Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Improve Your Photography: Event Photography, Part I - An Introduction

If you think about it, just about anyone who has picked up a camera has done event photography. The event might be a baby's first birthday or a special Mother's Day brunch. They are small, personal events but they are events nonetheless. I have done some work as an event photographer over the years and find the work to be quite exhausting and very satisfying. I have done everything from a surprise birthday party to the National Frisbee Festival in Washington, D.C. and the New Jersey Folk Festival. Weddings and sporting events could be included in this article but I think they are such big topics they should get their own treatment. I also believe that the objective of weddings and sporting events are different. Those events are all about the subject - the bride, the groom, guests, the star player, the winning goal, etc.... When I think of "event" photography the result should be greater than a sum of the photos - you should be telling a story. Wait! Isn't that photojournalism? Yes but not necessarily. The following snippet from Wikipedia explains (read the entire article here):
Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (e.g., documentary photography, social documentary photography, street photography or celebrity photography) by complying with a rigid ethical framework which demands that the work is both honest and impartial whilst telling the story in strictly journalistic terms. Photojournalists create pictures that contribute to the news media.

So, you see, while event photography and photojournalism can be thought of as being essentially the same thing they are not. The event photographer can use his photos to tell whatever story he wants and shoot however he wants. He can also manipulate the images and subjects - ask them to pose, perform a certain action, etc.... He is not constrained by journalistic integrity or rules.

While working as the official photographer for the New Jersey Folk Festival back in the mid-80's I struck up a conversation with a photographer covering the event for a local newspaper. During that conversation he gave me the best advice ever - the shots that sell are children, pets, women and veterans/active military. He told me that if I shot with that in mind I would do well. Those words run through my head every time I shoot at an event. If you take away nothing else from this post, remember those four (4) things and you will do well.

Preparation

The first thing you need to do in advance of the event is to make a plan. Research as much as you can ahead of time so that you know what to expect and determine what the important shots are. Some questions to ask yourself are:
  • who are the event VIPs?
  • what are the most important aspects of this event?
  • what will the photos be used for?
  • where is the event being held? indoors? outdoors? both? large area? small area?
  • when is the event - daytime? nighttime? both? season?
  • why is this event being held?
  • why do people come to this event?
If the event is a charity event try to learn about the charity before the shoot and make certain to pay attention to the volunteers, they are as important as the participants. If you are covering a local festival you want to know what the theme is, who are the organizers, are there featured performers and what are the most popular events? If it is a political rally you might want to consider if the politician is controversial and what protests might take place. A company picnic has quite a bit going on and photos of the executives are important, try to get them interacting with the employees. If you can get the CEO with a face covered in pie during the pie-eating contest you have yourself a winner! Remember the four keys to a successful shoot? If the CEO is staring face-to-face with a 3 year-old covered in pie, you have the perfect shot.

The more prepared you are before you take the camera out of your bag, the easier and more successful the shoot will be. If possible, meet with the organizers prior to the event and create a shot list. This list isn't written in stone and is only a guide but it will give you an idea of what is important to the organizers. If there are photos that must be taken, make note of them and make certain they are taken. You may find that the list is limited to "you're the expert, we will leave it up to you." That's great! Right? No, not even close. While this may yield satisfactory results 99% of the time you will inevitably miss a crucial shot at some time. Imagine if you are shooting a wedding and the bride says "I want you to shoot the standard list of photos that all brides want." You do exactly what she asks and then even more but you didn't get a shot of the bride with her third-cousin-once-removed from Boise who drove for two days to get to the wedding. You just lost a happy customer. In this case, a simple "Do you have a list of guests that you want me to make sure to photograph?" would have made all the difference. So, ask questions keeping in mind the above list of who, what, where, when and why.

I think this is a good place to stop. I have given you quite a bit to think about and hopefully laid a good foundation for you. If you follow some of these simple guidelines you will notice your event photography will be vastly improved and easier on you! The next part of this series will cover "Charity Fundraising Walks".

