The Digital Photograph School blog has an excellent article on how to take great photos at conferences. Here’s the quick list:
- Bring extra batteries, memory cards, your cables, and chargers
- Get out of auto mode.
- Be unobtrusive. Casual shots are better.
- Pay attention to the background
- Try not to use the flash
- Pay attention to the lighting
- Set the white balance
- More is better
- Zoom less, walk more
- Have fun
- (Bonus) It isn’t the camera or the lens, it’s the photographer that counts.
I thought about my experience at this past IL2008 conference and I found that I followed many of these tips. Most of my best photos were less zoom and more "get closer" as with the three in this post.
As for the suggestions to use more manual settings I guess I’ve just got to finally learn what all those other settings on my camera do.
I’ll add an additional point: “Be comfortable photographing people.”
This is what I struggle with the most when photographing in conference settings. I’m not comfortable photographing people – I feel like I’m intruding. I know this is partially a projection of my own feelings, since I’m not always comfortable about people photographing me. I haven’t reached the complete comfort level yet, but I’m working on it.
How about this Beth, you have my permission to basically follow me around and take photos of me throughout CIL2009. Will that help?
Heh. If I make it out to CIL next year, I may take you up on that.