What Is Event Photography?
We’ve documented events in San Diego, nationally and internationally for nearly 20 years, so we can definitely explain the importance of event photography and what skills to look for in an event photographer.
What Is Event Photography?
Event photography involves capturing key moments at events that visually tell the story of the event by photographing genuine interactions, animated speakers, engaged attendees, important details, and the atmosphere and feeling of the event. It requires not only an understanding of lighting and composition and technical mastery of the camera but a keen eye for storytelling and a mindfulness required to capture genuine, candid interactions. A skilled event photographer will not only document what happened at the event but will create images that can be used to effectively market future events.
This type of photography requires thoughtful preparation through client meetings, research, and venue scouting. Typical deliverables include an edited, curated collection of images covering the important moments of the event, including candid and group shots, presented in an online gallery. Some photographers offer onsite editing and image delivery and/or delivery of daily highlight images that can be used for social media.
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Definition | The practice of photographing main events, attendee interaction, and atmosphere at corporate events (conferences, meetings, summits, expos). |
| Purpose | To document main events, candid interactions, atmosphere and the story/vibe of the event in an unscripted, natural way. |
| Skills needed | Anticipating great moments and turning them into photos, working quickly, using proper camera settings, mastering lighting techniques, and being creative with composition. |
| Planning required | Client meetings, research about the event and brand, venue logistics, gear prep. |
| Typical deliverables | Edited collection of images highlighting key moments, details, candids, and group shots. Edited, curated digital gallery and possibly daily highlights. |
Types of Event Photography
When defining event photography, you must remember its primary outcome. This type of photography involves documenting events in order to accurately capture the vibe or feel of the event, while telling a story about it.
- Corporate events and conferences
- Performances and entertainment
- Galas, community events, press conferences
- Destination events and incentive travel
Purpose of Event Photography
Part of understanding event photography is knowing its purpose, which is to shoot events as they happen. These images not only preserve significant moments and the details of the event for future recollection but demonstrate the success of the event’s mission and can be used to advertise for future events.
Storytelling
Like a photojournalist or documentary photographer, an event photographer crafts compelling images that guide the viewer through the moments that define the event. Nostalgia can amplify positive emotions, and images that accurately depict certain moments can contribute to this. Think of event photos as a succinct visual summary of the entire event.
Capture Emotions
Our style when shooting event photos is to capture dynamic perspectives of key moments and to show genuine interactions that accurately capture the energy of the event.
We combine our aesthetic sensitivities and mastery of our gear to create a visual record of the event. This lets you experience what the event felt like, even if you weren’t there.
Record Interactions
Networking and social interaction is a key motivator driving people to attend events. Whether it’s a handshake between business partners or an hug between colleagues, these images reflect the connections made.
Desired Skills In Event Photographers
Event photographers need certain skills and knowledge to do their job properly. There are over 113,000 photographers in the United States. Understanding what makes an experienced event photographer truly exceptional can help you find the perfect photographer that suits your needs, style, and budget.
- Equipment: And event photographers camera bag should look similar to a photojournalist’s bag with pro-series camera body(s) and lenses with various focal lengths (most importantly: telephoto, wide and medium), plenty of memory cards, speed-lights and backup batteries, backup camera body and backup speed-light. Some events also require additional off camera lighting.
- Mastery of camera settings: A skilled event photographer must have quick reflexes for changing manual shooting settings on the fly to adjust the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO to match the event’s lighting conditions.
- Knowledge in directing and posing: Aside from shooting candid shots, an event photographer must also be confident directing groups and individuals for posed group shots or headshots.
- Experience in lighting techniques: Events can happen indoors and outdoors. As an event photographer, one must leverage natural and external lighting to illuminate subjects clearly and set the mood. When using artificial lighting, it takes a skilled photographer to be able to light a scene in a way that looks natural.
Editing and Delivery of Event Photos
After capturing the excitement and spirit of an event, post-processing, and delivery are the final stages of event photography.
Image Selection
Skilled ‘culling’ or image selection is time consuming and meticulous and something that separates an experienced event photographer from a novice. Some event photographers share all of the images they shoot; the good, the bad and the ugly. This makes viewing the images tedious and time consuming. At Narrative Images, we invest the time to skillfully cull/curate your final images so viewing them is enjoyable and seamless. This process includes:
- Removing any unflattering moments or repetitive images
- Reviewing and selecting images that showcase key moments
- Checking there’s ample visual variety, including wide, medium, and close-up views
- Finalizing selections so that there are no duplicates and sequencing tells the story of the event
Image Editing
After culling, editing is the next step of post-processing. Post-processing of images leads to high image quality and a consistent style across the final images. Again, what separates a novice from a pro (and what you may pay more for) is a photographer that edits the images they deliver. This means that the photographer took the time to adjust light temperature, brightness, contrast and cropping (if needed) to optimize each image, making the images ready to use in advertising or on social media.
- Adjust exposure and correct lighting to match the event lighting, brightening when needed
- Apply color correction to reflect the true atmosphere of the event
- Adjust contrast (whites, shadows) to make images pop
- Crop and compose shots to enhance the visual storytelling
Image Delivery
The final stage of post-processing is to upload the images to an online gallery where they can be viewed and downloaded. Your photographer should have different options for protecting the desired level of privacy/access for your gallery. While different clients and photographers may prefer different delivery styles, these are some common factors:
- Deciding on the format for delivery (JPG or RAW) depending on the client’s request
- Using online galleries or cloud storage for easy access to digital files
Related Questions
What Does an Event Photographer Do?
An event photographer captures the essence of events, whether they’re smaller events like galas or press conferences or large conferences. This type of photographer is tasked with documenting the atmosphere, key moments, and finer details that make an event unique, often with a blend of candid shots and posed pictures.
What Does an Event Photographer Need?
To excel in event photography, a photographer requires a comprehensive kit that includes a pro-series camera, various lenses, and speedlights/flashes and possibly strobes for lighting as well as back up equipment. An in depth understanding of camera settings is crucial in being able to affectively capture events with various lighting scenarios.
Why Is Event Photography Important?
Event photography is important because it’s more than just recording the visual facts of an event; it documents key moments in a dynamic form that enables people to relive the event or feel like they were there. For businesses, high-quality event photography can also be instrumental in marketing and documenting corporate functions, underscoring its significance in professional contexts.
Conclusion
Event photography encompasses the art of documenting significant moments and details of various events. If you’re looking for an event photographer for your event, make sure you check out our portfolio and experience. We specialize in storytelling images that will give you a excellent return on your investment whether you use the images to showcase the success of the event on social media or to advertise for next year’s event.
