and those things tend not to be too intrusive. And a reflector can also make a big difference to how your subject is illuminated in terms of things like telling the story. So framing composition.
• 17:38
  > Graham>You do want some wider shots just to try and get some feel for the atmosphere of the event. So you're likely to be shooting a range of wide angle and they more close up shots.
• 17:50
  > Graham>Again depending on the kind of event, there might be a lot of wide angle with very little kind of zoomed in portraityy type telephotoshop, shots. Or you might have more of a mix. So it's more of a, if it's an award ceremony for example, you might have a wide angle for the group, but then you might want to do a telephotoshop for somebody with their award, if it's graduation for example, something like that. So you need to think about the kind of photographs you're taking and what the appropriate kind of lens is for what you are wanting to do. But I do recommend that you tell the story. So don't get kind of fixated on one particular type of photograph. Think about other photographs, wide angles, candid maybe details. So in the case of a wedding, for example, it could be a bouquet.
• 18:39
  > Graham>Just close up of a bouquet might be that somebody's handing or just put to one side and photographed on its own. Maybe the bride's shoes, something like that.
• 18:48
  > Graham>But think about detailed shots. And this again is where as the event photographer, particularly if you're at an event where lots of other people are taking their own photographs and probably with smartphones, but you might have others with DSLR mirrorless cameras. Think about the more not quite esoteric shots, but the more unique shots that they're probably not going to photograph. Most of them will just photograph each other, they're friends and it will be the standard sort of stuff you see on Facebook. So what can you come up with that's a little bit different and pop those ideas on your shoot list.
• 19:26
  > Graham>And again if there's two of you, if you have an assistant helping you, then maybe they can be tasked with shooting a lot of these more detailed shots. So it could be absolutely anything. It could be a ring, I've already mentioned a bouquet. It could be an iticeem of clothing, it could be a gargoyle on a church for example, anything like that, anything that you see around. Think about these little details that other people won't be thinking about and that they make really nice little additions, particularly if you're doing a photo book, something like that.
• 20:00
  > Graham>another thing to remember is to be really clear on the event dynamics. So this is particularly important if you are doing a photo book, something like that.
• 20:11
  > Graham>What is the flow of the event?
• 20:14
  > Graham>So again, I'm going to talk about the wedding. This isn't specifically about weddings, although it's sort of leaning that way a little bit. But what have you got going on? You have the bride getting ready, you have the groom getting ready. So depending on your relationship with the bride, you might be able to take some slightly more intimate shots. For example, if she's wearing special underwear for the event. If you've got a good relationship, you could shoot that. That's definitely a picture that the groom will want. what else is going on?
• 20:44
  > Graham>So you've got guests arriving. So again, for a wedding, these will be the kind of shots that bride and groom, particularly the bride, would be interested in because she's not there. So she can see all of these people arriving. So that's always a very good one. A, ah, good idea to shoot, particularly if you're selling the photographs to the bride and groom or of the family afterwards. These can be really good photographs to have. And't these days are digital. It costs nothing to shoot them. You're just there anyway and just grab what you can. then you've got the stages of the event itself. So the bride arriving, obviously, you've got the ceremony usually if it's in a church. So again, bear in mind what I've said about the person running the event. you then have the more formal shots afterwards.
• 21:30
  > Graham>And so that's important to get the shoot list together for that. And that's a great situation where if the primary photographer is shooting, the main portra ready shots, the firing squad shots, to use a phrase. But that's what the older people tend to like. the secondary photographer who's shooting the details and the candates can be off shooting a lot of candates, you know, just blasting away. And again, this is one of the benefits of digital photography. You can sh. Shoot literally thousands of photographs at an event and then sort of go through what you want to have as a shortlist to offer back to whoever, would be interested in having those photographs.
• 22:08
  > Graham>And then what happens after that? People go off to a reception, maybe that might be somewhere else. Or what are the sequences? If it's an award ceremony, is there an address by some celebrity? Obviously you'd have people arriving, the awards given out, maybe some group stuff at the end, I don't know.
• 22:28
  > Graham>But this is the kind of stuff to think about if you're looking at an event. How does the event flow? What are the key points in the event, the key, events within the event, the way you need to have photographs so they're your priorities. And then what other photographs can you take around those key events that a lot of people wouldn't think of? So do have a think about, these more sor. Of abstract pictures even that you can shoot.
