How to shoot a event


bkkoo78

Member
Oct 13, 2010
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Hello all,

I have been asked to take pictures for my company 3 hrs event. The big shots will be giving speeches

I am very new shooting such thing.

There will be about 80 paxs, will have a group photo at the end. Anything in-between 3hrs will be shooting around.

I don't want to screw up,

1. Advise on good/creative idea on shooting a group pic with 80 paxs.
2. Anyone got good pictures for reference that they did a event shoot, hope to look through so I can get an idea.
3. What kind preparations I need to do?

Need help...

Thanks all in advance
 

bkkoo78 said:
Hello all,

I have been asked to take pictures for my company 3 hrs event. The big shots will be giving speeches

I am very new shooting such thing.

There will be about 80 paxs, will have a group photo at the end. Anything in-between 3hrs will be shooting around.

I don't want to screw up,

1. Advise on good/creative idea on shooting a group pic with 80 paxs.
2. Anyone got good pictures for reference that they did a event shoot, hope to look through so I can get an idea.
3. What kind preparations I need to do?

Need help...

Thanks all in advance

What equipment do you have? And what is the setting? Indoor? Outdoor? Access to get close up?

Note: To shoot a 80 pax group photo indoors, you will probably need several off camera flashes to get the job done properly.
 

I am not sure if I am answering your questions directly, but very honestly, ask your company to hire a professional who can also do large group shots.

The latter task, in itself, is an exercise in tedious planning and logistics, besides technicalities.

All the best.
 

What equipment do you have? And what is the setting? Indoor? Outdoor? Access to get close up?

Note: To shoot a 80 pax group photo indoors, you will probably need several off camera flashes to get the job done properly.

Nikon d3100
Nikon 10-24mm
Nikon 17-55mm 2.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4G
Nikon 600sb
Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 vrii

It's will be indoors...

Yes, access to shoot anywhere. Yes, as close to anyone I want

It's indoors, how to fit 70-80 for a group shot?

;(

Need your advise and assistance again, daredevil123
 

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I am not sure if I am answering your questions directly, but very honestly, ask your company to hire a professional who can also do large group shots.

The latter task, in itself, is an exercise in tedious planning and logistics, besides technicalities.

All the best.

Good advise, but That is not possible, else I would not come asking for advise.

What kind of planning and logistics? If you can explain, it will be great, if you don't wish to, it's fine. :)

Thanks for your post.
 

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bkkoo78 said:
Nikon d3100
Nikon 10-24mm
Nikon 17-55mm 2.8
Nikon 600sb
Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 vrii

It's will be indoors...

Yes, access to shoot anywhere. Yes, as close to anyone I want

It's indoors, how to fit 70-80 for a group shot?

;(

Need your advise and assistance again, daredevil123

You can look at the post by catchlights and see how it is done.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/thre...-lighting-setups-Part-2?p=6411629#post6411629

don't think you have the equipment to handle the 80 pax group shot.

The rest of the event should be ok, just mount the sb600 and 17-55. Better if you can have a second body with 70-200 and a sb900 mounted.

Do agree with bro DM that you need to know the event program, how people will be situated for speeches, and planning where you should position yourself for what shots. All planning should be done beforehand.
 

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You can look at the post by catchlights and see how it is done.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/thre...-lighting-setups-Part-2?p=6411629#post6411629

don't think you have the equipment to handle the 80 pax group shot.

The rest of the event should be ok, just mount the sb600 and 17-55. Better if you can have a second body with 70-200 and a sb900 mounted.

Sad... And you are right on the equipments.

Even I have the equipments, I don't know how to use those items mentioned in your suggested post.

I think I will go borrow another d3100 and another sb900 just in case

Thanks for the tips.
 

Nikon d3100
Nikon 10-24mm
Nikon 17-55mm 2.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4G
Nikon 600sb
Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 vrii

It's will be indoors...

Yes, access to shoot anywhere. Yes, as close to anyone I want

It's indoors, how to fit 70-80 for a group shot?

;(

Need your advise and assistance again, daredevil123

Good advise, but That is not possible, else I would not come asking for advise.

