Indoor party photography

3 Steps to Better Party Photography (Group Photos)

By Joshua Dunlop

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We’re reaching the end of October now and, with Halloween just a few days away, party season is well and truly here.
A post on party photography might seem like a weird idea but it’s not as simple as you may think… if you want to get good party photos that is.
I’m known amongst my friends for my photography at parties. I regularly have my camera with me and record the parts of the night that are often forgotten by morning.

Step 1 – Setting up your Camera

Assuming your party is either in the evening or indoors, you’re going to want to set your camera to manual mode to take control of the exposure.
In low light conditions, you basically have two options: widen your aperture to capture the most light, or use a flash. These produce great results but there’s plenty to be aware of before diving straight in.
Firstly, think about your personal style: do you prefer candid photography, or posed group photos?
If you like candid photography, a wide aperture is a great choice. You just need to be aware that you’ll still have people asking for group photos and with a wide aperture comes a shallow depth of field, which won’t work so well.
If you’re more into group photos, you need a deeper depth of field. To make up for the lack of light, you’ll have to use a flash. It’s no secret that pop-up flash photography looks pretty terrible and is capable of ruining a photo; use an off-camera flash if you’ve got one.
Try some of the techniques which we’ll get to in a bit.Make sure that your camera mode is in manual, then start taking some test shots; it will help you to understand what you need to get a good exposure.
It helps to know how your camera responds to particular lighting as this makes it easier to set up your camera.
I know that my camera doesn’t handle the ISO very well when it gets past ISO1000. I set my ISO here and work with my aperture and shutter speed after that.
You’ll likely find that you shoot much wider angles at parties. This is good because it makes it easier to hold the camera steady at, say, 1/50 of a second. So, with my ISO at 1000 and my shutter speed at 1/50, I can easily play around with my aperture, depending on the light and the lens.
Aperture is the one thing you’ll probably struggle with at a party, purely because of the depth of field so, if you’re happy to carry around an extra lens, say a f/2.8 or f/3.5 kit lens, that can really help you out.
If you can shoot without a flash while using a wide aperture, that’s great; the lighting will look a lot more natural. If not, use a flash.
The reason I say carry an extra kit lens is that, if you’ve got a 50mm or a 35mm, you’ll find that you want a wider angle than that when you’re shooting at a party. If you’re using a flash and a narrower aperture anyway, it might as well be on a zoom lens.

Step 2 – Using The Flash

As I mentioned above, regardless of your style of photography, if you’re at a party at night or indoors, you’re going to end up using a flash to help with the lighting.
I strongly recommend the purchase of an external flash unit but, if you don’t have one, we’ll get to your options in a bit.
The great thing about an off-camera external flash unit is that you can bounce the light off the ceiling to produce a more natural light or use a diffuser such as a small lightbox to bounce the light indoors or outdoors.
You can also buy transmitters for your flash which allow you to take the flash off the camera and have it coming from a different direction, although this is probably a little advanced for most parties.
Below is a photo which was taken indoors with the flash turned slightly behind me and pointing up to the ceiling, which you can see in the reflection in the mirror.
This maintains a good amount of shadow on the face and makes it look more like no flash was used at all.
This style is really good for casual parties where you’re at a friend’s house and there’s no fancy lighting.
This photo was taken at ISO 400, f/3.5 at 1/100 of a second which allowed for more light because of the confined conditions and bounce flash.If you want to go the extra mile and use an off-camera flash, you can produce some better lit photos without making the lighting too garish.
I used a Speedlight Transmitter for my photo below and moved the flash around to the side.
Because it was almost dark out, I had to push my ISO to 800 while narrowing the aperture to f/2.8. I knew that the burst of light from the flash would freeze any motion so I wouldn’t have to worry about movement in the photo.
I did, however, want a bit around the moving bottle, so I chose a speed of 1/60.
The more you use your camera, the easier it will become to make these decisions without having to think about them.If you don’t have an off-camera flash unit and you want to be able to use your flash, I would recommend trying some slow sync flash.
This involves using your flash but setting your camera to manual so that you can allow for more ambient light and creative blur.
This prevents the camera from focusing so much on the bright direct light from the camera, and more on the ambient light in the background.
The photo below is an example of slow sync flash with direct light, although I did take it with an external unit as I had one on me. You can choose whether you want the flash to fire at the beginning or end of the exposure, depending on what you want the photo to look like.
ISO500, f/3.5 for 1 second.I’ve shown you photos where you can easily bounce some light without having to push your camera too hard but what about when it’s not so easy?
Just remember that you have to work with what you’ve got; if you’re limited with gear, use the techniques I’ve spoken about but I would suggest a higher ISO to allow for more ambient light and so you can turn down the flash exposure compensation.
It’s more about technique and composition than anything.

