Event Photography

Event Photography is usually associated with Wedding Photography and can be a lot of fun for the photographer and the client.  Events can be Birthday parties, Homecomings, Going away parties, Baptisms, Graduations and many other celebrations someone might want to have photo memories of.  I have shot most of these events and think while they are all similar, each has it's own formats and idiosyncrasies that each photographer will find suited to his or hers own preferences, skills and tastes.  An Army buddy of mine badgered me into shooting his wedding.  I didn't want to do it and tried to explain to him and his future bride why I didn't and advised them to get another photog who did wedding shoots.  I did it and am too embarrassed to show any photo's from that shoot (the bride loved them though.)

A family portrait at a local park;


A friends Birthday/Retirement Party.  I used a hand held, off camera flash for these.




A book signing by a local author.


A military awards formation.


A welcome home to a Disabled Veteran.


All different and yet all similar.  If you like this kind of photography, go to events and shoot your heart out.  You will find you get better at it as you shoot more.

Environmental Portraiture of the Third part.

I took Jade Costello's senior portraits on his backyard.  There were lots of props like roses and a blue orb; things he identified with and wanted in the frame.  I used a single, off camera flash with a shoot trough umbrella.  The natural light did the rest.



This was another setting he found and wanted a shot at.



He liked the Multiplicity shot from earlier shoots he had seen and had to have one.



We even did one with his girlfriend.



Environmental portraits are fun.

Environmental Portraiture, Second part.

Going to locations that a client likes makes for great portraits and can be a great amount of fun.  The downside, (there's almost always a downside) you have to travel and carry your stuff somehow.  I suppose the downside of an actual studio would be rent, an electric bill, insurance on the place and having to have regular hours to be open where you have to physically be there.

In this shoot, Erica Lucero's dad took us to the ruins of Abo, New Mexico.  It was a bit of a drive, but Erica's dad was my old First Sergeant from my Army days so I didn't mind.  This shoot was more of a favor to him and was very pleasant.

There are a lot of old buildings around so we did a series of photo's around them.  They fit her "cowgirl" image quite well.  I used natural lighting and a single, off camera flash for a little fill light.





Everywhere in the ruins were interesting backgrounds and we used as many as we could find.





I was on to something new when I did these and wanted to incorporate one photo for me as much as for her.  It's a technique called Multiplicity and it's done by taking several photos and layering them in a photo processing program.



This was her favorite photo and is the one her dad printed, framed and has sitting on his desk.

I put a camera on a tripod and used a remote to trigger it.  I locked the focus to manual so I'd get the same depth of field in all the shots.  Erica simply moved in the set and I took a frame at each position then layered them and erased parts of each layer exposing her in all the positions (I'll probably make a video of how this is done some time in the future.)  This was very popular with her teenage friends and landed me several more shoots.

Environmental Portraiture

Environmental Portraiture is different from Studio Portraits.  An environmental portrait is taken in a clients home, place of work or in a place other than a studio that he or she is comfortable.  Here's a shoot I did at a clients home where I used small flashes to set up studio like lighting and used her home as the back ground instead a studio back drop.

Angel and her Daddy.  I used a Nikon SB-600 flash, on a light stand and a shoot through umbrella to my left side.  I Had another Nikon SB-600 on the floor behind them for a separation light.  I used a Nikon SU-800 flash controller to fire them.  I had a silver reflector on my right for fill flash.  They were sitting on their couch in their own living room and looked more natural than posed.



Here's a shot of Angel on the car she was taking to her Prom.  I used the sun shining from behind her as a fill light and used a SB-600 off to my left as a Key light.



This last shot was back inside Angel's house, with her sitting in a chair.  The same lighting scheme as before, flash on my left and behind, silver reflector to my right.




I've found taking portraits in a clients environment is a lot of fun for me and them and the photo's seem to turn out better (making for a happier client.)  The clients seemed impressed I could set up a studio in their homes and they enjoyed helping me move and hold lights and reflectors and to have fun during the shoot making for a fun time.

The downside is having to take your lights, light stands, umbrellas and any other impedimenta you have along for the shoot.  Using small flashes makes this less painful.

Next up will be two environmental portraits in outdoor locations.