Fairground photography

[Big_B]

There is a fair starting in the grounds of my university tomorrow, so I'm gonna go down there in the evening to take some pics. Never tried this before so does anyone have any pearls of wisdom (hints/tips) that they'd care to share?
.... otherwise I'll just turn up and see what happens.

Cheers,

Sam

[RichardtheSane]

Starts tomorrow does it?

Might have to pop down... (I've never done fairground photography either :) )

[PacAce]

There is a fair starting in the grounds of my university tomorrow, so I'm gonna go down there in the evening to take some pics. Never tried this before so does anyone have any pearls of wisdom (hints/tips) that they'd care to share?
.... otherwise I'll just turn up and see what happens.

Cheers,

Sam

Don't have much to offer except maybe for you to make sure you have a wide angle lens with you along with your normal lens. A WA zoom might be better in this case covering something like 16/17 to about 35/40 or so.

[12345Michael54321]

Well, getting the white balance right will be tricky, given the different types of lighting encountered at a fair. Might be a good idea to shoot in RAW mode, where in-camera white balance is essentially a null issue.

Colored lights + motion can be a neat effect. Yes, you'll probably need a tripod.

As the saying goes, if your pictures aren't interesting enough, you're not close enough. Don't be afraid to get close to your subject, and/or zoom long, and have it fill much of the picture frame. In settings like a fair, an easy mistake is to try to get everything into the picture. Well, a few shots like this are fine, but in general one is often better off taking images of specific subjects, as opposed to broad, establishing shots showing huge slices of the fair.

Extremely low angles - like those taken up, from at the height of a snake's belly - and extremely high angles - like from the top of a ferris wheel - can yield more interesting photos than those taken from a height of 5 - 6 feet above ground level. The low shots often prove most effective when you're using a wide angle lens.

If you're using a flash, remember that the range of a flash is extremely limited. You won't be able to light up the entire fair with your flash. Don't even try. But even a small flash can be really handy at providing fill light.

Bring along a bunch of short, simple, but fully adequate model releases. You never know where a shot with future advertising potential may be found.

Don't leave equipment unattended, even for a second. Theft happens.

If you must shoot at a high ISO, do so. Software can deal pretty effectively with image noise. Not so effectively with unwanted blur due to too slow a shutter speed.

If you eat at the fair, there is precisely a 96.3% probability that you will wind up with sticky and/or greasy hands, which will then place fingerprints on your lens and/or viewfinder. If you have a cup of soda in your hand, you will spill some of its contents on your camera. If you are holding a chili cheese dog... well, let's just say we'll leave this one as an exercise for the reader.

If you're going to the fair to take pictures, go alone. It's not fair to go to a fair with friends, then annoy them by constantly stopping to take pictures. Plus, you'll feel their annoyance, and consequently rush in your picture taking, and miss the best vantage points, angles, framing, etc.

It's not 8x10" sheet film. Feel free to take a zillion pictures. And review them at home, on a computer, not at the fair, on your camera's LCD display.

Bring a spare battery. You won't need it. Unless you don't bring it, in which case you will need it. (Guess how this advice applies to bringing a spare memory card.)

If a group of drunken coeds offer to pose topless for you, or more, feel free to pretend you're a "Girls Gone Wild" photographer. Just make sure they're at least 18, and try to get them to sign releases. Then post your photos and ask us to critique them. (Some things are worth risking expulsion from a fair.)

If you take a picture of someone, and promise the person a copy, do keep your promise and send the person a copy of the picture.

Resting a camera on a table, fence, or trash can lid isn't as good as using a tripod. But if you don't have a tripod, don't ignore these marginal substitutes.

You should know how to work all your camera's controls before taking it to the fair, but carry a copy of the owner's manual in your camera bag, just the same.

Autofocus is often at its slowest and least sure at night. Particularly if you're shooting with a wide angle lens, at a distant subject, it wouldn't kill you to simply set focus manually to just short of infinity. (Bright lights can trick in-camera exposure meters. Feel free to set exposure manually, too.)

You're not shooting 6x6cm; mix it up and shoot both horizontal and vertical compositions.

Dusk is often better than either full daylight or full darkness.

If one of your friends is entered in the no-using-hands blueberry pie eating contest, switch to a fresh memory card and battery right before the event gets underway.

[Big_B]

Starts tomorrow does it?


Did I say tomorrow? I meant Wednesday. Geesh, its a good thing I don't work in a position of responsibility. :D

Michael, thanks for such an extensive reply. You should post that in the 'Top Tips' sticky. In places it sounded like you were recalling some painfull memories - I might PM you just to find out what happened to that hot dog :? :wink:

As for the topless photos .... I will keep an eye out for any overdressed ladies, but I'm not sure that my offer to photograph their naked bosoms will go down all that well :D

Whist on the subject I do have some photos of a few female friends flashing for the camera .... but I'm sure you can imagine what would happen to me if I shared them on the internet :evil:

Thanks again for the suggestions and I'll let you know how it goes.