Education/Inspiration
Photographing Festivals: Tips for Capturing the Spirit of Special Events
By Rick Sammon
Jun 20, 2008

    The action, costumes, colors and performances at festivals, special events and reenactments make them a ton of fun to attend and photograph. Having fun and taking snapshots is easy.
    If you want to turn your snapshots into great shots, however, you have to pay careful attention to everything that is going on around you, as well as realizing the importance of your camera settings and lens choices. After all, you may only get one chance to photograph the event.
    That was the case for the Chinggis (whom we used to call Genghis) Khaan Cavalry Ride show in 2007 in Mongolia. Sure, I had great fun and worked hard to get good pictures. But going back to the other side of the planet (a two-day trip) for this yearly event is not in the near future for me.
    If seeing 500 real-life Mongolia soldiers outfitted like Mongolia soldiers of 800 years ago charging into battle is not in your future, don’t retreat from reading this article. You’ll find tips here that will help you take command and charge right into taking pictures at festivals close to home.
     Ready to go? Let’s ride! But before we mount up, don’t miss the movie "Mongol," due out this summer. It was shot in Mongolia. I am sure you will recognize some of the characters!



Make a Plan, Choose a Location – Before you start shooting, you need to make a plan of what you want to photograph and where you need to be to get the best possible photographs. If possible, before you get on site, contact the festival organizers and ask questions about the event, including the type of activities and number of performers, a timetable of activities, and access to the field or arena (which may be restricted, as it was for me in Mongolia).

    Of utmost importance is finding out about the direction (North, South, East, West) in which performers may be positioned. On an overcast day, that may not matter very much. On a sunny day, however, that information will help you choose a position. In most cases, you’ll want the sun at your back, so your subjects’ faces will be illuminated.

    Here’s another tip about lighting: The night before the event, pray for an overcast sky so that you don’t have to deal with strong shadows and highlights.



Important Camera Settings – Fast-paced action, moving subjects and unexpected maneuvers require point-and-shoot photography. But no—I am not suggesting that you put your camera on Program and point-and-shoot, by any means! What I am suggesting is that you must know how to adjust your camera settings in an instant, maybe without even looking at the camera, so you can basically point and shoot and don’t miss a shot. If you can’t do that, you may want to practice in your living room until you can.
    To stop fast-paced action, you’ll need a shutter speed of at least 1/500th of a second. You can keep that shutter speed constant if you choose the Tv (shutter priority) mode. In that mode, even if the light level changes, the shutter speed remains the same (while the f-stop changes).
    Using high shutter speeds means using higher ISO settings if you don’t have a fast (f/2.8) lens or when you are shooting on an overcast day or in low light. I took all the pictures at the Mongolian festival with my ISO set at 400. If it had been bright and sunny, I would have set my ISO to 100, because I always choose the lowest possible ISO setting for the existing lighting conditions. By doing that, I get the cleanest possible image, that is, a picture with the least amount of digital noise.
    A high ISO setting lets you use a smaller aperture than a low ISO setting. The smaller aperture provides good depth-of-field, so you have a better chance of getting subjects in front of and behind the main subject (your focus point) in focus.
    When it comes to the image quality setting, I recommend shooting RAW files. With a RAW file, you can recover up to a stop of an overexposed area.  With a JPEG file, overexposed highlights are much harder to recover, if not impossible. If you do shoot JPEGs, bracket your exposures to make sure you have at least one good exposure.
    The focus mode you choose is also important. When photographing moving subjects, the AI Servo mode (Continuous Focus on some cameras) tracks a moving subject right up to the exact moment of exposure—helping to ensure a sharp shot. For stationary subjects, you can switch to the one-shot AF mode, which locks the focus on the subject and will not let you take a picture unless the subject is in focus.
    For capturing action sequences, like capturing the peak of action during an event, set your camera on rapid frame advance and take several shots.
    


Key Zoom Lenses – When you shoot a festival, I suggest using two camera bodies, and carry one on each shoulder: one with a wide-angle zoom (17-40mm) and one with a telephoto zoom (70-200mm IS or 100-400mm IS). With those lenses, you can get wide-angle and telephoto shots of the performers. If you want to “get closer” to your subjects, pack a 1.4X or 2X tele-converter.
    If you only have one camera, be very careful when changing lenses. Dust and other particles love jumping into open cameras and sticking to the filter that’s over the image sensor, resulting in marks in the final images. With that in mind, bring a blower or other sensor cleaning devices to clean the filter.
    As you can see, dust was the real enemy during the Mongolian festival. That’s why I never changed lenses. I used my 70-200mm for this event, and took this picture with it set at 200mm.



Be Aware of the Background – Check out the groups of warriors in the background of this image. As you can see, they are not intruding into the space of the foreground warriors. That separation enables the foreground warriors to stand out and not get lost in the scene.
Therefore, this photograph is the result of careful composition, watching the background carefully, choosing a wide aperture (f/5.6) to blur the background and shooting at exactly the right moment.
    Be aware of the background when you shoot. It can make or break a shot, and it’s just as important as the main subject.



Set Goals – Before you take your first shot, try to set goals for your shoot. Of course, as the event progresses, you can change your goals. If you have a certain set of goals, you’ll know what pictures you really want to take.
    At the Mongolian festival, I wanted to get the one shot that every professional horse photographer (I am not one of them), wants to get: a shot of a horse with all four hoofs off the ground. So, I kept my eyes open for that opportunity, and, following the tips I offered above for capturing fast-paced action, got the shot.
    As an aside, here’s a “setting goals” story: On one of my workshops, I asked one of the participant what ‘s your goal. He said, “I want to take 700 pictures a day.” My reply, “I want to take three good pictures a day.” My point: Think carefully about what you want to shoot and how you need shoot, and just don’t shoot haphazardly.”
    



Tell the Whole Story – Wherever you go, to a local festival or on safari in Africa, try to “tell the whole” story with your pictures. So in addition to taking action shots at a festival, take portraits, such as this portrait of one of the “warriors.”  
Tell the whole story with a diversity of shots, and your Web galleries, photo books and slide shows will be more interesting than if you have pictures that all look the same.
    For portraits, you may want to shoot with a flash to fill-in shadows on a subject’s face, as I did for this portrait. A diffuser (to soften shadows on a sunny day) and a reflector (to bounce light onto the face of a subject that is backlit) are also useful accessories.
    In addition to taking posed portraits, close –ups of details – the man’s sword, hands and armor in this case – can also help to tell the story of the event.




Have Fun and Be Courteous – Hey, don’t forget to have fun at the festival! Do your best to get great images, but if you have fun and enjoy the moment, my guess is that you’ll get better shots than if you are stressed out over an ISO setting!
    Also, be mindful of other serious photographers and attendees at the event. You don’t want to get in their way and ruin their shots just for the sake of a picture.
    Speaking of fun, the Mongolian festival was a blast. I have fun wherever I go. Here I am wearing a warrior’s outfit (left)—and joining the party, so to speak.
    Here’s a real fun shot (right): a Mongolian warrior using his cell phone, perhaps checking in on the latest battle plan.
    Follow these tips and you’ll have all the “ammo” you need to come away with winning images from a festival.



Rick Sammon has published 27 books, which you can find on www.amazon.com. See www.ricksammon.com for more information.


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