• 22:54
  > Graham>okay, so if you are doing this for a client or a friend, and even if it's a friend, even if they're not paying you, I mean, hopefully they'll pay you something. But even with a friend, you want to approach it professionally. So it's important to just sit down with them and understand exactly what they want. Are there particular photographs that they would like to have?
• 23:14
  > Graham>You can offer ideas as well. So do a bit of research on the kind of event you're photographing. Get some ideas.
• 23:25
  > Graham>If it is a family event and you've got maybe Mum and Dad again going back to just weddings as an example, but it has most of the kind of pitfalls in it. So let's say that the brides mother and father have split up and dad has gone off with his teenage secretary, to use a real cliche. And Mum isn't with anybody and she's really sensitive about seeing dad with this teenage person. So the tip there is to just get really clear on those dynamics for all of the key people that you're going to be photographing.
• 23:59
  > Graham>And then in that situation I'd make sure that the photographs with mum happened first and then that can happen later. But it's about making sure that everybody is as happy as possible. I mean these things are a bit of a minefield. So, family is great fun. But do have a think about that and really get the inside information from the people that you're, doing the photography for and come up with a shoot list if there are to be more formal, photographs, portrait photographs, make sure you're up to that. And you might want to practise, do some photography, some portrait photography with friends before you do the actual event. Even maybe with the people who've asked you to shoot the event. Because one of the things that they can do if you are quite good at this and you getting them to pose and getting them to do unusual things if they see, I, mean, for example, jumping in the airies One, getting everyone to jump. If they've seen the result of you asking them to do that, they're likely to be much more enthusiastic and will actually get the people they get to do it. If you're into that, that's sort of getting into perhaps the more advanced stuff. You probably need to be a bit more, confident in what you're doing to get people do that sort of thing. But do have a really good chat, really understand, really listen to what they're asking for so that you are very, very clear. run through the shoot list with them and make that the core of what you need to come away with. And also it's a great time to make sure you understand the sequence of events. What is the order that things are going to happen at this event? Are there people coming from different places who might want to be photographed ahead of time? What's happening after the event? Are there additional photographs there?
• 25:42
  > Graham>And just run through it and think about how you're going to handle all of that stuff.
• 25:47
  > Graham>Okay, so, I'm not going to get into contracts or marketing, that kind of thing. one thing you might want to think about is if you have access to a, website or one of these portfolio, hosting programmes, I guess that allows you to host images, have them password protected and maybe link to, having them printed, ordered and printed. That's really beneficial, if you have access to that. So if you are going to sell them or make the photographs available for sale, then it is really good to have somewhere online where you can do that. Now again, the online images, you might want to put a watermark on them because, look, people do take things for free. It's just a fact of life. I would definitely make them lower profile, the thumbnails, lower profile than the actual, printed photographs.
• 26:40
  > Graham>So that brings us back to what are you going to shoot? So for the most part I would always recommend shooting Raw. You might want to Change them to JPEGs later. That's perfectly fine.
• 26:51
  > Graham>But let's say you're going to do a photo book.
• 26:54
  > Graham>You really want to have nice quality images. And the other reason for doing that is if there are images in the photo book that people particularly like, they might ask to, have them as prints that they can put up on a wall. so they might be quite large. They could be, a one, a zero, possibly, not that big, but they could potentially be as big as that.
• 27:15
  > Graham>more likely they're going to be a three, a four, that kind of size or perhaps a five if they're in more the sort of bedside picture. so whatever you're shooting, make sure that you will be in a position to offer a higher quality version of the shot. And you're going to do that by shooting raw. If you only shoot in jpeg. JPEG is a compressed format. You lose a lot of detail, it limits what you can do in editing, it limits a lot of the colour resolution. so JPEG is fine if it's the final result, but for shooting the original image you definitely want to be shooting in raw. that then leads us on to editing. So again I'm going to assume that you're familiar with a package and you know how to do at least basic editing because the chances are you'll need to, it may be correcting exposure on one or two. You might want to just crop them slightly so that the composition is slightly different or you crop out something you don't want in there, whatever the reason is. But there are many reasons for cropping images. What is useful is to have access to something like Adobe Bridge or Adobe Lightroom where you can, it's like having a light box of the images first of all, so you can start working through and pulling out a short list of images that you want to offer. again, depending on how many you've shot and the kind of event it is, there might be a lot of them, there might not be so many. If you're going to do a photo book, it's also nice to have a kind of larger selection for the photo book and then have a smaller selection for prints, that kind of thing.