Friday, June 1, 2018

Product Photography - a new venture

Product Photography

I have decided to try my hand at product photography and have found that it can be both frustrating and fun. It is also something that can be done virtually anywhere, any time with very little equipment. I got into it almost by accident, really. I had done some self-portraits in the woods - some of which showed me hiking with my Tamrac camera backpack. I saw some ads on Instagram that were similar and thought, "Hey! Why not?" I then set out to try to get some work shooting products for social media. It turns out, Tamrac used one of my self-portraits in their Instagram feed, with my permission, of course! (You can see it here - https://www.instagram.com/p/BhwxRV7FMxD/?taken-by=tamracphoto)

Swiss Army knife

The first image of the Swiss Army knife was shot, handheld, with the knife resting on the hood of my car. The car is white with metallic flakes and this was shot a little after noon on a cloudless day. There was a little bit of editing but it is pretty much out of the camera. I then took the knife over to a post and took the next image. This, too, was handheld and had minimal post-processing. I used white foamcore to bounce a little light into the shadow and remove some of the distracting reflections - if you look closely, you can see it on the blade. Most of the post-processing involved the background - I decided to darken and de-saturate the background so that it wasn't competing with the knife. I have used this technique a few times, as you will see in some of the other images in this post. I like the effect, what do you think?

Leatherman

This was my first "paid" job, I received the multi-tool (Juice® CS4) directly from Leatherman in exchange for a negotiated number of images for them to use in their social media campaigns. I had a lot of fun with the Leatherman shoot and learned even more in the process. The original idea was to shoot it in a light tent, which I did, but I was looking out my backdoor and saw a tree limb had fallen. This is when I got the idea of shooting outside, too. I found this log, stripped of it's bark, laying just beyond my fence - I grabbed it and used it as the surface to lay the tool. I used some white foamcore to bounce a little light into the shadow and keep the camera from being reflected in the metal surfaces. I like this one but next time I think I need to get a little more light in the shadow - they might be just a little too dark. What do you think?

I set out to create "catalog" shots and maybe one image of the tool "in-use" but in the end didn't do the "in-use". I had just received a table-top studio outfit from a friend - a 20" cube tent, two lights, a tabletop tripod and some backgrounds - so I set that up in my kitchen and spent the afternoon. The second image was done in the tent with lights at 90° and a white foamcore between the camera and the tent. I used the black "seamless" background that came with the studio fully intending to have the black just disappear. As much as I tried, I couldn't get the background smooth and so I decided to use the irregular background almost like "leading lines" by having the light lead to the products. This may have been a happy accident that lead to a more powerful image. It also helped to show off the black leather case a little better.


Ledlenser

When I was arranging the deal with Leatherman I learned that they were somehow affiliated and I could also work with them under the same deal. I received this MH30 rechargeable headlamp. I had been wanting a headlamp for a long time and this one was perfect for me. The first image was shot in the light tent with the black cloth background but I kept the background to a minimum by getting in tight on the product. Working with the headlamp proved to be a bit more challenging than the multi-tool, in part because of the elastic headband. It was very difficult to get everything to stay where I wanted it and to position everything exactly as I envisioned. The second shot was taken outside with the headlamp and case sitting on the hood of my car, just like I did for the first Swiss Army knife shot. I didn't use any light modifiers or reflectors for this shot - it was strictly available light. The car, itself, was acting like a large reflector.


In closing

I am going to leave you with one of the images that set me down the product photography trail, one of the self-portraits I shot wearing the Tamrac backpack. This is not the same image Tamrac used in their Instagram feed but it was shot during the same session. While writing this post I decided to do a follow-up showing my "in-use" images featuring the Tamrac backpack and some other products I have done along the way. I like the "in-use" shots but they present a special challenge all their own and I will get into that in the next post.

Until next time - be kind to Mother Earth and get outdoors! As always, I welcome your comments and feedback below.




If you are a company looking for a product photographer, I would love to talk to you about your photography needs. Send an email to valencia32studio@gmail.com.


All photos are copyright Joseph S. Valencia All Rights Reserved They may not be used in any way without express written permission of the photographer. If you wish to use any of the photos you may contact the photographer at valencia32photo@gmail.com

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