Corporate Photography Assignment De-Brief

August 9th 2010

This is hopefully a feature I’ll start to do more often in order to detail what I’ve learnt after each shoot that I do.  Using an interview template I’ll hopefully offer afew tips for other photographers to learn from and hopefully you’ll relate to some of things that happen!

Who, Where and What Was The Shoot?

Having told my friends and family that I was looking to get into Photography, it was my ever supportive girlfriend Ruth that suggested my services to her Dad, who in turn mentioned me to his companies Marketing Director for an upcoming conference.  It was at the Marriott Hotel in Liverpool, and would last about 6 hours, then they would all get dressed up and head down to Haydock for an afternoon’s racing, football and tennis.  I was a little envious that I had to work through this as the racing looked thoroughly enjoyable!  Normally they wouldn’t have a photographer, but as I was working on expanding my portfolio I offered my services for free (expenses covered) in exchange for the opportunity and experience it would give me.  So it was a day full of speakers on a stage, then group work at tables, then evening dresses and dinner.  It covered alot and the lighting conditions changed so much it certainly tested me!  The marketing director Richard was fantastic support on the day and that really helped to ease my nerves!

What was the brief from the client?

Due to the client not paying me anything, the pressure was truly off with regards what they wanted me to photograph.  They just wanted me to capture the day, but they were extremely supportive of me just practicing and getting experience in what to look for at an event like this.  There were some awards later on that they wanted capturing formally, but the rest was very much just a reportage style photography that showed the day as realistically as possible.  So I grabbed the opportunity with both hands, getting shots of the speakers on stage, group discussions/arguments.  Trying to capture as much as possible whilst learning when and how to remain in the background of the event.

How did you decide what to charge?

I didn’t charge anything except expenses, which thankfully relieved some of the pressure I would have felt under had I been being paid.  It was a win-win for both parties really, I got experience and some good portfolio shots and they got useful photography to use in their marketing.  I often read online about people not knowing what to charge and I’m in the same boat.  However I try to stick to my guns to charge nothing or charge (what I think is) my full price.  Don’t charge less because you’re inexperienced, that’ll just lead to pricing problems down the road when people think you’re just a cheap photographer.  However, having done this one conference for the experience, I’d now feel much more confident to charge in the future.  I’ve learnt my lessons and I know the pitfalls now.  I certainly wouldn’t be as nervous as I was for this one. I really did it to get valuable experience in this genre of photography.  My payment was the opportunity to photograph the conference.  In turn they get some great images of their employees and I get some great images for my portfolio and valuable experience to take forward.

What preparation work did you do

Not much really.  I actually felt quite prepared for it, just nervous that I didn’t know what I didn’t know if that makes sense.  I read up as much as I possibly could on conference and event photography and what to expect.  I hadn’t seen the venue prior to getting there so had to judge that when I got there.  It was obvious from the outset that there wasn’t going to be much light, and that flash photography would have been offputting for everyone, so I had to factor that into my preparation.  I tried a useful little exercise whereby I’d get my girlfriend Ruth to set up an object in a room in my house and shine some light on it from somewhere without me knowing what it would be like.  I then walked into the room not knowing what to expect and had 15 seconds to set my camera to what I thought would produce a good shot and only get one go at it.  It’s a great little exercise, but I still don’t think I perfected it.  You need to know how to use your camera whatever situation as you only may get one shot at the photo that defines the whole day.  You have to be ready!  I found with the awards at the conference I was thrust up there with little preparation so this little exercise helped me!  I’m certainly going to be doing that more, and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to learn their camera inside out.

What were you most worried or concerned about before the shoot?

Actually being a proper photographer for the first time.  I always carry my camera everywhere but this is the first time I felt I’d actually been hired to complete a job.  I was nervous about the questions I might get asked, and I think I get bogged down in what other people think about me when I really shouldn’t.  I tend to worry I won’t know the answers that other people feel I should know and being shown up as some kind of fraud haha!  I’m sure everyone goes through that stage when they’re just starting out in photography, but you just have to be confident in your own abilities.  I changed my mindset for this job and kept pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind and just threw myself into it. I think by acting the professional I came across as a professional and it did my confidence a world of good.

Did anything surprise you about the day?

How much I actually knew about using my camera!

What were the most stressful or difficult parts?

Stressful was the night before.  Originally I was told to turn up whilst the conference was going and just seek out my contact.  However I absolutely hate walking into conference rooms/meetings whilst they’re going on.  One of my friends from university often likes to tell the story of walking into a lecture full of people, not really paying attention and just sitting down, then realising he was in the wrong room.  He sheepishly got up and left much to the amusement of the other pupils.  He then proceeded to walk down the hall and enter a different door, only to find out it was the same lecture hall with the same pupils just the other side of the room.  I hate interupting and having people just stare blankly at you.  So instead I tried to turn up an hour before the event but due to an accident on the M60 I didn’t get there until just before the event started (which meant setting off at 5.00 in the morning!)  I’d definitely recommend that to anyone taking photos anywhere.  Get there early, do your preparation, and know what you’re working with.  That way you’re not playing around with dials and switches whilst everything is going off around you.

