What was involved
- I recieved an 8-page breif with what was required of me to cover at the conference. This was my Bible, I kept it with me the entire time and refered to it often. It listed the times of each event that took place, the names of speakers, delegates and what exact shots were required for the organisation.
- I used two lenses (24-70 and 70-200) and brought a backup body, along with a flash, card reader, laptop, hard drive, batteries, chargers, etc.
- Tripod (although I did not need this for the conference persay, there were some great opportunities to shoot lanscapes, architecture etc. for myself which I ended up shooting on high ISO.)
- A case on wheels - My back and neck were incredibly sore from carrying my backpack of equipment for 2.5 days straight
- 2 camera bodies that are similar - one with each lens on it - so I don't have to keep swapping the lenses and I am prepared for any shot immediately
- A bum bag to carry phone, breif, etc
- A flash on both camera bodies
- A mac laptop (as opposed to a PC - because I could see that the .CR2 files were there but I couldn't view them as the laptop did not have photoshop)
- 5D Mark II - desparately need better ISO, yes lightroom has noise reduction and it helps that I was careful in that I did not underexpose these shots but the noise is still visable
What to change for next time
- Do not shoot too much. I knew when I shot a lot of frames that they were not needed and that I shot way too much but I kept going, this will just increase my post production time and I know that I will end up giving the client 1/5th of the shots that were taken
Lighting
- This was by far the biggest challenge of the conference. The light was different everywhere. I was using high ISOs, direct diffused flash, bouncing flash. I tested a few different lighting techniques for the same subject and compared results in post production. Generally, if the lighting is similar to this conference (that is very dark inside, even darker in the conference rooms) the following would be ideal:
- High ISO no flash for conference photographs (the lighting crew had strong cinematic light on the speakers which was perfect with high ISOs (and yes I need the Mark II). When I used the flash for these shots it overrode the cinematic lighting and made everything look dull and washed out. It also didn't show the feature lights (eg. blue on the backdrop) that the lighting crew lit which looked quite effective. High ISOs were actually specified in the brief by the client because the main output for these images is web
- On camera direct diffused flash for social pictures - these turned out the best. There was nothing to really bounce the flash on anyway as the ceiling was black. The room was almost pitch black so this technique was definately needed.
What I gained experience in
- Difficult and everchanging lighting conditions. See above
- Gathering big groups of people - being loud and confident and taking a few shots of each 'shot' so that I make sure there is one where no one's eyes are closed, etc.
- Approaching people and taking their photograph - I am starting to acknowledge myself as a photographer and not an experienced student who takes photographs
- Being as discrete as I could be when taking shots behind the stage, next to the speaker, etc
- Changing settings (flash, aperture, shutter) as quickly as possible when someone wants a shot and my camera is setup for something completely different
Overall
- The photographs were a mixture of candid, posed, detail, corporate, social and photojournalistic type shots.
- I haven't started editing but I have had a quick look over my shots and I am proud of myself for having done a good job with exposure and directing people. This conference was an amazing experience and as I get better I begin to enjoy conferences more (not as boring as the first ones I shot). This type of work may not be the most exciting but it is well paid and good to learn to work under the pressure of various lighting and direction of people.
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