Capturing Moments: A Comprehensive Guide to Event Photography Services

Introduction

The event photography therefore involves taking photographs of events such as weddings, birthdays, corporate events and other events that focus on the experience and feelings of moments. You are an event photographer; therefore your work is to capture the event and provide photos that can remind people of that event for years. This article will answer all your questions from how to start an event photography business to how you can enhance your current services.

Equipment Needed

One cannot emphasize enough when it comes to the kind of equipment they will be using to capture the event. Some key equipment you’ll need includes:

• DSLR camera:- A full-frame camera like a Canon 5D or Nikon D750 is good because it produces good images even when used in low light. Having at least two camera bodies is always recommended, therefore this should be done.

• Lenses – A fast lens of an f/2.8 zoom lens for ordinary event shots and a 70-200mm telephoto zoom lens for close up shots taken from a distance. A wide-angle lens and a prime lens can also be used to take scenic shots.

• External flash- Place one or more external flashes on your camera when shooting event venues with little or low light.

• Lighting Stands Umbrellas & flash modifiers – These are used to place your external flashes so as to have effective lighting and also come handy to diffase hard light from the flash.

• Extra batteries and Cards – Most events take many hours so you should carry at least three or four back up camera batteries, besides more 32GB and 64GB memory cards.

Photo Editing & Retouching

Edit your event photographs with other photo editing tools such as Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. Key editing tasks include:

• Import and organize photos

• More advanced operations such as brightness and contrast, color balance and crop can also be done.

• Removing blemishes on skin and enhancing brightness of teeth and eyes.

• And final apply artistic filters of text/graphics to the picture as requested by the clients

It may require time to learn how to professionally edit volumes of event pictures within a short time whilst maintaining a natural feel to the images and entertainment.

How Event Photographs Are Taken & Helpful Ideas

There are different styles of event photography with their own skillsets and techniques:

• Candid styled – Take pictures on people laughing, talking, dancing and not forcing them to act like they are laughing or talking for a candid shot. Convey real emotions.

• Event photography – Shooting groups, and elegant singles in a posed style creating an album of poses. Learn flattering poses.

• Photojournalism and working it – Capture many events naturally without focusing on groups and individuals and instead of shooting list have close shots, venue wider shots, and shots of candid nature.

• Wedding reportage - One needs to know how to photograph the rituals and milestone events discreetly such as bride’s entrance or cake cutting.

• Looking for locations for shot in advance and deciding where you want to take the picture, lighting, using friendly attitude, capturing the peak, and having spare equipment. Back up the photos you took as soon as the event is over also.

Determining a Fair Price for Your Event Photography Services

In setting your price structures, it is advisable to take into consideration of the number of years in field, type of equipment used, amount of time likely to be spent in editing, amount of money to be spent on travel, charges of assistant photographer or second shooter, costs of making album prints or photo books and the likely number of images. Common pricing models include:

• Per hour basis – Most appropriate for one or several hours’ function normally conducted by a corporate organization. Fees are charged even when the employees travel also.

Half or full-day rates

One price for a specific services/provided like 8 hours of coverage + X amount of prints or photo books. Use the good, better, best package designs.

By image charges - Price is as per the number of images that you have edited or per print that a client wants from you. Helpful with the idea to invite guest independent photographers to practice bartending at large wedding photography corporations.

The majorities of the full time professional photographers as for their educational level, as for the communication type,charge $2500-$5000+for photographing whole weddings inclighting two shooters, engagement sessions, albums/prints and rights to all images. It may be worth creating packages at below the $2000 mark such as $800-$1500 for budget wedgets that only cover part of the day, are guaranteed to deliver fewer prints/albums or for customers such as corporate event clients.

Expanding the current events photographic services.

Boost your income by providing additional products and services related to event photography, such as:

Hire out do–it–yourself photobooths at massive occasions with outrageous accessories. People are provided with instantly printed strips that they can use for scrapping their experiences. Cost of renting a charging booth + money given per any print made. Organise things such as tables chairs and other equipment, replacing used printer paper & ink.

Event photo albums/scrapbooks/canvases – Clients receive heirlooms by having their event photos put into personalized albums, scrapbooks or canvases. They offer creative albums of print sizes: 5x7 inches and 12x12 inches on high quality acid-free papers. Also, permit the ordering of more copies as well.

Backdrop/prop/lighting/location rentals – You should own elegant backs drops balloons columns arches, lightings and equipment for hire. Styled couple shoots in barn/loft venues are popular with photographers practically craving for clients who want them.

Managing Clients & Events

It is important to successfully handle how the clients’ expectations and events’ details can be met. Some key areas to focus on are:

Establishing relationships during first meetings to establish the client’s requirements as well as the scope of what can be achieved when delivering communication artifacts.

Guaranteeing in Photography Service Agreements which areas are to be photographed, amounts to be charged, when payments are due, any penalties for cancellation or rescheduling, when the final product is to be delivered, and terms of sharing image rights/usage licenses and the like. Require clients to sign with his or her vendor meal preference.

Meeting the client’s shot list/essential images requirement before their due time and location recce. One of the best practices that we can recommend is to prepare detailed photography schedules with time padding.

Taking experienced second shooter assistants you have previously hired for major occasions. If there are too many speakers in one session, you need to coordinate the roles/timing during the event day.

Exceeding their expectations by over-communicating, and reminding them of all the agreements made many times before due to the probability that they might be preoccupied with other tasks pertaining to weddings/events.

It is good practice to follow up shortly after events as a way of presenting the photos captured or glimpse into the events. Then arrange physical reveal meetings with clients to explain all edited pictures before offering the final printable files as agreed.

Conclusion

Achieving mastery in event photography creates an opportunity to embark on an fulfilling business of providing professional services shooting events for money in manners that suits the customer, big or small and in the process leaving a lasting mark in peopleʼs lives. Take this guide as your event photography services template - tweak, and adapt your packages and prices to market demands for a seamless event photography business!