Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
On an evening that carries more than one kind of event, you first ask where the photos will be used and draw up a usage list; the series is balanced among speakers, crowd and details. The speaker is shot with burst shooting at the moment of a gesture or emphasis, with the exposure set not for the screen behind them but for their face, and the exposure is checked again for each speaker of different skin tones; the scale shot shows how full the hall is honestly, and the sign of those who don't want to be photographed is respected.
Learning goal
You will be able to photograph a conference, a launch or a birthday with a balance of frames that serves a different purpose from a wedding. Before the shoot you will ask where the photos will be used and turn the frames needed for those uses into a list. You will photograph the speaker not with their mouth half open or their eyes closed, but while explaining an idea and with their gesture; and you will expose their face correctly despite the bright screen behind them. You will build wide frames that honestly show how full the hall is and the event's scale, and photograph the products, tables and decorations as complementary details. You will respect the sign of participants who don't want to be photographed, and expose the face of each of the speakers of different skin tones on stage with the same care.
The question
The tradespeople's association hall is crowded in the evening. First the association's president speaks at the podium, a pure white presentation on the screen behind them. Then the neighborhood delivery service the association has just started is introduced at a table. Toward the end of the night the lights dim and a cake full of candles comes into the hall for a retired tailor turning ninety. A conference, a launch, a birthday: all three on the same evening, and each one's photos will be used in a different place, for a different purpose. Your friend doesn't know what to shoot, how much, and how.
Context
In the pricing lesson you met usage rights, which set in which media, for how long and in which region the client can use the photos (Lesson 28.5). In the dark hall lesson you worked on shooting a ceremony without interrupting it, from places chosen in advance, and setting the exposure for the faces (Lesson D.5). And you will remember the list you kept on the wedding morning so as not to miss the grandmother's frame (Lesson D.3).
An event is a wedding's sibling, but it speaks another language. At a wedding you shoot for a family's memories; at an event, most often for an organization's needs. The photos can be used in a press release, on a social media account, in an annual report or on next year's invitation. That is why the event photographer is both a documentarian and a service provider: they show what happened honestly, but they do it in the form the organization will use.
Simple explanation
What decides what gets shot?
A usage list is a list showing where and for what purpose an event's photos will be used, and the frames these uses require. A press release may need a horizontal frame of the speaker, a social media account vertical frames, an annual report a wide frame showing how full the hall is, a sponsor a frame in which their product or sign is visible. The list is drawn up by talking with the organization before the shoot; because the organization knows which frame it needs, and the photographer knows how to shoot that frame. The list is the corporate counterpart of the must-have list written with the family in D.3.
The usage list also sets the balance of frames. An event's photo series usually consists of a balance of three kinds: speakers and important people, crowd and scale, details and setting. A series that leans too heavily on one stays incomplete: a series made only of speakers doesn't show the event's crowd, a series made only of the crowd doesn't show who spoke.
How is a speaker photographed?
A speaker shot is a frame in which a speaker is photographed while explaining an idea, with a lively face and a clear gesture. A speaking person's face changes constantly; in many frames the mouth is caught half open, the eyes closed or the face scrunched. That is why the speaker is shot with burst shooting and at the moments when a gesture, an emphasis or a smile comes. An angle is chosen so that the podium, the microphones or a water bottle don't cover the face; shooting from a little to the side of the podium and from the speaker's eye level or a little below often gives good results.
The bright presentation screen behind the speaker confuses the camera's metering and darkens the face. The exposure is set for the face; the screen can stay a little bright. The light falling on the stage is often a single spotlight or a light from the ceiling; speakers of different skin tones read differently in the same light. When a light-skinned speaker comes to the podium after a dark-skinned one, the exposure is checked again for each; a setting that suits one speaker can blow out or darken the other's face.
How are crowd and detail shown?
A scale shot is a wide frame showing an event's size and how full the hall is; it is usually shot from the back of the hall, from a balcony or from a high place, so as to show the speaker and the audience together. A scale shot must be honest: a frame that shows a half-full hall as full with a narrow angle misleads the reader when used in a press release. The organization may not want the hall's real state to be seen; in that case, instead of a misleading frame, frames that focus on the audience's faces and interest can be offered.
Details complete an event's identity: the product being launched, name badges, the table setting, a sponsor's sign, a birthday cake. At moments like a birthday, the moment the candles are blown out is once-only; because the face is lit by the candlelight, the exposure is set for that light and the moment is caught with burst shooting.
An opt-out badge is a sign that, at some events, participants who don't want to be photographed carry on their name badges, letting the photographer know. If there is such a system, the photographer doesn't photograph these people or leaves them unrecognizable in the frame; if there isn't, the same respect is shown when a participant says they don't want to be photographed.
