Janet Klinger’s Photography Blog

Whether you shoot weddings, mitzvahs, or corporate events, working as a photo team has advantages. Since 1991 I wouldn’t consider working an event without an additional photographer. While the biggest benefit is having a second set of eyes to capture moments I might not see myself, or to cover a second location simultaneously, the advantages are many. However, before asking these more advanced responsibilities of team members, I like to make sure the basics are covered.

Here is my Top Fifteen “What every Photography Assistant and Shooter Knows” list I like all members of the JKP team to know from day one, helping keep not only the event running smoothly, but the post production time to a minimum.

1. Sync your camera Date/Time with the Primary Photographer’s camera before the event.
2. Count all pieces of gear before and after the event, including notating the number of CF cards. Put the numbers list in the “exposed CF cards” bag.
3. Only shoot macro close-ups at an aperture of 4.0 or less if you are on a tripod or are at a shutter speed of 1/125 of faster. (It helps to take off the heavy camera bag.)
4. Unless it is incredibly bright so that you are unable to get your desired aperture, you are usually better off shooting at ISO 400 than 100 (here in the great NW).
5. Unless you are going for a motion effect, or are capturing ambient light in a dark space, please shoot at a shutter speed of 1/45^th of a second or faster. If using a long lens, your shutter should be at least as fast as your longest lens capability until you know you can succeed otherwise. Example: if shooting a 24-70mm use a minimum shutter speed of 1/80. If a 70-200mm use a minimum shutter speed of 1/200.
6. Do not exceed ISO 1000 on Canon 40D and “below”. If you must choose a higher ISO, use the custom function “reduce noise”. Triple check your exposure when shooting in low light to avoid noise.
7. Everybody blinks. Shoot at least the number of subjects plus one, up to a max of eight exposures. 2 people= 3 exposures minimum, 5 people=6 exposure minimum, but 8 people=8 exposures.
8. Group shots (6 or more people, or 2 rows +) require a minimum aperture of 5.6 unless using a 20mm or wider angle lens where 4.0 is fine. (Obviously you can play with small depth of field making one or two people stand out, but don’t let this art shot be the only variation of a group.)
9. If shooting over the main shooters shoulder, use a radically different lens or your image will probably get rejected as a similar.
10. Use manual exposure when shooting against a window, large doorway, bright sky, or other back lit situation. In a pinch, simply stay on auto, set to over expose by 1-2 stops depending on the desired effect and amount of back light present. Work on checking exposure regularly to avoid forgetting to reset exposure.
11. Check your histogram at least once every new lighting situation to be sure you are capturing appropriate highlights and shadows. This is much more trustworthy exposure check than your preview.
12. To capture someone walking towards you, choose a shutter speed of 1/125 or faster, Al Servo mode, “all” focus points, and I prefer one shot mode for regular speed walking to select “the moment”, and a fast motor wind for a hustle walk, run or jump in combo with a shutter 1/250 or faster.
13. Download CF cards to portable drive as soon as full.
14. Keep CF cards/film on your person at ALL times, even when we shoot out of state weddings and hike, dine, or partake in other adventures. (Water related events we choose a third party to entrust with cards until we are safe and dry.)
15. While downloading to a portable drive immediately gives us a second copy of all images created, this is not a fool-proof system and therefore does not replace downloading each and every CF card individually to the main production hard-drive immediately upon arriving at the studio.

Now for the fun part- Let’s go shoot!