Step 3 – Photos to Take

This only really depends on your personal style but, if you’re being paid to take photos at a party, there’s going to be a certain type of photo required.
Think about what’s going on and who’s important at the party – that should give you a good indication as to what sort of photos to take.
Here are some of the photos that I like to take.
My personal style is fairly candid; I like to shoot without a flash and capture moments that other people tend to miss. It gives a nice view of the party as it captures the it for what it really is. A natural smile is ten times better than a posed one.The photo below was taken at a 30th birthday party of the birthday boy and his mum.
I saw him walk past his mum and stopped him for the photo because this sort of shot will be important to them and they may have forgotten otherwise.
You need to have a good amount of photos of the most important person at the party without neglecting the rest of the guests.By all means enjoy the party but be prepared with your camera so that you can take photos of anything interesting that’s going on.
This is more of an action shot; you see the arm wrestle between the man and the girl while, just as importantly, there are all the heads surrounding them, looking on.
This was shot at 24mm, which was as wide as the lens would go.
I couldn’t have taken this photo at a longer focal length with my primes lenses.
Later on in the evening, when everyone has had a few drinks and loosened up a little, you’ll start to have people approach you for group shots – that’s a good thing.
If they come up to you, the photos are usually a lot more fun to take and produce better results. This sort of shot is essential for any party really because it makes it look as fun as it was and, when it’s looked back on, they’ll remember it better.

Photo by bruce mars from Pexels

Finally, it’s always good to get personal shots of just a single person; they’ll have something to take away from it too. It doesn’t matter who you’re shooting, just make sure they’re happy to have their photo taken and are enjoying themselves.

Photo by Matan Segev from Pexels

For more tips and tricks, check out our post on 21st birthday photoshoot ideas, too!

Photographing Indoor Celebrations :: Digital Photo Secrets

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by David Peterson 0 comments

Sometimes it seems like the weather is constantly driving us inside. It’s either too cold to have that outdoor party, or it's too hot. It's raining, or it's snowing, or it’s too humid. There are definitely more reasons to cancel an outdoor party then there are to keep it where it is. So what do you do when it's your job to take pictures of that outdoor event, but the venue suddenly changes to an indoor one? Keep reading to find out.

If your outdoor event has suddenly become an indoor event, don't think that means you're going to have to rely on your pop-up flash in order to photograph it. In fact that's the last thing you want to do, because that pop-up flash is going to create more problems than it solves. There are lots of better ways to capture photos in low light, and most of the time they just involve understanding your equipment.

Most modern digital cameras are designed to perform well in low light, even without the use of a flash. You may have heard that you should always shoot at low ISOs, because low ISOs give you better clarity and detail. The truth is that if you own a DSLR camera or even a better-quality point-and-shoot camera that was manufactured in the last few years, low ISOs make much less difference to the overall quality of your photo than they did even as recently as a decade ago. So you may not even notice much difference between those low ISO shots and the ones you take at higher ISOs.

NORITSU KOKI QSS-32_33

Selfportrait with lovers by Flickr user Somethingintheair

Even if your camera does show some noise at higher ISOs, when you’re photographing people indoors it’s OK to sacrifice a little bit of clarity in exchange for a tack-sharp photo. It’s always going to be better to have a little noise in your photo than it would be to have a lot of motion blur or camera shake because you weren’t able to select a shutter speed that’s fast enough to freeze the action. So if you need to bump your ISO up to 1600 or even 3200, do it—remember that for people who are moving (even slower-moving people) you’ll need a shutter speed of at least 1/125—1/250 for faster action. In a pinch you can go as low as 1/60, but you’ll have to ask your subjects to remain still, and be aware that you could get motion blur in the extremities, especially the arms and hands.

