The above video goes into great detail on how to photograph a step and repeat or red carpet, but you can see a transcript below! Thanks for watching.
Event Photographers,
Today I am going to talk about how to photograph a step and repeat. As an event photographer, unless you’re sticking to small, family type events, inevitably you will be asked to cover one. This may be as a dedicated photographer stationed at one throughout the night or part of a much larger event like the one we are currently watching
When I started out as an event photographer,I didn't really have a template available to me- I had to figure it out on my own, so today I am going to give you as much information as possible. Now, there is no “correct” way to photograph one and there are many ways to do it, but there are some pitfalls to be aware of and some things you actually can do wrong.
The first thing I recommend is arriving early so that you can fire a few test shots off. At the event we are currently watching, I was able to catch the guy setting lights up and was able to work with him to better position the lights. He initially had them aimed toward the top of the backdrop which would have led to uneven light on my subjects, shadows, and no catch light.
Of course I could have worked with this, but if you always want to work with the best possible situation. I would have preferred we got the lights a bit more spread out, but as you can see, there is a designated area taped off that I wanted to respect.
Next it was time to fire off a few test shots. What I recommend is using a flash as your key light, or main light, and use the continuous lights as fill. I usually start out doing my test shots without a flash and dial in a proper exposure for my fill lights at about F4 which is what most of my shots will be made at. I keep my ISO reasonably high so that my flash isn’t working too hard and once that’s dialed in, I dial in the proper exposure compensation on my flash unit. You have to remember that like your camera, when using TTL, your flash is exposing for middle grey. So you need to properly compensate for that. In this particular situation, my backdrop is black and I knew most people would be wearing darker than middle grey clothing. I don’t remember exactly where I ended up, but I know it was somewhere between minus 1 and minus 3/4 stops.
Whether you bounce your light or use a modifier to diffuse your light doesn’t significantly matter. At this particular event the rear corner of the room is pretty far from me, so I chose to use a diffuser.
Now it is important to acknowledge that for larger groups, I increase my F stop, but because my strobe is actually my key light, it doesn't affect the overall look of my images and they stay consistent. The only thing that would significantly change that is if a large group of people all wearing white filled my frame. In that situation, I would simply adjust my exposure compensation.
I hate editing and I worry about recycling time on my flash, so I try to make every shot count. I usually shoot no more than 3-4 images of groups unless they are VIPs. I mitigate blinking eyes by being mindful while I shoot, monitoring for blinks and by giving my subjects a countdown before I press the shutter.
There are a few different traditional crops I use depending on the backdrop. If the backdrop has branding on the top, like the title of the event, I am mindful to get a shot that includes that.
I typically do not do full body shots unless it's called for, such as at a Hollywood premiere. Non profit events are typically not about what people are wearing.
I shoot with a neutral perspective. I find that I’m a good height that's not too short for taller groups and not too tall that I'm not able to hunch over to shoot head on with a shorter group.
For horizontal shots, I line up my subjects eye line 1/3 of the way down from the frame and I'm always careful not to crop at the hands.
It’s also important you give proper breathing room on the sides of the frame. You do not want claustrophobic compositions and one thing you might not have considered is that if someone prints an 8x10 of a tightly framed group, you risk cropping off people at the shoulder, further cramping your composition.
The lens and focal length I use depends on where I’m stationed, but 99 percent of the time I am shooting with a 24-70. I try to keep my focal lengths as high as possible to avoid distortion on the wide ends and only rarely have to switch to my 17-40 to get everyone in the shot.
After a get my necessary shots, I always give a big smile, make eye contact and thank everyone. This keeps people moving along so that my line doesn’t build up. Luckily at the event we are watching, I also have helpers that guide traffic and keep things running smoothly.
Typically there are some moments in which I’m just standing around as well as a crazy rush, but usually I’m kept too busy to shoot anything else. If, however I do attempt to cover both a step and repeat as well as roam around, if lighting conditions are different enough, I take advantage of saved custom settings.