• 28:55
  > Graham>I'm not going to talk about workflow, that's really up to you. deliverables really. I've been talking about that and that comes back to how you want to use them. So the kind of files you probably want to end up with are, some.
• 29:09
  > Graham>You obviously have the original RAW files. You'll have edited versions of the file which I tend to keep as tiffs because that way I can edit them'I've. Got a high resolution version of the original, of the edited original and from the TIFF I can then produce quite high EGE JPEGs. I, can do low res JPEGs. I can produce whatever I need to produce, whether it's for printing a photograph that will be put on the wall later, for using in a photo book, if that's one of the outcomes. To do lower resolution images that could be used on Facebook Or Instagram might be on a carousel somewhere and also producing images that could go on, an online gallery, so really thumbnails of images if people want to order them or however you plan to use them. So do have a think about what the deliverables will be from the event that you're shooting.
• 30:12
  > Graham>Okay, so, just to I guess some final thoughts on this stuff, because hopefully there'useful information in this. Hopefully I haven't completely baffled you, but the kind of issues that are quite common would be dealing with variations in light. That might be down to weather, it might be crowded venues, it might be low light.
• 30:33
  > Graham>So you might want to work with a higher ISO, but obviously that creates its own problems. So you're going to have to decide what the trade offs are that you're willing to work with. You may have to deal with people which generally is part of it. So first of all, always stay professional. Even if you're doing it as a favour, just stay cool. even if you're under a bit of pressure, just stay cool. And I think the key thing is to listen to people, hear what they're saying and then just do what you can to accommodate them. It may, may not be possible, but one of the biggest things about conflict resolution is just people feeling hurt. if people don't feel hurt, then you're going to have problems.
• 31:14
  > Graham>Things can spiral if they feel that you're listening and you explain maybe what you can do, give them some options. That's a good way to handle it. Effective communication is also important both with understanding what the people who've asked you to do the shoot are looking for and then getting people to get into groups or to turn a certain way just to look at the camera, to smile, whatever it might be, or look at one another. That's good one. Or look to the left, look to the right however you want to pose them. But just be clear in your shoot list, make sure you're confident that you know how you want to handle each one. And as I've said, it might be good to just get some friends to help you out just for a bit of fun. Just run through your shoot list with them and practise telling them how to pose. You might need to show them, but in doing that you'll get a feeling for how well you're communicating in terms of how well people are understanding and doing what you're asking them to do.
• 32:13
  > Graham>Okay, so I guess final thing is just to look at, I guess summary of three types of Events. So obviously there are more. but the first one, the one I've been talking about the most is wedding photography. So what are you looking at there? You've got to be working with perhaps tight schedules to where you've got to be and what you've got to be shooting. So you really need to be on top of what the expected timing is. You may well have high client expectations. So again practise a little bit. Make sure you're confident with how to manage people and you're confident with your gear and what you're shooting and obviously make sure your batteries are fully charged. Your storage cards are empty when you start and you've got maybe spares if you might need them. You've got the, obviously the ceremony, I've spoken about that. There's the reception, there's people arriving and there are likely to be some intimate moments obviously with the bride and groom. If it's a wedding. Well it is a wedding because I'm talking about those. But it might be with other people around you might notice just intimate moments. And this is where having somebody shooting candid, somebody with a telephoto lens can be really helpful in terms of corporate type photography. So it could be photographing a speaker, it could be presentations, there might be aspects of branding, there might be networking to it. So there might be in full networking one state or another. So again it might be appropriate just to wander around and say hello and asked to take people's photograph.
• 33:47
  > Graham>Just two threes together, that kind of thing.
• 33:50
  > Graham>Most people are okay with that. I think at events you'be to find a few that aren't but that's just what it is.
• 33:55
  > Graham>And then if it's something, let's say a concert or some sort of performance, this is where you are really going to have to get on top of shooting. In a dynamic environments things likely be changing pretty quickly and there's also a good chance you'll be in low light.
