Shooting and Retouching Night Events
Shooting night events may not be easy, but at least it’s a lot of fun. Professional photographers spend years developing the skills needed for mastering this unusual type of photography, especially the night shooting part. With so many moving parts (and just as many people mingling around), catching the perfect night event shot is an art.
What Is Event Photography?
The term “event photography” refers to to the art of capturing special moments about various kinds of events, from weddings and concerts to sports and galas. In the industry, however, the term is used to separate corporate event photography from all other types.
Corporate event photography typically looks like this:
As guests are arriving, they strike a pose alone or together, have their photo taken, and then move on to be replaced by the next person in line. This technique is called “step and repeat” and can be seen on televised red carpet events such as Academy Awards and Grammys.
Shooting Night Events Like a Pro
The main challenge of event photography is light – with most of these happenings taking place in the evening hours, the artificial lighting can make it very hard for the photographer to achieve the best results. Crowdy rooms and dynamic ambiance present another challenge.
The best thing you can do in these situations is to use the environment.
Hopefully, the event you’ll be photographing will be full of interesting people and Instagram-able backdrops. If you choose the right gear, you’ll be able to catch movement in the middle of the action. Having a monopod, for instance, will help you keep your shots steady.
Also, you should practice both with and without flash.
Though having some extra light is crucial for great night event photography, you should know that many of these events don’t allow photographers to use flash. Switch between the manually controlled flash power (start at ⅛ or ¼) and popular low-light shooting techniques.
10 Tips for Shooting Night Events
Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s talk more about the tricks that will help you hone your skills and differentiate your event photography from your competitors’. This is a so-called live-action photo retouching technique that achieves gorgeous results:
1. Do Some Research on the Location Before the Event Starts
To get rid of the stage fright and the pressure, take some time, and visit the venue before the event. This will allow you to feel the room, experiment with lighting, and pick the most suitable equipment and technique. It’s much easier taking a test prepared and relaxed.
2. Choose the Right Type of Lens for the Occasion
If the event you’ll be photographing requires you to stand still in the audience or press section, then your lens should give you the flexibility to zoom, frame, and isolate subjects. But if you’ll be free to move around, go for the prime lenses and get close to subjects.
3. Strike a Balance Between Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO
Based on which lenses you choose, opt for one of these two combinations:
● If you are working with a zoom lens, you’re going to need the widest possible aperture and high ISO – only that way will you be able to achieve the ultimate shutter speed of 1/640th.
● The wide aperture and high ISO are helpful in situations when you’re working with a prime lens as well, but the shutter speed should be higher than 1/125th. Make sure to do a few test shots!
4. Learn to Use the Available Light
In night event photography, lighting is so important that we need to cover this twice. Be ready to use flash but also don’t get surprised if the event organizers forbid you to. You’ll need to learn to get creative and work what you’ve got, mainly artificial light and backdrops.
5. Shed light on the Brightest Stars of the Evening
One way to illuminate your subjects without a flash is by making them feel as if they are walking the prime-award show red carpet. When they strike a pose, tell them they look pretty or handsome and ask them politely to move a bit to the left. Everybody loves the spotlight.
6. Be a Fly on the Wall
Being everywhere at once without getting noticed is easier said than done. It’ll probably take years for you to develop this skill, but don’t lose your patience. Once you’re as agile and unnoticeable as a fly on the wall, you can push your ISO to the limits and get a perfect shot.
7. Use a Continuous Shooting Mode
If the evening is a bit frantic and there’s no clear program to what will happen when then it may be better to keep your camera in a continuous shooting mode. That way, you’ll be able to move around without the risk of missing anything. Plus, this is great for post-production.
The more photographs you have, the easier it will be to pick the right one.
8. Move Around and Observe
Alternatively, you can spend some time on high alert, examining the patterns of the event – how people move, what’s the general mood, and when the evening will peak. Move around the venue, observe, and anticipate. We must warn you, though, this takes some experience.
9. Use the Environment to Set the Scene
Introduce some storytelling.
It’s a myth that event photography doesn’t leave much room for creativity. Let’s debunk it. Use the available lighting and the environment to set the scene, but also feel the mood and interact with the subjects to develop a narrative and differentiate your photos from competitors’.
10. Apply Photo Retouching Technique to Fix the Flaws
Unless you have years of event photography under your belt, it’s better to stick to the continuous shooting mode and deliver as many photographs as you possibly can. This will allow you to make a selection and employ smart photo editors professionals to fix the rest.
Using a reliable photo retouching software, a good photo editor can not only enhance the quality of the photograph but also add life to dull photos. Editing is not only technical – sure, it thrives when it comes to eliminating flaws, but it’s just as powerful in terms of creativity.
In our experience, the best photo retouching software is:
● Adobe Lightroom, which is the younger and less complicated sibling of the gold-standard – Photoshop. Lightroom boasts both incredible features and a user-friendly interface.
● Skylum Luminar is currently the most popular alternative to Adobe suites, especially thanks to its AI-based automatic fixing tool that does most of the heavy lifting for you.
Conclusion
Using the right combination of live-action skills and post-production editing, night event photographs have a unique superpower to keep the party alive forever. Everything you need is some practice, a keen eye, and great equipment – including both a camera and photo retouching software.
Author Bio:
Isabella has been an avid blogger for 5 years, with interests in Photography – lifestyle activities like Travel, Weddings, etc. Today she is an expert on the subject and over the years she has consistently contributed articles to top photography and lifestyle publications. Presently, she is associated with Smart Photo Editors (SPE) – a photo editing service company. For more visit: https://www.smartphotoeditors.com/