I was also asked to take some headshots of a new franchisee, which I duly obliged.  Took some inside which looked quite good but I’m not that good at directing people, I think the pressure of trying to appear to know what I was doing really got to me.  I’m usually one to take a photo, and chimp off the LCD to see what needs to be changed to get a better shot.  But I felt really had to nail them straight off with the person who had asked me to take the photos peering over my shoulder at my LCD, so it certainly tested my quick composition and shooting technique.  Even though I’d studied Neil Van Niekirks book about On Camera Flash back to front (something I’d recommend to everyone learning flash photography!), I still found I panicked even though deep down I knew how to do it.  We then moved outside, and I completely blew out my first shot.  I hadn’t metered for outside at all, I was still at ISO 800, f2.8 so it blew it all out.  I had to quickly change the settings trying to remember Neil’s book *Expose in manual for the background and use TTL to bring the subject’s exposure up*  I managed that and got a nicely exposed background, but the man’s face was dark.  I just felt the pressure was mounting hideously when it wasn’t really at all.  That’s when I realised I was trying to bounce flash off the sky (Not recommended!)  Again, not wanting to look like I didn’t know what I was doing, I just soldiered on and got there in the end.  In hindsight, Dave (who asked me to take the shots) was really nice and friendly and we talked about it afterwards, he said he understood the pressure of the situation so don’t worry about it.  I obviously explained that I was just gaining experience and he understood completely.  He made a point to say “Don’t be afraid to ask to shoot something again or to take your time setting everything up”  I think the lesson to be learnt is to take your time, take a deep breath.  Preperation is most definitely the key.

Then there was the section where people at the conference were given awards for good numbers from the past year.  I knew they were coming and at what time but I didn’t feel prepared for these at all for some reason but knew that I should get a lot of photos of them.  I hurriedly put my flash on, changed to my zoom lens, got all the settings as correct as I could and just jumped up there.  First shot was overexposed hideously due to the fact I hadn’t reset my flash exposure compensation from the headshot I’d done earlier.  Second one was underexposed because I didn’t allow my flash time to recharge…All the photos were alright and perfectly useable just not as good as I knew I could make them which was frustrating me.  As the awards went on the photos got better and better, with the last one being perfectly exposed and well lit from my bounce flash.  Again, the lesson learnt is to not panic, be confident in your ability and take the time to adjust your settings until you’re happy.  Don’t be rushed otherwise you begin to panic.  I think knowing what your camera will do in any given situation is a really useful skill to have and something I will practice on daily in varying light conditions.

What would you do differently for the next corporate event you photograph?

Take a longer lens.  Ideally I’d get the pro f2.8 70-200mm but that’s waaaay out of my price range at the moment.  I only took my 18-70mm and 50mm (85mm on my cropped sensor D90) prime with me and couldn’t really get in close to anything.  As soon as someone saw the camera pointing at them they would become terribly self concious.  I think to be able to sit at the back of the room and pick off natural expressions and gestures a long way away would’ve been really useful.  Instead I found myself on my hands and knees at points shooting up at the stage.  Not only were some of the shots unflattering, I put the speakers off a couple of times.  The reportage section where there were activities and I was just wandering around snapping photos would’ve been better with a long lens, so it didn’t feel like I was intruding on their discussions however these were the most enjoyable shots to shoot and certainly the most natural.  This got me thinking about targeting this as a specific style for my business.  It was definitely good practice for remaining in the background.

What was your favourite part of the day and why?

When I got home to bed haha!  I’d set off at 5 in the morning and didn’t get home until gone 11!  But seriously, the whole day was abit of a blur.  I was learning so much about my camera and my capabilities as I went along that I didn’t really get to stop and enjoy myself.  I think that pressure will ease the more photography I do.  I was so nervous about not getting any decent shots, or disappointing my client that I wasn’t really thinking about enjoyment.  Seeing my photography improve as the day went on, handling different lighting conditions on the fly was a great challenge and one I felt I dealt with suprisingly well.  It was certainly nice to get home that night, and copy all my photos over to my harddrive and see that I’d actually got some good shots.  That was relieving and at the same time motivating that I’d done a good job!

What piece of advice or top tips would you give to others planning to photograph their first corporate shoot?

Know your camera well, know it inside out.  I think in the same way I imagine wedding photography has the moments you have to capture, event/corporate photography is just the same.  Know what will show up on the LCD screen every time you press the shutter.  That if you change this setting it will affect this aspect of the photo, really simple things that I thought I knew and I guess I did sub-conciously but when the pressure is on, not to panic and be confident in what you’re doing.  Take your time in composing and shooting shots, and don’t be afraid to ask to take something again if you’re not happy with it.  Also take a long lens, at least 200mm and as fast as you can afford or with VR on it.  I’m looking at the 70-300mm VR for my camera to extend my shooting range.  I’m not able to afford the pro lens just yet, so I have to make do with what I have.  You can still get great photos with whatever gear you have, but low light performance is a must in conferences.  I ended up using my 50mm prime at 2.8 the majority of the time.  Fortunately the D90 has pretty good high ISO performance and Noise Ninja knocked any of that noise out when I got home.

This was posted on August 9th 2010 in advice, photography and tagged with corporate, event, help, hints, photographer, photography, pricing, tips. You can follow responses to this blog post here.