lighting

Dramatic shots from difficult event lighting

in

Event photography plays an important role in spreading news about a conference, seminar or award ceremony to those who could not attend – both members of the organisation’s immediate community and those in the wider sector. To do this successfully, whether on social media or in newsletters and the press, the photographs themselves must be visually and emotionally engaging, and the more engaging the better.

The lighting is always sh*t

Lighting is critical in making strong images of any kind. Unfortunately for event photographers, the lighting of conference venues is never designed to help them. Sometimes, theatrical lighting effects are created to enhance the spectacle for those in the room. More typically, no thought at all is given to lighting and the photographer (and the participants) must simply make the best of whatever mix of natural, fluorescent, LED and vertical halogen spot lighting the venue happens to have. These days, we also have to cope with projection or LED screens, and often both. I use on-camera flash if I absloutely have to, but in general the results are stronger if I can find a way to work with the ambient light.

Work with what you’ve got

I have developed a two-fold strategy. First, I always try to arrive at the event venue at least half an hour before I am due to start shooting. This gives me time to explore the space, find out where and when key moments will occur, and check my route to the places with interesting angles to shoot from. Just as important, though, I assess the difficulties and the opportunities presented by the lighting. Sometimes, I even suggest changes to the event organiser, who can then pass on the request to the venue manager.

Creating drama

Two recent events presented contrasting examples of the challenges I often face, and the photographs above and below show how I tried to turn the difficulties to my advantage in order to create dramatic shots that grab the viewer’s attention.

The first event was in a black-painted auditorium with no natural light at all. The overall light level was extremely low, with a few powerful spots focused on the stage area where a panel discussion would take place. I made a number of shots from behind the audience. But the best images were made from behind the panel, using the stage lighting to create dramatic contrast.

The second took place on a bright summer evening, with low sunlight streaming in through large windows along one side of a rooftop bar. I exploited the strong contrast to create strong individual and group portraits, often with the main light source behind the subjects.

2020 – it could have been worse

in

I count myself extremely lucky. I have not caught the coronavirus. I have not had to endure confinement alone, or in a tiny apartment. And I no longer rely on my photographic work to pay a mortgage or university fees.

But many others have suffered and are suffering horribly. I’m especially conscious of the difficulties of younger photographers.

2020 didn’t work out anything like I’d expected. Many personal and professional plans had to be abandoned. But I can still find a lot of positives to draw from this year – above all, the rich and intense encounters that I have had with my wonderful subjects. The pleasure that my photographs have given them is the fuel that propels me forward into 2021.

Studio portrait of a young woman

2020 has seen an unprecedented number of jobs cancelled or postponed, sometimes several times. I still have bookings for weddings originally planned during the summer, for which the couples concerned now have tentative dates in 2021. I had two periods of complete shutdown, in April-May and again in November, and no conference work at all (and very little corporate work of any kind) after mid-March. So I lost three whole months out of my year, as well as most of the corporate work that had accounted for 55% of my income in 2019.

Despite that, I delivered nearly 100 contracts, up 15% from the previous year, though revenue was down by 18%. From June onwards I focused my online marketing exclusively towards the private market. In particular, I shot a large number of portrait sessions – income from portrait work tripled compared with 2019. Surprisingly, given the general anxiety about social distancing, over 70% of portrait sessions were shot in the studio, up from 50% the year before.

Saturdays continued to be my busiest working day of the week in 2020, and Wednesdays were still the day on which the largest number of people got in touch for the first time. (I’ve never understood why Wednesday would be the day people are most likely to think about hiring a photographer.) I continued to advertise online with Google Ads. But an increasing number of leads and contracts came from ‘free’ sources, especially from Google My Business and from previous customers. GMB and organic search accounted for nearly 20% of delivered contracts, and repeat business for nearly 25%.

Studio portrait of a man

I improved as a photographer. Of course I did – I learn from every job I do!

More specifically, I finally accepted the advice of my friend and colleague Phil Mortreux (Hire him, he’s a brilliant film-maker and photographer!) that shooting exclusively in RAW would allow me to deliver higher numbers of really top-quality images from each shoot.

Second, I continued to develop my portrait studio. I added a pair of Elinchrom ELC-500 studio lights. These have been a pleasure to work with from the start, and really do give me complete freedom to light my subjects in all the ways I want. And I acquired two gorgeous collage backdrops created by British artist Gail Fox. I cannot wait to start shooting portraits against these in 2021.

Finally, I refined the way I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my images, including the integration of a number of tricks taught to me by Phil Mortreux. (Thanks, Phil!) I have a light-touch approach to post-processing, but Lightroom is critical in enabling me to deliver clean, sharp, colour-balanced image files to my clients quickly.