Another way that you can shoot in low light without a flash is to use a very large aperture (small f-number). Now, if you’re shooting with your kit lens you may not be able to go very large (some kit lenses have maximum apertures of only f/3.5 or even f/4 or f/5.6). If this is you, consider investing in a 50mm prime lens.

A 50mm prime is a very inexpensive lens with a fixed focal length. But its focal length is not the reason why you want to have this lens on hand when you’re shooting in low light—what you really need is that maximum available aperture. 50mm prime lenses are fast, which means that they generally have maximum available apertures of f/1.8 or even faster, depending on which model you have. Personally, I think a 50mm prime lens is one of the best investments any beginning photographer can make as far as equipment is concerned. It’s a relatively inexpensive lens (you can expect to pay just over $100 for one), and it significantly increases your ability to get excellent shots in low light.

Canon EOS 5D
800
f/2.0
0.006 sec (1/160)
135 mm

Boris by Flickr user prosto photos

Now do keep in mind that when you dial in that very large aperture, you get a big decrease in depth of field. So you may find (especially when you are very close to your subjects) that your subject’s eye will be tack-sharp, but you’ll have a loss of focus by the time you get to his ears or the tip of his nose. So it’s always a good idea to try to balance aperture with ISO, especially if you know you’re going to be close to your subjects. If you can’t do that and you have to use f/1.8, make sure you are also using single point AF (that’s the mode that lets you move the focus point around in your viewfinder using the joystick on the back of your camera). When you’re in single point AF mode, you can compose the shot as you like and then place the focus point on your subject’s eye without having to recompose. This will guarantee a sharp eye—and as long as your subject’s eye is in focus it doesn’t matter if there’s some softening in the rest of his features.

What if I just don’t like the noise, or the shallow depth of field is not working for me?

It could be that your camera is older, or it just doesn’t do high ISOs. You’ve found that you get an unacceptable amount of noise even at ISO 800, or maybe you just really don’t like noise on a personal level. It could also be that you don’t own a 50mm prime lens, or that you’re having too much trouble managing that shallow depth of field. So can you just use flash?

Nikon D3S
800
f/3.2
0.013 sec (1/80)
70 mm

Bri-la 24 by Flickr user WarzauWynn

The answer is “yes,” but you won't be using it the way you use the pop up flash that's built into your camera. Instead, you will need an external flash. You don’t necessarily have to use it externally, but the reason why it’s important to have this particular piece of equipment is because of the swiveling head. Your built in flash points in only a single direction: straight in front of you. But with an external flash, you can swivel the head to point it up at the ceiling, and the bounced light will scatter and give you diffused light instead of that hard, direct light that you get with a popup.

Of course the success of this technique requires that you have a low, white ceiling to bounce the light off of (you can also use a white wall). If you don’t, you can add a diffuser to your flash unit, which will also scatter/soften the light.

White balance

Here’s something that a lot of beginners forget when they go indoors—white balance becomes critically important in indoor lighting situations because indoor lights are often incandescent, fluorescent, or even a mixture of both, sometimes with some window light thrown in. In most lighting situations your auto white balance setting does a pretty good job of correcting for the color tints that are present in artificial lighting, but it won’t always get it right. I recommend that you pay close attention to the types of light that are used in the room—if the room is lit with incandescents (traditional bulbs), you’ll need to set your white balance manually to “incandescent.” If the room is lit with fluorescent lights, you’ll likewise need to choose that setting. But the problem arises when you’ve got mixed light, such as window light combined with incandescents. In this situation I recommend using a custom white balance setting. All cameras do this a little differently, so you’ll need to check your camera’s manual, but for the most part it involves taking a photo of something that is a true white (such as your Uncle Bob’s t-shirt) and using that as a reference point for your camera to make a judgment about the color of the light.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
400
f/1.4
0.02 sec (1/50)
50 mm

Day 127 - Knackered by Flickr user lintmachine

Your subjects

Now that we’ve discussed all the subtleties of taking photos in low light, let’s discuss your subjects themselves. Indoor celebrations are usually pretty crowded, so besides the challenges of light you’ve also got challenges of background. When there are a lot of people milling about in a small space, it can be difficult to capture a photo that doesn’t look chaotic or busy. So while it can be informational to capture a wide shot of all the partygoers in one room, it’s not really the ideal way to showcase the event.

