Gold Coast event photographer

There is a common misconception that event photography is a soft option, something that can be done part-time to earn some easy extra cash on the side. The reality, of course, is very different and there is a great deal more to this sector than some might imagine, both in terms of the preparation that is required to deliver a quality result often under considerable time pressure and also the investment required, both in time and money. Walk blind into this area at any level and you risk not only your own future in the event business but also that of other photographers, who might lose jobs on the back of event organisers losing faith in the end product.The purpose of this piece is not to discourage any photographer from looking at the potential of event coverage but to give them an honest guide as to what is required to make a success of event photography. There are a number of different levels at which you can operate and the requirements are different for each of them, but it is possible to move into event photography in a fairly low key way and then build up your involvement if things are working out well. This in turn ensures that it's not necessary to make a full commitment from day one if you want to take things more slowly.There are 3 things that you can do to prepare yourself for events;

You could join a reputable organisation such as the Event Photographer Society

 You could get training from professional event photographers

 Read this article

What you needThe first thing that any event photographer should have in place before walking out of their front door is insurance. It's crucial - and legally required - to protect yourself and your customers, and to make sure that you don't become a victim of the current litigious society you need to speak to an insurance expert about the likes of Public Liability Insurance, equipment cover and any other essentials.The second thing you need to think about early on is a website to enable you to sell images after the event. This is by no means your only route to market but it's a crucial way to maximise your sales and to give your company visibility. However, in my opinion the best way to sell is still to offer prints on the spot, because this will be the time when people are in the mood to buy a print and they will present a relatively easy sell. It's also very clean and efficient, with sales being dealt with on the spot and nothing to follow up, and the money you can take on the night is great for cash flow!This takes you into the realm of small, transportable dye-sub printers of course and there are several to choose from which is something that I covered when I wrote an article for Photo Pro in August 2009. In brief you need to make a buying decision based on speed, reliability and weight - don't just buy a product based on its price tag - and it's worth asking other professionals which kit they personally use and then basing a buying decision on which gear sounds best suited to your individual requirements. I will write a further article on this soon as there are some really nice new models that have appeared since then such as the DNP DS40 and DNP DS80.One of your major considerations in terms of what kit you might require will be the area of event photography that you choose to go into. Generally there are two avenues you can explore: social events and sporting events, with some photographers, such as myself, working across both areas. Sporting events can be split down still further into outdoor and indoor locations, while social covers any event that requires a studio setup.Those looking to work in social event photography will usually have different camera considerations, and they benefit from the fact that they don't need to opt for something which is top of the range. If you're regularly covering black tie events, for example, then you should be looking to keep file sizes down to about 1.5MB, and for this a good quality 6 megapixel camera will deliver what is required to enable printing on-site of 12x8ins images and bigger sizes from web sales. You can always buy a more powerful camera of course and shoot at lower than optimum resolution, but this might not be your most cost-effective solution.For sporting events you need to look at more specialised gear and here the most critical thing you will need to invest in will be good quality, fast lenses. The usual starting point is going to be something like a 70-200mm f/2.8 to enable you to get the desired shutter speeds but also to have the wide apertures available to put the background out of focus. Other things to look at are camera hoods (rain jackets) to protect the camera from bad weather.Many novices will try to use a burst of images to capture the peak of the action but in reality this means you are more likely to miss the shot that sells. It is important to understand the sport you are covering and be able to predict when and where to take the shot. Once you have mastered this you can start to understand when a burst of images may be needed, such as capturing a rider falling from their horse - yes they like those images as well! Most DSLRs these days come with a decent fps rate so this is a function you will probably have to hand.On-SiteWorking on location you encounter what might be the biggest expense of all: the need to have accommodation for yourself and your team plus your printers and power to run everything. Essentially the cover issue can be solved in one of three ways; a marquee, a trailer fit or a van fit. The issue with a marquee is that all the equipment has to be set up each time whereas as with the van or trailer it is a simple matter of connecting to the power and switching on. If you are interested to know more, check out Gold Coast event photographer.  The power issue can be tackled with batteries but this is not simple and the preferred option is a generator. Care needs to taken to select one that has a stable voltage (there have been a number of instances where printers do not function correctly when used with generators) which normally means looking for a term like 'pure sine wave' or 'inverter technology'. There is a further complication that some event hosts will not let you on site with petrol generators, so a good choice is to look for an LPG converted generator, with the generator of choice being a Honda EU20i.Moving indoors as a sports photographer you still need those fast lenses but now the low light levels come into effect and it is here that many of the lower end cameras really struggle. Imagine shooting an indoor equestrian event in November - you have mixed lighting and really need to be able to achieve shutter speeds of 1/640sec or faster. You are now looking at having to up your ISO levels to 5000 or maybe higher, and this is a specialised area if you are still looking for good, usable results. For me this meant the purchase of a Nikon D700; a big investment for sure, but it's important to buy once and to buy right, and I knew that was what I needed. The expense doesn't stop there, and the use of very fast f/1.4 and f/1.8 lenses can help you not just to get an image but also to focus in low light. Using a flashgun with many indoor events such as equestrian is liable to see you set upon by a group of pony club mums - best avoided at all costs.LightingIf you're working in the social area you will probably need to invest in reliable lighting - you will never have two setups that are the same and will have to learn to work within the space available. Remember that what you are providing is a mobile studio setup, so you will need backgrounds and stands. As you are using electrical equipment you will also need to make sure that you have this PAT tested (look at https://www.pat-testing.info/legal.htm for the legal requirements).A good quality light meter will help you to get the light levels right, but one problem you might not expect is the tendency for the lights to reflect back from walls and to potentially create colour casts. In my opinion it is essential to always carry out a custom white balance, and this is the second thing I do after adjusting the lights. Personally I use the Lastolite ezybalance and it takes 30 seconds to ensure another aspect of providing a quality image to the customer has been covered. A quick test shot at this stage should give you a clean image at the printer and you are ready to take on your first client.Two important issues for the social event photographer to consider are how to trigger the lights and also how to physically get the image files from the camera over to the printer generating prints for sale. Both areas come with an option to use cables, either to link the equipment or to tether the camera, but in a busy situation you are then introducing trip hazards and it will also restrict where you can actually move with the camera. I do take cables with me on a job but they are kept in the box just in case of emergencies - as an event photographer you do need to be covered for every eventuality because as the event photographers' mantra goes 'the only image you can't sell is the one you don't take'.In terms of studio flashes, an alternative way to fire them is via an infra-red light trigger, but these can be temperamental and you do need to be able to react to a situation if things go wrong. For example, at one Christmas event I encountered a novelty toy reindeer which was spinning around and bucking away with a big red flashing nose, and this was continually setting off the studio flash! Some Gaffa tape to cover the offending part did the trick but it gave me a few hairy moments. I now use a wireless system and it's proved very reliable and safe in operation.Wireless TransferIn terms of sending files back to base, you could swap cards on the camera and pass them back to the sales point but I do wonder what would happen if you took your camera to be repaired under warranty because the card pins were bent, and then had to explain that it had just had some light use i.e. 100 card swaps a night for a hundred nights in the year. There are now viable alternatives as we enter the era of reliable and efficient Wi-Fi including SD memory cards set up to be Wi-Fi enabled to bring the entry level price of this technology down to very manageable levels. For more info, visit this webpage.