Reportage photography is a challenging and stressful genre for the aspiring photographer and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a concert, a birthday party or a wedding reception. This event will not happen again, so the photographer has a responsibility to the clients – to leave a memory, capture the main moments and convey the atmosphere of the event.
We have prepared a check-list for a beginner, which will help you not to forget anything when preparing for the shoot, to organize work competently during the shoot and remind you what to do when you have an archive with gigabytes of images that need to be selected and processed.
What to take with you on a reportage shoot
Memory cards
One memory card may not be enough, especially if you’re shooting an all-day wedding. Even if the card is capacious, take precautions, because it can break.
To quickly catch the necessary frame and not wait until the camera “thinks”, choose a card with the maximum recording speed – from 90 megabytes per second and higher.
Additional light
For reports from holidays and parties, one external flash, which is put on the camera from above, on the mount “hot shoe” is quite suitable.
Take care that such a flash has a diffuser – if you just shine the light into a person’s forehead, as the light turns out flat. Some photographers attach a folded white sheet of paper to the flash, pointing it upwards. This way the subject gets reflected light, which gives a softer result.
Lenses
If you are photographing concerts, theater performances, people on stage – flash can not be used, as a rule, so as not to distract and do not blind the artists.
You can compensate for this by using fast lenses (fast lenses are those with an aperture of f/2.8 or less). They allow you to shoot in darker rooms without loss of quality or noise.
Shooting with prime lenses is a good exercise in composition, but the question is whether you’re ready to keep changing lenses every moment for fear of missing a good shot. For a first time shooter, this experience may be too extreme.
Batteries
Take a set of a couple extra batteries. The key is to charge them before shooting. Charge them before each shoot, even if the battery is not completely dead.
If you take a flash, make sure you have several sets of batteries with it – they go down much faster than the camera battery. It’s more economical and environmentally friendly to buy a couple sets of suitable batteries for your flash.
How to prepare for the shoot
Find out what the customer wants
Some want emotional shots from the wedding banquet with an emphasis on the relatives. Others want to document all the speakers and officials. Others will ask to photograph advertising stands to report back to sponsors. This is the photographer’s responsibility, so talk to whoever is paying you and find out as much detail as possible about what is expected of you. Put the arrangements in writing.
Ask for a script for the event
To make the report complete, find out when the speakers change, when the bride’s bouquet will be tossed, and when the cake will be brought out for the child to blow out the candles. That way you’ll be in the right place at the right time, choose a winning angle in advance, and won’t miss a key event.
Plan an itinerary
If you’re photographing an event with lots of areas and speakers, such as a festival, plan an itinerary. Assess who is speaking, where and when so you don’t waste time chaotically running in different directions.
Come early
This will help you look around, assess the light, choose your shooting spots and feel more confident. You will also make a good impression on the customer.
Watch the shutter speed so that the movements of the people in the frame are not blurred.
Yes, the slower the shutter speed, the brighter the frame, but in reportage, this can be detrimental to the quality of your shots. Especially if you’re taking photos without a flash, which itself “freezes” motion.
Use a shutter speed of 1/200 second or faster. Raising the ISO can help compensate for the darkness of the frame due to too short a shutter speed.