Instead, you’re going to want to focus on one person or a small group of people. Get close and make sure that there’s some space between them and whatever is behind them. Even at larger apertures if there isn’t some distance between your subject and the person standing behind him, you’re not going to get enough blur on that background person to eliminate him as a distraction. Instead you either need to leave some space between subject and background or you need to get close enough that you’re excluding those distractions altogether.

Now because you’re shooting in low light, your aperture will most likely already be pretty large. But just in case you’re using the bounced flash technique, remember to keep your aperture large so that you’ll get some blur on any background elements you do include in the shot.

Look for moments—maybe the event mostly involves people standing around with their cocktails and talking about politics, but that doesn’t mean that your goal ought to be to convey to your viewer that everyone was standing around with their cocktails talking about politics. That’s kind of a boring party to attend (sorry if you love politics) but it’s an even more boring photograph. Instead you want to look for interesting moments. Let’s say that your uncle Frank and your other uncle Bob come from opposite sides of the political spectrum and they get into a heated debate about socialized medicine. Now that’s an interesting moment—focus on facial expressions and body language. Try to capture some of the heat in that discussion and try to do it as inconspicuously as you can. Remember that when your subjects are aware that they’re being photographed they tend to act less naturally, and you want to capture the real moment, not the false one.

Nikon D300
800
f/4.5
0.02 sec (1/50)
31 mm

Laugh! by Flickr user fikirbaz

It’s going to be easier if the event in question is an indoor play-date between a couple of kids—kids are naturally a lot more expressive than adults are. But you still need to look out for those meaningful moments: an exchange of laughter between the two children, or a moment of intense play. If they’re building Lego, look for the concentration in their faces and try to find a unique angle—shoot the scene from the perspective of a Lego storm trooper, for example. You can do this at the politics-and-cocktails party, too—try putting your camera on the table and shoot a photo of a cocktail sitting on a napkin, with party goers as blurs in the distance.

Conclusion

It’s tricky getting good photos at indoor parties, but it’s also completely doable provided that you understand your camera settings and that you make the best possible use of the lighting situation. Once you have that all figured out, you can start looking for those photo-worthy moments. Remember that you can’t do one without the other—you must find the right settings for that low light situation in addition to finding those perfect moments, and only then will your indoor photo shoot be a complete success.

Summary

Use a high ISO
Keep your shutter speed between 1/125 and 1/250
Use a large aperture (small f-number)
Bounce your flash
Use a custom white balance setting
Capture moments between people

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About David Peterson

David Peterson is the creator of Digital Photo Secrets, and the Photography Dash and loves teaching photography to fellow photographers all around the world. You can follow him on Twitter at @dphotosecrets or on Google+.

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How to get great party photos

Resources

November 26, 2017

What to wear and what space to choose. Which part of the party to invite the photographer to, and whether to discuss your wishes with him. Do you need a photo zone at the party, and how to arrange it.

Anastasia Makarova

editor

Three professional photographers tell you what to consider and what to avoid so that holiday photos do not disappoint you. nine0007

Ksenia, Moscow Over 10 years experience in photography

About the dress code
When there are a lot of guests, more than 10-15, it's hard to tell them what to wear if it's not a themed party. And many do not want to dress themed at all. Therefore, the simplest thing we did was include one or two elements that the guest must have. For example, a red scarf, or any piece of bright green clothing. It looks good on the photo. nine0025 About photo zone

Professional decorators tell how to decorate a photo zone in a loft in a stylish and unbanal way

I think it's worth having a photo zone, because people always want to be photographed with something in the background. Photo accessories are also needed, they add emotions to the frame, people don’t just put their hands in their pockets, they start fooling around - and more vivid photos are obtained. Photo zone or press wall should not be small. The normal size is 2 by 3 meters, so that no extraneous pieces of iron do not glow. nine0025 About communication with the photographer
With the photographer, you always need to discuss predetermined terms of reference and timing, the plan of the event, it’s good if the customer says that he first of all wants to see in the photographs, what accents, place, what must be filmed, what to bring in to the album.
About the time
It is better to invite a photographer from the very beginning, while the press wall is being shot.

