I was called last week by a political Think Tank group Compass for an event photography gig in London at a rally they were holding in parliament to discuss the campaign they are supporting ‘End Legal Loan Sharking’. It was a last minute gig and I had no idea what to expect at all really, which left me with the dilemma of what equipment to bring. The last two events I shot were corporate functions, in poorly lit reception rooms which I shot with a on camera flash and a Honl honeycomb Grid, which I really like for pub/nightclub style shooting. This however was not a nightclub and as you can see from the shot above the room was lit by several large tungsten chandeliers with HUGE ceilings and no surface to bounce a flash off in sight! This meant I was either going to shoot a direct flash diffused or Hi Iso with a fast lens. I shot a few frames with the flash on and really wasn’t happy with the look, plus it was a every intimate environment and the flash popping was annoying. Here is an example of room shot with a 420Ex on ETL and a diffuser at iso 400, F.4 and 125/s with a Ef-S 17-55mm.
I decided to switch lenses and ditch the flash all together. I screwed on the trusty 50mm 1.4 and cranked up the iso to 800 + and felt much more free to room the room and capture the speakers. I usually shoot concerts with the 50mm and set the focus to ‘spot’ this way you can use the in – house lighting to full effect and shoot on shutter priority with a low F stop.
The above shots were shot using the 50mm at iso 800 F 1.8 and F2, 60/s and 80/s – the problem when you are in a dimly lit room and shooting like this is the inevitable camera shake. There was no room for a tripod in the area (and I didn’t bring one either) so it’s all deep breathing and holding on tight to the camera! Overall though I was unhappy with a lot of the shots I ended up with and also feel constrained using a 50mm prime at 1.4 – its a tight crop on my 40D and shooting from a distance at 1.4 I find myself either focusing manually or hastilly adjusting focus points so as to get the subject sharp and not those objects in between!
The client was happy with the results so not complaints but I decided to do some reading on this type of shooting to see if there were any tips I could pick up. Enter trusty Joe Mcnally his article on how to hold a camera was a huge help. Even though I shoot right eyed I found that I could use this grip perfectly in this type of situation (for landscape at least!). Basically he uses his left shoulder as a monopod and it really does eliminate a lot of movement in the camera, combine this with a short burst of shots (I stick with 3) and you are going to have A LOT sharper images. Here is the grip demonstrated.
So the following Thursday when I got another last minute event photography call to shoot for Compass yet again. I wanted to try out these new techniques. Once again it was a low lit room with very little room to manoeuvre.
I used the Canon 17-55mm Lens for 90% of the night (it’s such a sharp lens, when I can afford to move up to a full frame body I will miss it!) and when shooting landscape used the new technique and found it really comfortable and YES the shots did look sharper. The evening was also really intersting with a lecture by Professor David Marquand (below), Ed Milliband and Caroline Lucas (leader of the Greens). The shot below was taken at Iso 400 F.4 and 40/fs.
I would love to hear what other photographers out there have to say about event photography and how to tackle it.
The last photo from the event is Ed Milliband
