Event Photography

by Photography Reference November 2, 2022

written by Photography Reference

Event photography is usually a paid commercial undertaking between a photographer and a commercial business, private business or individual. It is genre of photography where a photographer is engaged to cover an event or occasion to highlight the participants or activities at the event.

Typical events covered by event photography are trade shows, conferences, corporate occasions and parties, shows and other public events, private birthday parties and private engagement parties.

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Backdrops for event photography

A backdrop is commonly used at corporate events and may include the event or company logo, or another backdrop related to the event. Flash would usually be used to capture groups or individual participants in front of the backdrop. The event organiser will commonly organise the purchase of a backdrop for the event.

Typical events covered by event photography are trade shows, conferences, corporate occasions and parties, shows and other public events, private birthday parties and private engagement parties.
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Camera

It is recommended to shoot with a good low-light camera due to the limitations on using flash at some events. The type of event will determine the camera setup that you’ll need. For example, if it is a corporate Christmas party the venue is likely to be darker than if the event is a conference, which will usually be brightly lit.

Cameras with a higher megapixel count may be better if you think you’ll need to crop-in on some photos and still want to retain details. A standard and a zoom lens would both work in differing situations. If you can’t get close to the subject, then you’ll need a zoom lens. Weight is also a consideration to take into account when selecting a camera and lens.

The event photographer may consider setting up one camera on a tripod at a fixed location. This is so they can capture posed shots, plus a second lighter camera for when the photographer is moving around the event capturing participants and important moments.

Capturing event photography

Pre-event photos and photos during event breaks are also important to shoot as they will capture candid moments of interaction between participants.

Conference event photographers will use flash very sparingly, if at all. This is because it is important that the participants and speakers at the conference are not distracted by the photographers’ flash. If the camera has a silent shutter setting this should be used.

Be careful and silent

In indoor event settings, a warning on the use of silent shutter is the possible introduction of banding stripes called the rolling shutter effect. This usually affects mirrorless cameras and is caused by the frequency and electrical recharge cycle of certain types of LED or other lights interacting with the time taken for the camera to read the light that has been exposed to the sensor. The fix is to increase or decrease the shutter speed.

There is a whole world of scientific explanation for rolling shutter banding, but this section of the article is to make you aware of this possibility during conference and corporate events when using silent shutter on mirrorless cameras because those spaces are typically filled with LED lighting.