Shooting my first "event" tomorrow - any suggestions/advice?

Rezen

First, let me just say that my motivations for shooting this event aren't monetary in nature - I'm just trying to get experience and improve my skills (which are admittedly noobish! hehe).

Event: St. Arnold's Brewery 15th Anniversary barbecue and Beer Olympics. It will be 100% outdoors from 1pm-4pm.

Noobish Equipment: Canon Digital Rebel XT, 24-70mm f/2.8L, 50mm f/1.8 II, plus the kit lens (18-55mm f/4.0-5.6).

Given that this is the first time I've attended such an event as a photographer (I've already received permission from St. Arnold's Brewery to photograph the event), what should I focus on? I mean, obviously, I'll take lots of pictures of my friends, but what else? Also, any advice on aperture? Should I stop down the 24-70 to f/8 or so? or shoot wide open? The event is in Houston, so it'll likely be extremely sunny and VERY hot. haha.

Sorry for the noobish questions, but I am in every sense of the word in regards to photography... a noob Before last weekend I only had a kit lens, and my photographs generally suck compared to the professional quality pics I see here on a regular basis. I know most of this stuff is like second nature to most photographers here... but I'm not very artistic in nature when it comes to photographry.

Thanks in advance!

-Todd

Rocketman766

I'm still really new myself, but I will just toss a few things out there. I have no idea what goes on here for events, but I would think maybe a few shots of some high profile BBQ-ers, speakers, eye catching features and some interesting attendees? I assume you will be up close to the action, otherwise you might want a longer lens. Keep an eye on shadows if the sun is out and bright. I would not think you need to shoot wide open in the middle of the day, unless you are going for the bokeh and want to blur out your backgrounds, which is something to think about. If you have nice backgrounds, then you might not have to blur them out.

just some words from another new guy.

Toshido

Nice lens in the 24-70 L, use it. Doubt you would need the low light of the 50/1.8. The kit lens hide away and never look at it until you are ready to sell the XT and upgrade At least that is what i did with that lens.

Bright sun be ready to use fill light. Thankfully on camera flash should be fine for this. I am still experimenting with this myself but I have found that a FEC of around -1 works nicely. You will still get shadows but not as bad. Which is perfect use of fill flash, imo.

if you can find some shade to shoot in, GREAT. Last time I was in similar situation I just set my flash to -1 FEC for all settings. Both direct sunlight and shade, worked reasonably well.

You should have enough memory, I used to use 2 gig cards with an XT and started to shoot all RAW, so shoot raw to give you some margin for error. If you are not really comfortable with exposure just try to aim for ideal exposure in camera, like I say RAW will give you some extra headroom.

Not sure about apertures of course since I am not there I would aim for around F/4 though as a start. unless of course you want a larger aperture for creative reasons. The F/4 is likely a nice compromise of sharpness, DOF and shutter speeds.

What to take pictures of is again hard to give advice on....

if only one event at a time try to get pictures of each contestant/team. Include any celebrations after an event. Get any awards ceremonies held as well. Beyond that it is only 3 hours so just keep shooting. Not necessarily bursting for the entire 3 hours but get lots of pictures of as much as possible. if you are even half picky with your shots you should be able to keep shooting for the entire 3 hours in RAW with little problems.

Most of all at this level, HAVE FUN!!!

Qarik

avoid direct sunlight shots if you can. Find some shade. Your aperture could be f/4 to f/22 depending on how bright it is. I wouldn't go any wider. Your shutter speeds may likely be in the 1/1000 type range in bright sunlight. Remember your onboard light meter, turn on your "blinkies" as well, and expose to avoid them in general. All you will need is your 24-70mm lens.

Vary your shots..do group shots, tight head shots, couples shots, shoulder shots, etc. Make sure you gets candids as well as "look at the camera shots". Use your rules of thirds often. And have fun!

JohnBiggs

I think you have great equipment. Make your next investment a 70-200 and not a new body.

I suggest ISO 100, f5.6 as a start. For a bigger group, remember to bump the aperture for depth. The fill flash idea is good too. Or you could use a white paper plate as a reflector in bright sun. It should be more pleasing, if you don't mind people looking at you funny.

Rocketman766

So how did it turn out? Any shots from the event? Hope your first event went well.

Rezen

So I had a blast at the event, drank a lot of beer!

Here are a few of the shots I took. The only post processing was resizing and converting to JPG. Haven't had the time to adjust the exposure at all.

Turns out that the majority of the event was indoors (unlike I had previously thought). None of the pictures I shot outside turned out worth a crap due to overexposure.

Anyway, a few pics and some captions:



Mmmmm brisket. The first best shot of the day.



ooooh beer! Lots and lots of beer!



First beer of the day. Lots more of these would be consumed, oh yes.



First EMPTY beer of the day.



Upgraded to steins.



Better view of the stein.



My friend's barbecue plate. I was too busy taking pics (took 252 total for the afternoon), so I didn't eat until later. I regret that because all that was left was a little brisket gristle and sausage caps. bleh.



For some reason I really liked this shot of the beer with the food in the background



Toasting my buddies.



Some chick dancing a jig. Lots of laughs to be had! She was a lot of fun. Pic turned out blurrier than I wanted, but low light and alcohol influenced stability (or lack thereof, actually) = bad combination. boo!



Lots of beer glasses in various states of fullness.



One of the bartenders. He was shooting Nikon, and commented on my Canon gear. Good chap though!



Another bartender. He was not very friendly at all, unlike the other bloke.



Kegs. Lots and lots of kegs.



View of the bar.



A few awards they've won.



Another (better, in my opinion) picture of the bar banner.



Wish I could take the credit for this pic, but my buddy borrowed the camera to take pics of chicks. This one came out really well.



And this one is by far my favorite of the shots he took. He did a hell of a job!



Party's over said the girl!

We went to go see The Hangover afterwards, lol lots of good fun!

...

Thanks for all the tips, I learned a lot. The most important lesson being: the more alcohol you drink, the more difficult it is to stay focused on taking good pictures. :-)

Rocketman766

Rezen wrote:

So I had a blast at the event, drank a lot of beer!

Here are a few of the shots I took. The only post processing was resizing and converting to JPG. Haven't had the time to adjust the exposure at all.

Turns out that the majority of the event was indoors (unlike I had previously thought). None of the pictures I shot outside turned out worth a crap due to overexposure.

Anyway, a few pics and some captions:



Mmmmm brisket. The first best shot of the day.

I wake up all the time wishing I lived back home in Texas...brisket is one of the main reasons why...

Qarik

not bad at all for 1st time out. Exposure and focus are genrally good. The blurred shot actually works due to the dynamic nature of the subject. The beer shot with the food in the background is probably my favorite. One thing to note..your subjects in the shots are generally centered. This is typically a noob mistake. Google "rule of thirds".

fredjclaus

Nice shots. I'd like to see more group shots and candids though. You posted a bunch of great pictures of the glasses, but what about the people? Candids of people having fun, and couples and groups posing for the camera. Your images need to express the excitement and the fun that is to be had at this event.

You did some nice work for the first time. Keep going.