"5 Tips for Event Coverage" - Digital Photography Podcast 318

I just finished covering a big 3-day event in Petaluma, CA called the Artisan Cheese Festival. There were so many things going on at once, we needed two other photographers (Rick Roellke and Frank Filice) to help cover all of the action. In this week's episode, I share 5 tips for successful event coverage. Plus, I talk about the event itself, which was a real eye-opener for this "not really a foodie type" of guy.

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In the Pasture In the pasture on a Farm Tour during the Artisan Cheese Festival in Petaluma, CA. Photo by Derrick Story. For more, visit my Artisan Cheese Festival Flicker Gallery.

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10 Comments

Hi Derrick we meet in an airport via your voice and my recognizing it. Your lovey producer was there.

Thanks for covering Aperture, AP, a program I use religiously. Was wondering if in your podcasts or writings on AP did you cover the Color problem of importing large color gamer files into aperture and having the colors hosed?
Would like to hear your comments on this bug. Sure hop its fixed in AP4

Thanks great energy and enthusiasm !! David

Sorry That should of read Large Gamet color tif files. Like a fill of a solid color, (72, 182, 70) for example.

I laughed when you talked about synchronizing the timestamps in the podcast. It took me only a few days to remember to adjust the time in my camera for EDT. However, one day I noticed that a photo's metadata said it had been taken the day after I had actually taken it. I'd forgotten to reset the calendar for leap day.

Thanks for the tips on event coverage, Derrick! For the past few years I have volunteered to run the photo team for our church's Arts Camp. We need group photos of each class as well as candids and, in order to ensure that each class is covered more than once during the 5-day camp, I have to coordinate and schedule multiple photographers (myself and 2-3 others). I've done many of the things you suggested, but also appreciated learning from your experience.

Regarding camera synchronization, I actually do this in post every time multiple cameras were used during a session or an event.

I use Lightroom for this purpose, but I expect that Aperture has similar capabilities. I've documented the process here: http://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/put-an-atomic-clock-in-your-camera/capture-time-matters.html

Essentially, I use each camera to take a photo of a reference clock. You can simply have each camera photograph the same watch/clock, as long as it has a second hand. In my case, I usually photograph the time.gov website, just because this then allows me to make the time quick accurate (in addition to synchronizing all of the cameras).

Then I select all of the photographs from a single camera and adjust the capture time, such that the capture time matches the time on the clock. I then repeat for each camera, and they're all perfectly in sync.

Sure, it might be simpler to sync the cameras at the start of the shoot, but if you forget, this process takes less than two minutes and can be done so easily in post. So, I don't even worry about it anymore and just fix it in post.

If your camera doesn’t allow you to shoot in RAW (or you choose not to) – shoot in color and do your conversion to black and white later on your computer.
While most digital cameras offer you the option to shoot in Black and White (and can produce some reasonable results) you have more control over your end results if you have the color data to work with in your conversion on your computer. (read more on the choice between shooting in black and white or post production conversion).

Interesting article, I like the black and white dea lto shoot in RAW b/w to see the shoot in the LCD screen and still have all color information in the RAW file to edit the images at computer, Clever idea
This is my first view at your website but definitely will come back as i also recently started Photographing again and made my own website about it, fotograf.gr is anyone is interested.

(Seem) to be having problems posting.) Glad I ran into this…I’ve read (elsewhere) that shooting raw was a “waste of time” and to shoot color, then convert to B&W to achieve greater tonal range. I’m looking to get that (very) old-school look, and was planning to shoot higher ISO to get the “grain”. I get set in my ways at times; looks like I need to open up to other methods instead of being so hard-headed. Thanks for the tips!

A big mistake early podcasters make is talking too far away from their microphones. This makes the audio more susceptible to room noise, reverb, and harsh tones.
Get closer to your mic and turn down your gain (the sensitivity of the mic).
This even works with internal mics, when you combine with other techniques.

On the flip side, getting too close to your mic can be bad, too. This will pick up excessive breathing, mouth noises, and pops from letters like P and T (call plosives).
Depending on your mic, the optimal distance is about four fingers’ width away.

Avoid noise around the mic
What you do away from the mic is just as important as in front of the mic. Avoid loud keyboards, squeaking chairs, cracking knuckles, whispered conversations, background noise-makers, and more.