If you leave an event without these basic shots,
you’re not completing your role as a videojournalist.

The Crowd Shot

A crowd shot is always useful. If a newspaper is buying several photos from an event, they will most definitely want a crowd shot. The viewer 9 times out of 10 will always want to see the crowd. This gives the viewer the closest feeling of attendance at the event. Some things you must consider while shooting a crowd shot is focus. Your image must be in focus, or else it immediately looses most chances of being sold. One way to insure your image is in focus while including everyone in the crowd is by increasing the aperture number within your camera settings, which is actually physically closing down your aperture inside the camera.

Crowd shot by Sameh Rahmi/Palestinian Territory.

Detail by Sylvain Cherkaoui/Spain

Crowd shot by Sameh Rahmi/Palestinian Territory.

Overview Shot

Always remember to capture an overview shot before you leave. To properly execute an overview shot, you need to step away from the event, or if you’re within a large crowd you can hold your camera above the crowd/event and snap away.

This is also a great opportunity to shoot over a person’s shoulders, to show the event from their perspective. Sometimes you won’t be able to look through your viewfinder to properly capture an overview shot. Since you are sometimes shooting blindly, you will likely need to take many photos, and if it is at night, you will need to motor drive your camera to prevent motion blur and stability blur.

I would consider getting some shots above your head and several shots from a higher position. If you are simply shooting an event such as an art fair, it is sometimes easiest to get photos of the entranceway. This will occasionally serve the purposes of an overview shot. Overview shots can be taken on your way in or out of an event or protest.

Overview shot by Zachary A. Bennett/USA

Overview shot by Zachary A. Bennett/USA

Detail Shots

A detail shot is a close-up of anything at the scene of your shoot. This might be a good time to use your 50mm lens, show intense depth of field and focus on just the details.

Detail by Sylvain Cherkaoui/Spain

This could include:

Protest signs
A protest dog
A button worn by an activist
Food at an event
The scoreboard at a football game

Detail shot by Alex Milan Tracy/UK

Detail shot by Lino De Vallier/Spain

Facial/Emotion Close up

Close-ups of faces and emotion are absolutely 100% necessary on any shoot. You can get close for this, but using a 70-200mm lens is generally one of the best ways to do this, without obstructing the moment.

Close-up emotion shot by Sameh Rahmi/Palestinian Territory

Wide emotion shot by Nir Alon/Israel

Action shots

Action shots are self explanatory, but just keep in mind that there should be some organization or methodical thought while shooting action shots. Think in terms like ‘rule of thirds’, focus, background, foreground, and layering (depth).

These are all things you should be considering while shooting, and good photo editors will be able to see whether you put thought into every image or not. Sometimes you will get lucky or capture action that simply can’t be recreated.

Action shot by Sylvain Cherkaoui/Spain

Action shot by Sulejman Omerbasic

Portrait

If you have the time, you should always try to grab a portrait of someone at the event. A portrait can easily seal the deal in regard to selling your photo stories, and it’s often the image missing from the show.

Portraits are timeless and they will always benefit your portfolio in the future. As Roger Tooth said in his Q&A with Demotix: “You should probably shoot it landscape…and when you shoot it, you should include the shoulders.” You always want to have various versions of your portrait: eye contact and different angles of the subject looking into the story, for example facing to the right and then the left.

Portrait by Nir Alon/Israel

Creating a Shot List for diversity in your camera angles and image submissions
24 February 2012 by Zachary Bennett. October 14, 2014 http://www.demotix.com/blog/advice/1072724/creating-shot-list-diversity-your-camera-angles-and-image-submissions