My A-Z process and guide on documentary event photography

Event photographers are documentarians. Or at least that’s my view and style of event photography. I aim to be present but at the same time blend into the background enough to capture the elusive candid moments.

My process has evolved over the years as I gained more experience as a photographer and got more comfortable around strangers. Every event is a new challenge, even if you think you know how the sequence of events typically goes. When you throw in a bunch of different people in a new environment, you just never know what will happen.

I’m no expert when it comes to event photography. I’m simply sharing my personal experiences and what I have learned over the years as I have photographed for friends, family and clients.

Preparing for the event

As for any photography session and in fact in many things in life, preparation is key. Once the event is over, you won’t be able to re-create it. Preparation is important to ensure you know what to expect during the event, what gear you will need to capture the images and what the client expects of you.

It goes without saying good communication with your client is really important. From the moment a prospective client contacts you through to the point you deliver your images to your client. Get all the details you need about the event by asking the client the right questions:

• What is the event, when & where is the event, how long would you like you to the photographer to be there for.
• Depending on the event, ask for a schedule for the day and how many people are likely to be present.
• Is it an indoor or outdoor shoot – this is very important to prepare yourself for the weather and also picking the right gear due to different lighting conditions
• What kind of photos are your clients after (e.g. posed images, candid images) and are they key moments, shots or people you client wouldn’t want you to miss

Setting clear expectation with your client

Once you know the answers to the questions above, that gives you a good basis to set clear expectations with your client. You will know how much to charge and what the deliverables will be. This will be relevant if the client didn’t pick a pre-made photography package that clearly outlined what they will get. Let your client know upfront your photography fees and get it paid upfront as part of the booking process. This would be different for weddings or other full day or multiday events where the fee is a much higher rate, photographers would probably charge a booking fee initially followed by asking the client to pay the remainder X number of days before the event.

If you have any concerns about not being able to meet your clients expectations, it’s important to voice it out now. You may even have some suggestions on how to maximise the use of your photography services to get the best outcome for the client. For example if your client only wants you for 2 hours of your time but it’s a 3 hour event and the client wants your there when the guests arrive for the party, but also when the fireworks happen at the end for some long exposure shots. Then it’s most definitely important to point out the logistical problem with that. If the client is on a tighter budget, then perhaps you can help your client narrow down the most important moments your client would like you to capture so that they are making the most of their hired photographer.

I also try to let my client know roughly how many final images they can expect from you. I always err on the side of caution. Under promise and over deliver. More often than not, I end up delivering more images that I am expected too. However, more is certainly not always better, you want to only deliver your best images and also images that may not be technically the best, but it captures important moments or expressions. You want your clients to ultimately walk away with your exceeding their expectations.

Creating a shot list in collaboration with your client may be helpful depending on the event. This makes sure you will definitely capture the shots they’d like at a minimum. Don’t let this restrict you though. It’s still important to be on a constant look out for interesting and emotive images during the shoot. I find those are typically the ones that turn out to be the best shots.

Lastly it’s also important to have a written agreement with your client. It sets out the expectations for your clients but also gives your client the peace of mind of knowing what to expect in writing.

Bringing the right equipment

I personally like to keep my equipment to the essentials so that I can focus on the scenes in front of me during the shoot rather than deciding which gear to use. I try to bring two camera bodies for client event shoots so there is always a backup if something goes wrong. Shooting with the Fujifilm X-T4 has been fantastic since upgrading from the Fujifilm X-T10. The dual SD card slot is a great “peace of mind”. Depending on the lighting conditions (outdoor vs. indoor shoot, daytime vs. night time), I always bring my prime lenses and my zoom lens as a backup.

The Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4 lens is great for portraiture and low light photography. Paired with the X-T4, it’s a lot zippier than when paired with my X-T10 camera for sure. I use the Fujinon XF 23mm f2 lens for group shots or more environmental shots if I wanted to capture more in the frame. I love shooting with prime lenses because it’s fast and lightweight.

For the birthday event I photographed last year, I was fortunate to be able to borrow the chunky Fujinon 56mmf1.2 lens. It was amazing for portraiture work and shooting intimate images. After two hours of hand-holding the lens I definitely felt the weight of it though!

Other things I normally bring along are several spare batteries, spare memory cards, microfibre clothes and lens pens. Again depending on the event tripod and lights might be needed.

