Great Event Photos With Your Phone
As an event organiser, you often have a limited budget, if any. There is rarely enough in the budget to organise a professional photographer, so here are some tips to take great event photos with your phone!
· In trying to get photos of your event, you will need to move seamlessly amongst your guests, without interfering. When you are trying to take a photo, be nice! Let people know that you won’t take up much of their time, and that these photos are just going to be used for promotional purposes for the next event. You can even give them a minute or two to make sure they are looking their best for the shot. The best time to take these photos is early on in the night.
· Never take photos of people eating!
· Make sure you always take photos of small groups, even groups two or three will make for a better shot.
· Photos of just the head and shoulders work better. If they are too far away, rather than crop, take a couple of steps forward and get the shot that you want- it will look better.
· Visualise the shots you want to take before the event. Maybe write your list down beforehand so you can cross them off as you go, and can easily remember what you are after.
· Try to capture the ‘story’ of the event- ie before, during and after. This can be establishing shots which show where you are, details shots of what is happening, and closing shots. You can also take shots with the venue empty, then at various stages of being filled.
· Keep the photos simple- too many details will distract the viewer.
· If you are sharing your pictures to social media, keep the photos simple, otherwise the details will be lost.
· Improve your photo by finding an interesting angle to shoot from- a lower angle shooting up is always a good choice.
· Two thirds of your picture should be ‘negative space.’ Negative space is the area between and around objects in a photo. You can use it to see shapes and sizes more effectively, and produce better composed images.
· For candid photos, the best bet is to take as many photos as possible, as it can often take lots of photos to find just the right one.
· Try and think outside the box when trying to make a photo great- images can evoke more emotion if they are non-conventional.
· Low light photography can result in blurry photos, so try and find a well-lit area. If you can move next to a window, that is perfect as artificial light can cast unflattering colours on your subject. If you go outside, an overcast day is much better for good photos. If it is a sunny day, try going in the shade for the best result.
· Tap the screen on your phone to set the focus of your photo. This will create a yellow box which you can adjust. Now swipe your fingers up or down on the screen to access the exposure slider to adjust the exposure. Swiping up will make it brighter, and down darker.
· When there is a lot of movement in a scene, use the burst mode feature to capture many shots in a short period of time, and then choose the best shots after. To use the burst mode, simply hold down the shutter button (the one you use to take the picture) for as long as you want to take the photos. This will be saved as a ‘burst’ in your library. To choose the best shots, tap ‘select’ and you can select the images you want to keep, which will be saved to your library.
· When shooting close up, never use the zoom as this will ruin the quality of your image. You are better getter closer to the subject than cropping it after.
There is no reason why you cannot save on the budget and take some excellent, professional quality photos of your event. We hope you find these tips useful, and would love you to add your own!
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