A Day in the Life of an Event Photographer/Videographer in Hamburg:
Curious what a working day looks like for an event photographer or videographer in Hamburg?
Or perhaps you’ve not worked with event photographers or videographers before, and would like to know more about the process?
There’s a lot of planning and organisation that goes into event photography and videography.
Preparation For the Event
The preparation starts with making sure we have the necessary equipment and paraphernalia for the job.
This includes charged batteries and empty data cards. For basic photography jobs, we’ll bring the following:
- 2 professional Canon cameras (Canon 5D Mark III and IV)
- 3 lenses (Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L Mark II, Canon 35mm f/1.4L, and Canon 16-35mm f2.8L)
- MacBook Pro
- 2 x 1TB hard drives for on-site backup of footage (besides two data cards for each camera for redundancy)
- and a small flash (Canon Speedlite 580EX)
For video assignments, we’ll bring three times the equipment for photography. This includes:
- a professional video camera (Sony FS5 Or Canon c200)
- a small mirrorless camera (Sony α7S II or Balck Magic)
- a Gimbal
- 2 to 3 lights and stands (for interviews)
- sound equipment (on-camera mic, neck mic, or handheld mic)
- external recorder (Zoom H4n)
- XLR cables
- video tripods and monopod, slider, and more
On the day of the event, our prep work consists of checking traffic conditions and identifying the best route to get to the event venue early. It is our standard practice to arrive at least 30 minutes early for photography jobs, and 1 to 2 hours early for video assignments.
Setting Up Upon Arriving at the Location
One of the reasons we arrive early is to check venue conditions and set up our equipment. We’ll look at lighting conditions, background elements, branding placements, interview locations, etc. If necessary, we’ll make adjustments and enhancements for the best results. We’ll add more lighting if needed and set up our equipment in strategic positions for the best coverage. For interviews, we’ll look for a quiet spot with a clean background, unless the client has different requirements.
The Photography/Videography Assignment
For photography, we’ll focus on the event story, atmosphere, company branding, and human interactions. Our approach varies from reportage photography to street photography. We’ll capture details of the event using different compositions and backgrounds with a candid look and feel.
Besides regular video footage, we’ll include time-lapse clips with different perspectives of the event. When recording interviews, we’ll use 2 cameras as that provides better coverage for more dynamic video editing.
Data Backup
We’ll back up all footage to the 2 separate hard drives every couple of hours, with the original data on the cards for an extra layer of backup. This means we have the data in 3 places for added redundancy.
Social Media
Our services include on-site delivery for media use and social media publication. Depending on how soon the client needs the footage, we’ll usually deliver 10 to 20 photos during lunch break. We are flexible in accommodating to varying requirements.
Upon completing the assignment, we’ll discuss the delivery time and mode with the client.
Our standard delivery is within a couple of days after the event via Dropbox, which is our preferred cloud storage platform. We’ll organize the footage in 2 different folders—one for web quality at 72 dpi and the other for print quality at 300 dpi. Giving the client immediate access to both versions saves them the time and hassle of having to resize high res photos themselves.
As you can see, there are a whole host of tiny details we take into consideration to ensure we deliver quality results. That’s what professional photography/videography is about.
Looking for an event photographer or videographer in Frankfurt? Tell us how we can help. We look forward to capturing beautiful moments at your next event.