Visual evidence
Your friend looks at the frames they shot at a neighborhood meeting last year. In half of the speaker frames the mouth is open, the eyes half closed; the faces in front of the screen are dark. There isn't a single frame showing the crowd, the product table was never photographed. The association couldn't find a frame to put in its bulletin.
This time, before the evening, they talk with the association's president and draw up a usage list: a horizontal frame of the president for the bulletin, vertical frames from the launch for social media, a wide frame of the hall for the report, the delivery service's table, and the cake. At the back of the hall they choose a place where they can stand on a chair.
While the president speaks, your friend waits from beside the podium, with burst shooting, for the moments when an emphasis comes; they set the exposure for the president's dark-skinned face, and the screen stays a little bright. Then, when a light-skinned woman speaker comes to the podium, they check the exposure again and stop down by one stop. From the back of the hall they shoot the scale shot; they leave a member carrying a sign on their name badge out of the frame. When the cake arrives, the moment the old tailor blows out the candles is sharp in the candles' warm light.
Common mistakes
Common mistakeShooting without asking where the photos will be used.
The frame the organization needs is missing. The fix: draw up a usage list before the shoot.
Common mistakeShooting the speaker at random moments with single frames.
Frames with open mouths and closed eyes come out. The fix: wait with burst shooting for the moment a gesture or emphasis comes.
Common mistakeUsing the same exposure for every speaker.
One of the speakers of different skin tones has their face darkened or blown out. The fix: each time a speaker comes to the podium, check the exposure again for their face.
Summary
On an evening that carries more than one kind of event, you first ask where the photos will be used and draw up a usage list; the series is balanced among speakers, crowd and details. The speaker is shot with burst shooting at the moment of a gesture or emphasis, with the exposure set not for the screen behind them but for their face, and the exposure is checked again for each speaker of different skin tones; the scale shot shows how full the hall is honestly, and the sign of those who don't want to be photographed is respected.
Mini assignment
In this assignment you will plan and shoot a meeting, a school show or a small celebration as if you were shooting it for an organization.
- Talk with the organizer to ask where the photos will be used and write a usage list.
- Photograph someone speaking with burst shooting; if there is a bright surface behind them, set the exposure for their face and choose the moment the gesture comes.
- Shoot an honest wide frame showing the event's scale and two detail frames; if someone doesn't want to be photographed, leave them out of the frame.
Check yourself
- Were you able to shoot a match for every frame on the usage list?
- In the speaker frames, is the face lively and correctly exposed?
- Is your series balanced among speaker, crowd and detail?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Usage list | A list showing where and for what purpose event photos will be used and the frames they require. |
| Speaker shot | A frame in which a speaker is photographed while explaining an idea, with a lively face and a clear gesture. |
| Scale shot | A wide frame honestly showing an event's size and how full the hall is. |
| Opt-out badge | A sign that participants who don't want to be photographed carry on their name badge, letting the photographer know. |
Mini quiz
1. Why is the usage list drawn up before the shoot?
- A) So the photographer shoots fewer frames
- B) To know which frames the organization needs and be able to shoot them
- C) To calculate the invoice
- D) To put the speakers in order
2. With a bright presentation screen behind the speaker, what is the exposure set for?
- A) The screen
- B) The podium's wooden surface
- C) The light on the ceiling
- D) The speaker's face
3. Why is showing a half-full hall as full with a narrow angle a problem?
- A) It misleads the reader about the event's scale
- B) The frame comes out blurred
- C) The light isn't enough
- D) The speaker can't be seen
4. What is done for a participant carrying a sign on their name badge showing they don't want to be photographed?
- A) They are photographed as usual
- B) The frames are sold to them afterward
- C) They aren't photographed, or are left unrecognizable in the frame
- D) They are removed from the event
Answers
- B — The organization knows its need; the photographer plans the frame that meets it.
- D — The bright screen confuses the metering; the face is the most important area of the frame.
- A — A scale shot must be honest; a misleading frame deceives the bulletin's reader.
- C — Consent applies at events too; the sign is respected.
Summary card
- Ask first: where will the photos be used? Draw up a usage list.
- Balance: speaker, crowd, detail.
- Speaker: burst shooting, the moment of gesture and emphasis; don't let the podium cover the face.
- Exposure for the face, not the screen; check again for each speaker.
- Honest scale shot; once-only moments like the candles with burst shooting.
- Respect the opt-out badge and anyone who says "don't shoot me."
Bridge to the next lesson
The cake has been cut, the applause has died down. At the end of the night, a group made up of the association's young members takes the stage. The hall lights go out; the stage fills and empties with red, blue and purple lights, the spotlights light a singer's face for a moment and leave it in darkness the next. The camera suggests a different exposure for every frame. How do you shoot at a dark concert? The next lesson takes up spot metering, high ISO and reading the rhythm of the stage lights.