During the buffet, we don't film how people eat -

We will shoot beautiful cakes, sandwiches separately, and move on to the part where the awards, the program, the presenter. Here are just the brightest emotions, this part is required for shooting. And, perhaps, a little dancing, about the first hour of the disco, until something started that is better not to shoot anymore.)))
About problems
What will definitely spoil the photo - people who are eating, drunk people in the frame. It's bad if the photographer and the videographer interfere with each other's work. It is bad if the style of clothing of one of the guests is not coordinated with the party. nine0025 Useful advice
Oddly enough, very often, especially at large events, the quality of the photo depends on the host of the event. Because emotions depend on it. You definitely need a connection between the photographer and the presenter, the DJ and the presenter. If the photographer knows that the host is going to make a joke and people will clap and laugh, he will be ready to press the button in time and take great emotional shots.
About communication with the photographer
Of course, you need to discuss the details of the shooting with the photographer, it's even better to draw up a TOR, hold a briefing, and express everything in advance. nine0007

Xenia's Instagram

Roman. Petersburg, experience in photography: 13 years

About space
There are no "very bright" spaces for a photographer, the brighter, the easier it is for us to work. If it is dark, then the photographer should be warned, perhaps he will take a manual soft box. But I think that the photographer should not care what kind of room, because the pro will shoot well in any situation, if not, then he is not a pro.

About photo zone
The photo zone may not necessarily consist of a press ox, for me, this is already such an outdated format that I would burn all the press ox. If the press-ox cannot be avoided, then it must be done directly from the floor and three meters high, so that it more than covers the growth of a person. You can buy photo props, but in moderation and corresponding to the theme of the evening. Clothing should also match the theme of the party.

We will tell the most daring hosts of the holiday how not only to take a photo at a party, but also to shoot a whole movie. nine0007

Everyone knows: without a clear TK, the result of HZ.

A variant of unlimited trust in the photographer is possible, but then the result must be accepted with gratitude - whatever it is.
About time
It is customary to invite photographers to the holiday to the official part and to the beginning of the banquet (like then everyone will get drunk, and no one needs drunk faces). But sometimes, this very drunken part is the most fun and interesting later in the photo (although, of course, there is a lot of so-called compromising evidence, and here it all depends on the moral and ethical qualities of the photographer - whether to shoot it or not, and if he took it, then delete later or give to the client). nine0025 About the group photo
It's good when the group photo fits into the rectangle format, ie 3x2. There is no need to invent anything about what has already been invented in classic group photography. The first row sits, the second stands behind the first, the third stands on something behind the second (benches, chairs, a stage) equally visible in the foreground.

Roman's Page

nine0018 Anton. Moscow experience in photography 6 years

About the dress code
it all depends on the venue of the event (home, restaurant, club). But best of all, ask guests to just dress up so that they feel comfortable at the same time.
About the photo zone
The photo zone, accessories and press wall are not important, the absence of them will not make the holiday and the photo worse. It all depends on the mood and activity of the guests. Accessories are good, but not everyone understands what to do with them, many are afraid to look stupid. It is better to spend your energy and money not on a press wall or a photo zone, but on a photo booth or an instant camera, this always comes with a bang! nine0025 About space
For me, light, dark, bright, in general, any space is not a problem. I work with supplementary light. But it is always better to warn the photographer in advance where (in which room) the party will be.
About the time
As practice shows, if you are limited in finances, then it is better to call a photographer 1-2 hours after the party starts - we are all people, we are all stuck in traffic jams, and no one canceled being late. If there are any key moments during the event, then it is worth starting from these time frames. nine0025 Useful advice
Don't worry too much about planning, the holiday should be a holiday and it should be high. And if the event is large-scale, then it is better to entrust all the preparation, including work with the photographer, to professional organizers, and just enjoy the atmosphere yourself.