It’s important that you can store your camera bag containing gear that you’re not using in a safe and secure location – best to speak to the event organiser or venue for a locked room or secure location that you can easily access.

Dress for the weather & like you belong there

Checking the weather before you head out to your event, especially if it’s an outdoor event, is important. You want to make sure you’re shooting in comfort to get the best out of the shoot. It would be difficult to shoot and make great images while you’re freezing or shoot while you’re sweating your skin away.

I also like to try to blend in by dressing to fit the event. Is it a casual garden birthday party, if so neat casual clothes will work. Is it a professional function or formal event, dressing it up to be on the professional side would be important.

Photographing during the event

I’m always early to events I’m photographing to make sure I have time to take in the scene, store my gear bag and make a good first impression with the client. It also helps calm any nerves I may have. Before guests arrive is also a great time to chat to the client, event organiser or venue before the busyness of guests, food and activities kick off.

It goes without saying that bringing a friendly and professional manner is important to make sure the whole photographic experience is as smooth as possible.

At the beginning while there are no or minimal number of guests around I find is the best time to take detailed pre-event images (e.g. food, cake, decorations, client with their family and friends in a relaxed mode). It also helps me get in the “flow state” before the event kicks off for real.

During the event I also have to remind myself to smile especially when I’m in the zone and am focused on trying to get a particular composition or image. Being open to people who want posed shots is also important even if my preference is to shoot documentary-style. There’s been several events I’ve photographed where family or friends have approached me to ask for group photos for them. Do it with a smile. While it may not be the most artistic and eye catching images, it means something to someone. And that’s what we’re here to do, help people create memories.

Typically events will also have some sort of sequence. For example a child blowing out the candles or opening presents. A couple’s first dance, first kiss. These are shots you can plan for. Set yourself up to make sure you don’t miss those shots and capture the emotion at just the right time. In between those, it’s important to be on the hunt for unexpected expressions, candid moments and scenes of people having a good time. The in-between images tell the story of the day or the event. So that when you have a series of images, people can visually tell what is happening during the event or day.

After the event

Once you finish your your photography shoot at the event and say your goodbyes to the client, make sure you keep your camera SD cards secure and back up the photos as soon as possible. Here’s my typical workflow after a photography session

1. Import the photos from my SD card into Lightroom Classic. This uploads the photos onto my laptop hard drive. Depending on the number images I’ve taken, this may take a couple of hours. I typically build 1:1 previews at import as well to make the culling and editing process a bit quicker later on.
2. Once it’s imported into Lightroom and the photos are on my laptop, it’s automatically backed up to an external site hard drive (e.g. you can use a sibling, parent or friend’s house). By this point, I have the photos stored in 3 locations – my laptop, an external site and SD cards. Photos are left on the SD cards until after I have delivered the images to my clients.
3. My first pass is to pick images that are in focus, decent composition, tells the story of the event and have good expressions. I do this in the Library module in Lightroom Classic. I will flag photos (keyboard key P on windows) that I want to take to the next stage of my post-processing.
4. Once I’ve made my picks, I filter my images to only the flagged photos then move into the Develop module.
5. The develop module is where I edit my photos. During this step, I will sometimes unflag photos (keyboard key U on windows) that I don’t like or are duplicates of another similar images I have flagged.
6. Once I’ve done all my edits, I will look it at in the Library module again to make sure the edits and style are consistent with each other. Sometimes I find my colours, style or edits can change as I progress with my editing, especially if I edit over a few days. Looking at all my edited flagged images again helps to make sure I go back in to fix any inconsistencies.
7. In Lightroom Classic, I will create a new collection and make this a target collection. To make my final selects of images I want to deliver to my client, I do this in the Library module. When I click on keyboard key B, the image I have selected automatically gets added to the target collection.
8. These images are then exported out of Lightroom Classic as high resolution JPEGs for printing. I typically use Pixieset to deliver images the client. There are numerous options out there at various price points. I’ve chosen to use Pixieset and really like the professional and modern gallery view. It’s also easy for the clients to browse their images and download their images at high and low resolution file sizes.

That wraps up one gigantic blog post! I didn’t intend for this blog post to become my manifesto on documentary event photography. Nonetheless it was fun to write and reflect on my process from photographing friends and family as well as paid client work. I hope you’ve found some helpful ideas if you’re starting out in event photography or shooting for family and friends.

Thanks for stopping by today.