You may ask why I have this opinion. The reason is experience. In the last year I have had to come up with about 15 contracted photographers for special functions. Mostly just for show at the red step and repeat so the client can see a lot of flash. You know, the Hollywood look with hundreds of strobe lights going off as someone walks in.
The first time I needed 12 people. Six per side of the entrance walk-in. I paid pretty fair for an hour shooting time and looked at a great many of portfolios. I picked some that I thought could do the job. Lucky I had in my agreement only my images were guaranteed to be useable and all others were there for show only. This time all made it to the venue on time if not early to the event. It was outside and the lighting was perfect because it was a evening event. They did there photos and turned in the images that same evening.
The next day I looked at the images and was in shock. Exposure was all over the place with many being not worth looking at. More out of focus shots than anyone would ever expect. I think that is because they don't understand what the red dots seen in the view finder mean. They assume if the dot hits the body the shot is in focus. Wrong!
- Shoot In RAW When Required
- Understand Focus
- Know How To Shoot In Manual
The next and biggest issue was the shots. Many did not know how to frame the subject or even what to get in the framephoto}. When a person is walking up with a dog dressed to kill with a diamond (yes real diamonds) around the neck do you shoot a close up of the person only. No, you shoot both of them. Same with kids, etc. You get both in the photo. Do you cut off feet when part of the outfit is $900.00 heels. No you shoot full length. Just common sense to me but it sure was not to many shooting.
The next event that required extra shooters came up and I thought using a event company to provide the extra help would be a good idea. Wrong again! This time I told them the most important thing I had to have was on camera flash. Lots of bright flash going off during the event. They sent a camera person with flash and a guy with a video camera. Really, what does video have to do with flash photography. They came 45 minutes late almost and would have missed the event if it was not running late. FYI they were scheduled to show up thirty minutes ahead of the shoot time, just to be safe.
Upon review of the photos dozens were out of focus and the colors were really bad. This was a good learning experience as I now fully understand what level of event photography I am bidding against and can focus my marketing more direct and cover these issues like seen in the video below. It shows how simple color is to correct when shot in the right format to begin with.
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