Anton's website

5 simple tips on how to take pictures at parties and concerts| ichip.ru

“5 Simple Tips for Taking Pictures…” is our regular series of articles in which we tell you how to shoot certain objects correctly. Our materials are dedicated to the five most popular storylines. We will tell you how to properly set up your camera and what equipment you will need to get good results. nine0007

The fourth part of our article series focuses on a special area of photographing people: capturing people at concerts and parties. Finally, your financial investments in expensive, high-quality cameras and lenses will pay off. Because here the account goes on each photon. High light sensitivity and an open aperture - you need to remember them for sure! But if you know a couple of tricks, then even with inexpensive equipment you will get good results. How? Find out by reading our five tips. nine0007

How to take pictures at parties and concerts: With the right equipment, you'll get good shots even in poor lighting conditions.

1 Use the right technique

Parties and concerts tend to have one thing in common. They are united by the absence or, rather, a small amount of light. The venues for parties and concerts and the stage itself are usually relatively poorly lit. Therefore, the best choice would be fast prime lenses, as well as standard and telezoom lenses with apertures of at least F2.8 or faster. And best of all in combination with a full-frame camera, which, thanks to the large size of the sensor, even in low light and correspondingly high ISO rates, guarantees low-noise and well-detailed shots. nine0007

Inexpensive lenses we can recommend include the 50mm F1.8 and 35mm F1.8 primes, as well as the APS-C standard 17-50mm F2.8 zoom from Sigma or Tamron. Among system cameras, we can especially recommend the Fujifilms X series, whose cameras even at high ISO values up to 6400 give excellent results.

To avoid changing lenses during a concert, which can be quite difficult, take two cameras with lenses with different focal lengths. At parties, we recommend using a small system flash. How to work with it, we will explain in paragraph 4.

How to take pictures at parties and concerts: With the RAW format, you can improve a lot in the picture in post-processing.

2 Set up your camera

Shoot in RAW and in full manual mode M. Open the aperture as wide as you can. And don't worry about the depth of field of the image. Even in the orchestra pit, and seriously speaking right in front of the artists, you have enough distance to take sharp photos of the band members.

Don't forget to set your shutter speed to at least 1/125 of a second to freeze the movement. Since the light given by the lighting settings is constantly changing, it is best to set the ISO to auto. If you work without automation, then set the ISO to 1600 or 3200 ISO. Since you will be shooting in RAW format, you will be able to correct areas that are too dark or too light in the image during post-processing on the computer. nine0007

Shoot at parties in the same way: RAW format, shutter speed at least 1/125 second or faster. Just close the aperture to F2.8 F4, since you are closer to the subject, and therefore you need to reduce the depth of field.

How to photograph at parties and concerts: Work with different perspectives, you can try to shoot from below, holding the camera directly above the floor.

3 Proper preparation

The following rules very often apply at concerts: you can shoot without a flash, without a tripod, and only during the first three songs. Therefore, we recommend that you shoot in burst mode (sequential) shooting, set autofocus to continuous focus mode and do not spare space on the memory card. nine0007

To take a variety of photos, get into the habit of doing the following: take at least one full-length photo of each group member, one portrait of each, and photos with other group members. Don't forget group photos, photos of fans having fun, action photos. It's not a bad idea to watch a couple of live performances of the band before the concert in order to notice the typical poses of the band members, which you will simply have to photograph.

How to take pictures at parties and concerts: Those who are not afraid can experiment with slower shutter speeds and create interesting effects due to this. nine0127 4 Compose your shot correctly

Parties are usually less chaotic than concerts, so you can spend more time composing your shot correctly. When using the flash, do not point it directly at a person. The ceiling can be used as a natural reflector (if it is not higher than three meters). Or attach a flash diffuser like the Gary Fong Lightsphere.

You can get funny effects if you sync the flash to the second curtain (this function is usually referred to as “Rear”), for example, shooting with a low ISO and a shutter speed of one second, move the camera in different directions, “catch” multi-colored lights of lighting devices, which will look like multi-colored light threads. Shortly before the flash fires, point the camera at the model or subject and wait for the flash to fire. Your model in the photo, despite the movements of the camera before, will turn out bright and sharp. nine0007

Light at concerts and parties is one of the main factors that create mood. Even if you are allowed to shoot with a flash, at concerts it is better to refuse it. Therefore, although outdoor performances in daylight look less impressive, you can practice on them. Play with perspective: take a few shots by tilting the camera, this will bring dynamics to the frame.

How to take pictures at parties and concerts: With a telephoto lens, you will have a good view of everything that happens on stage even from a distance.