Yay. You’re In Cannes for le congrés.
Yay. You want to share photos, video, Vines (and if you’re generous, Red Vines you smuggled in from the US) and the like.
Yay!!!
However, you’re stuck in the back row and may not get a very good photo when you’re in sessions. And you’re not a professional photog.
“Generally I have free roaming ability, so even if I’m shooting with a cell phone I can get into a spot that has a pretty good angle and distance from whoever or whatever I want to take a photo of,” says Gary He, our pal from Insider Images, and a heckuva great photographer.
But you probably won’t have that luxury. So here are a few tips on shooting photos with your phone that can make them highly shareable.
Control The Exposure
That famous person you’re about to take a photo of is a ghost. It’s a bright blob and could be Bob Geldof or Fritz from Accounts Receivable. No on will know, unless you get the exposure right.
Most people don’t know that they can control the exposure (with limitations, obviously) of the photo. The speaker will generally be the most well-lit object in the frame, but the metering in most phone software will do an average of the entire frame, thereby “blowing out” or overexposing the person on stage. What you want to do is tap the stage or person on the phone’s screen a few times until it figures out that you want to expose for the bright spot.
Everyone On Stage Is Tiny
Talking head shots are, as a rule, kind of boring. But, let’s say you’re in Row Z and you really want that Nick Cannon pic, Gary suggests this gem which makes a lot of sense.
If you’re sitting in the middle of the crowd, the speaker is going to be really small with the wide angle cell phone camera. But there are usually screens that have video of the speaker being played live to the side, so you can frame the photo to have the screen in it along with the tiny person to give it a little context.
Be “That” Person And Get On Up To The Front
This one just kind of speaks for itself.
The YOLO rule is just get up out of your seat, crouch in the aisle way close to the stage or in the buffer or median row and get a closer shot. Very rude and annoying, but chances are there are already house or press photographers doing the same thing and most people sitting in the crowd don’t have the cojones to get up and do it after they see you do it, so it’s not like you’re going to start a wave of people doing the same thing.
A few little tips as you make your way through Cannes.
Gutter Bar shots? That’s a totally different beast. So just shoot away and have fun.
Get to know Gary He and his fine work at www.garyhe.com.