You will be responsible for creating a photo of a scheduled event. The event you choose can be a sporting event, social gathering that is open to the public, ceremony, concert, protest, etc. The main purpose behind this assignment is for you to capture an event that gives some insight into what it was like to be there. Highlight those adjectives and adverbs. Mix in a little oddity, humor or excitement that unfolds in front of your lens.
This assignment should test how well and quickly you react to situations. It's difficult not being a spectator and transitioning into documentary photographer. A helpful tip is this, if you are at an event and you think to yourself, "This is crazy how packed this place is and how wild these concertgoers are," then that is your clue to hone in on "crazy, wild and packed" to work into your photo.
Make sure you have a back-up event if something happens to your primary event.
The baseline requirements for this assignment are the usual: properly composed, a good exposure, sharp focus, correct color balance and a complete caption. The rest of your grade depends on the items we talk about in class: communication points, accurate representation, well thought out idea or concept, creativity and those adjectives and adverbs that come across in the image.
Shoot with a purpose, always be editing and work that viewfinder from the outside in.
If you have any questions or need some guidance, feel free to contact me via email or cell. We'll be going over more information on the person at work assignment in class on Feb. 16.
The due date for this assignment is March 16.
Below are some examples of event photography.
Ceremony
The one private type of event you can cover are ceremonies. Try to capture the emotions of the ceremony. These can be weddings, parties (it better be a good party and no kid's birthdays), powwows, etc.
Classroom
There are always classroom events going on. You can get access to these by contacting any local school and explain to them what your assignment is and then asking permission to come in a capture events that may be going on in the class. These could be field trips, classroom visits or presentations. It may take a few calls, but it's an option. Just assure the secretary or principal that you'll check for publication authorization with the front office before leaving.
Sports
Go for the celebrations and fan shots that give the viewer an idea of what it was like to experience the drama of the game. If you absolutely have to rely on a player shot, get a shot that exemplifies the game, play or effort.
Wow! I gotta try much harder for our current assignment but first I have to overcome the feeling that I am two inches tall.
ReplyDeleteJerome, what focal length did you shoot that crowd shot at and about how far was the camera from the kid's face would you guess?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about selling my 17-35 and buying a 10-20 instead because I've noticed the super wide angle, almost fisheye shots seem to come in handy more than the focal length my 17-35 (on my 1.5x crop sensor) provides me.
Do you think I could get away with a 10-20 and the next jump up being my 50mm, or is that a bad idea? I find that I rarely zoom much with my 17-35 anyway.
I don't think I could afford to keep both. I'd have to sell the 17-35.
Mike, if you want to fool around with a 10-20mm for a bit, I have a Canon 40D with Sigma 10-20mm lens you could borrow to see if you like it. It has some limitations so I do not use it nearly as often as I thought I would. The optical distortion (barrel distortion) on the right and left edges of the photos get fairly extreme at the 10mm end of the lens. But maybe I am not experienced at this quite enough to appreciate it yet. It is very nice for landscapes.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I use my 16-35 about 60 percent of the time. I really like it because I can get close, it doesn't distort the image too bad and it's fast and fairly sharp. You'll find that when you have the 10-20 mm, you'll shoot closer to the 20 mm side because the widest on that lens is crazy wide. And sometimes more isn't always better. Remember, the wider the view, the more in frame editing you have to do.
ReplyDeleteBut, everybody wants a fisheye or "wide" lens when they start. It's just a natural progression of a shooter. As you get further along in defining your style, you'll find that ultra-wide shots, along with clouds, American flags and reflections is just one of those stepping stones.
Don't worry too much Andreas. These are just examples of the type of emotion, reaction and feelings that can be conveyed in an image. Find something you're interested in, go in there and shoot without overthinking it. You'll do fine.
ReplyDeleteMe not over thinking something... hmmmmm... I really need to think about this!
ReplyDeleteAndreas, do you have two camera setups? I pulled that welding photo you posted a long time ago into lightroom to view the exif, and it said it was taken with a 7d. If that's the case, you should have packed both camera setups with you to that concert. Slap the 10-20 on the 40d and your 50 or 70-200 on the 7d and shoot simultaneously with both.
ReplyDeleteI just picked up the Pentax K20d which should arrive in the mail tomorrow, so I'll be able to bring two setups to assignments now which will be nice. The K20D shoots usable photos up to ISO 3200, whereas my K10D is usable only up to about ISO 1000 or 1250. It'll be nice to have the advantage of a backup camera and not have to worry about switching lenses to get a shot. I'll probably keep the 50mm 1.7 on the K10D and use the 17-35 or 70-200 on the K20D since they're both 2.8 lenses, and that'll give me a nice combination.
Mike, your desired 10-20mm lens is not as useful as you might think. I much prefer a 17-50mm or something like Jerome's 16-35mm to my 10-20mm. But I think one has to give them all a try to find that out. I have no complaints about my 10-20mm but as Jerome pointed out, I end up using it at 20mm for anything applicable to photojournalism. For landscape stuff it is much more useful.
ReplyDeleteAs for the two camera setups, I lugged two cameras around most of the summer and ended up switching lenses to the better camera anyway so all it did for me was add ballast. I like one camera with my 17-50mm or sometimes the 28-75mm on the camera and my 50mm and 85mm in one vest pocket and the 70-200mm in the other. The other camera stays in the car in case something happens. When I think I won't need the 70-200mm, it it stays in the car also.
I have had the 7D since the beginning of last summer when I realized that the ISO on the 40D did not go quite high enough. I tried to use Jerome's flash technique and realized that with all the other criteria I was simply to overwhelmed to do everything so I needed an alternative to flash to be even somewhat successful.
As you can probably tell, this stuff does not come naturally or easily to me and takes me 87 hours and 94 tries to get something halfway useable. I'm just doing my best to try to keep up with you somewhat.