What kind of planning and logistics? If you can explain, it will be great, if you don't wish to, it's fine. :)

Thanks for your post.

Here is my set up for 60pax. I was hired just for the group photo, event was cover by another photographer.

the setting up and testing took about an hour, when the group came in, I have 10mins to arrange all the them nicely, and 5mins to get the shot I want.

when the photographer don't understand the complexity of shooting group photos, how to explain to the decision makers from the company and make them understand the need of hire professionals?

taking a group photo of sixty pax,
main light is one umbrella light from camera angle (using two Elinchrom aim at one umbrella
two Elinchrom ceiling bounce as fill.
two SB800 on stage as background light.

4900003283_a1676e829f_z.jpg
 

TS, how much preparation do you have before this event, and what sort of standard are you expected to produce with your equipment?

Event photography is not only about the technical aspects of photography (and even that is often enough to overwhelm a beginner), but also about knowing what happens at what time.


Ignoring all the other aspects and just talking about the group photo here.
If you've ever been one of the 'participants' in a professionally-shot group photo, you would have noticed that the photographer has to do a lot of directing. and if you have some big shots as part of the group, you can't have them standing around and waiting for 20, 30mins whilst you try different standing arrangements in order to get it the way they want (tying back to my question about their expectations of the end-product).

Choosing the spot to set up this group shot is also important, coz you don't want shadows on people's faces, etc. That's why daredevil123 mentioned about several off-camera flashes, to cover this wide area effectively. Your single hotshoe-mounted SB600 ain't gonna cut it, I'm afraid.
 

bkkoo78 said:
Sad... And you are right on the equipments.

Even I have the equipments, I don't know how to use those items mentioned in your suggested post.

I think I will go borrow another d3100 and another sb900 just in case

Thanks for the tips.

Now that you get some idea how complex it is, you can explain to your decision makers. If they do decide to hire, catchlights is very very highly recommended.
 

ZerocoolAstra said:
TS, how much preparation do you have before this event, and what sort of standard are you expected to produce with your equipment?

Event photography is not only about the technical aspects of photography (and even that is often enough to overwhelm a beginner), but also about knowing what happens at what time.

Ignoring all the other aspects and just talking about the group photo here.
If you've ever been one of the 'participants' in a professionally-shot group photo, you would have noticed that the photographer has to do a lot of directing. and if you have some big shots as part of the group, you can't have them standing around and waiting for 20, 30mins whilst you try different standing arrangements in order to get it the way they want (tying back to my question about their expectations of the end-product).

Choosing the spot to set up this group shot is also important, coz you don't want shadows on people's faces, etc. That's why daredevil123 mentioned about several off-camera flashes, to cover this wide area effectively. Your single hotshoe-mounted SB600 ain't gonna cut it, I'm afraid.

Yup. Even with multiple speedlights like sb900, it is not enough to cover a group as big as 80 due to the short range of low power speedlights. Some might be able to pull it off with clustered sb900s and multiple clusters shooting into reflectors positioned carefully. But this is no time for experimentation. Must go in set up, people come in, execute and get the shot. No small feat. If your management want good results, best to hire a professional.
 

Thanks all for the in depth explanation of what is needed.

I appreciated everyone every moment to advise on my issue at hand.

I will need to talk to decision makers and manage their expectations right in the beginning.
 

bkkoo78 said:
Thanks all for the in depth explanation of what is needed.

I appreciated everyone every moment to advise on my issue at hand.

I will need to talk to decision makers and manage their expectations right in the beginning.

Good luck!
 

Now that you get some idea how complex it is, you can explain to your decision makers. If they do decide to hire, catchlights is very very highly recommended.

got commission wan har? ;)

hehehe just kidding.

TS, good luck with your shoot.
you're right that they should manage expectations.
If it's an 80-staff company, it must be doing millions of dollars in terms of annual revenue.
Surely they can afford to hire a professional photog, since it's no mean feat to get all 80 staff members together.
Just imagine if you take 30 mins (that's an optimistic assumption) longer than the professional photog to get an acceptable shot.
That's 40 man-hours of 'wasted' company time.
Opportunity cost is still cost :)