• 34:14
  > Graham>So if you are at a an indoor event for sure you're going to be working in low light. So you really need to be on top of your game when it comes to handling that situation. you're probably going to have a lot of movement, you're probably going to have some unpredictable lighting. So it's really important that you get as much practise in as you can and yeah, get as confident as possible really. get to know your gear and know what you're doing. So you're going to be wanting to look at particularly how you're focusing things like that because low light focus might be tricky as well if you're trying to use autofocus. So, get on top of all of that stuff. that is as much as I really want to cover in this podcast. So there's quite a lot there and I really don't want to go on any further because I probably will, overload you a bit.
• 35:03
  > Graham>So what are the key things to think about in terms of the camera look? You might be able to do it all in a smartphone. Smartphones are pretty good and there's absolutely no reason why you can't. But just make sure the expectations are there, for the results that you know you can get with your smartphone. So it's really important to understand what results you can get from whatever gear you're using. If you're using DSLR and mirrorless, think about primes because you get better low light performance. But really a zoom of some sort is likely to be beneficial, particularly outside than you want. Some sort of a telephoto. If you can go for superzoom, superzoom is simply one that does more than 10 times magnification from the widest angle to the longest telephoto focal length. but make sure the lens performance is good because with any telephoto you're going to lose, it's going to be slower than shooting with a prime.
• 35:55
  > Graham>you might want to think about accessories. I didn't really cover those, but only in as much as. Is it appropriate to have a flash? It might be, might not. You might want to fill in flash. You might want to take a reflector if you're shooting outside. And you want a bit of flexibility. So you can get these small portable ones, these circular reflectors that kind of twist up. So they're actually quite small and they'very easy to carry around. Or you might be able to find a door or something like that.
• 36:21
  > Graham>There are often things around that you might be able to use spare batteries, memory cards if you think you might need them. kind of shots that you'll be doing candid are I think really good. And remember the little details, the things that other people, because there's going to be other people photographing.
• 36:39
  > Graham>But what are the shots you can get that they won't think about.
• 36:42
  > Graham>That's one of the things that will really start to differentiate you as a photographer, particularly if this is something you want to get into professionally. So think about how you handle or how you can come up with shots that other people won't shoot. And that's the key thing.
• 36:59
  > Graham>I've spoken about framing, getting the atmosphere, think about using background, how you're using your background, understanding the flow of the event. That's really important when it comes to getting your shoot list together. have a good chat to whoever has asked you to do, the shoot so that you're very clear not only about their expectations, but about where you need to be and when. And if you do need some help, because it may be that you just, you could even have a helper coming around just shooting with the smartphone, just getting candles, as long as they're briefed on what to shoot. And maybe you have a little, practise session with them somewhere, ideally at the venue. But, it could be anywhere, just so they get clearer on the kind of thing you've got in mind.
• 37:39
  > Graham>And that can work very well.
• 37:42
  > Graham>And, as I said, post processing, the kind of.
• 37:45
  > Graham>I'm not going to talk about that, but just make sure. I recommend that you shoot in raw so that you've then got the maximum number of options. And it's really important to think about the final event. How do you want these, how will these photographs be used? Because that will determine what you need. Okay, so that covers it. I hope you found that useful.
• 38:05
  > Graham>if you have, please give me a. Like, you can even leave a comment. And, if there is a subject you would like me to talk about, please let me know because I want these to be as relevant and useful to people as possible.
• 38:17
  > Graham>If you haven't understood everything I've spoken about, then think about taking a course. And I have my online course, which is in little chunks, sor of 20 minute videos or thereabouts.
• 38:28
  > Graham>And there's also a handbook which covers everything, so whatever mode you like to use to learn, whether it's video or reading. And there are also, guided practise sessions. So all of that is in there. And, I think that will help you get more enjoyment from your photography anyway, whether you're beginning or if you've been shooting for a while.
• 38:48
  > Graham>I find it all useful to just do a course every now and again just to keep me, sharp. So, that's my tip for the day. All right, thank you and I will speak to you in the next podcast. Bye for now.
• 39:01
  > Graham>Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Now, I just want to say thank you for tuning in and joining me in, the Wildlife and adventure photography podcast.
• 39:10
  > Graham>If you have enjoyed today's episode, please give me a like a subscribe, maybe tell your friends, and by all means leave a comment. And if there is a subject you would like me to cover in the future, please let me know and I'll, be very happy to do my best. So thanks again for, joining me, and I look forward to seeing you again.
• 39:30
  > Graham>Next podcast. Bye for now.