Having great event photography can take your event promotion to the next level.  

Whilst the added time and effort may not initially seem like the wisest investment, having amazing quality images will make advertising and promoting your next event a thousand times easier in the long run.  

Despite camera phones upping their game over the last few years, to really capture the feel of your event and to have professional-level advertising content, it’s still essential to hire an experienced professional if you want to have clear, compelling images. 

Here are a few of our top tips to ensure your next event has the best images possible. 

Booking a photographer 

Hiring an experienced event photographer is incredibly important. If you Google event photographers in your area, you’re sure to find hundreds of photographers, so it may be worth reaching out to people you know and seeing if they have any recommendations. If you’re using a venue, they also may be able to supply you with several suppliers they’ve used in the past. Give yourself plenty of time to find the right photographer for your event. 

Take a deeper look into their work through their website: for example, galleries, testimonials, experience, if they have any specialities, and their pricing. If they’ve frequently worked on events similar to yours or previously worked at the venue, they’d be able to provide you with the most effective images.  

Try and find a photographer whose style would suit your event’s promotional needs as well as your budget. Always ensure you agree on a fee upfront and what exactly that fee will cover in terms of time, scope, editing and supply of the images. 

Once you’ve found a photographer you’re happy with, you’ll need to ensure they’re fully briefed on exactly what you need from them. Ensure there’s a safe place for them to leave their equipment, such as a lockable cupboard or office space, and make sure they have appropriate access to the part of your venue you need photographing.  

Also, make sure they’re easily identifiable as the official event photographer(s). This makes sure you know what you’re paying for and ensures they don’t get too hijacked by guests looking for photos! 

Writing an appropriate brief 

Writing a brief can seem a daunting and time-consuming task. However, the long term payoff of having a clearly written brief ensures your photographer will be able to do the best job they can for you. Make sure you take the time to discuss what you want from them before the event and arrival – this way, you can deal with any last-minute opportunities or concerns. 

The images from your event should have a clear narrative and tell the story of your event. Include pre-event shots to show your event’s set up and build hype for it,  followed by plenty of images of attendees arriving and people interacting with your event. Depending on your event, you may want to include images of people watching a demonstration or presentation, your attendees sampling something, or talking to others at the event. The key sentiments you want to convey are your attendees enjoying themselves, celebrating, learning, and interacting. This will grow the levels of trust and engagement for possible future attendees. 

Have a good mixture of close-up and broader shots and a mix of candid and posed shots. This is necessary to ensure you have a good variety of material to work with in the future. Some of these shots will be more appropriate for social media use, and some may be more appropriate for use on marketing and promotional materials. Having images that convey emotion can sometimes be more effective than getting action shots, aiming to get a good level of reaction shots to your event. Put together a list of essential shots and some that are more abstract and allow your photographer to be creative on the day too! 

The brief itself should include:  

• Audience and purpose: it’s essential to get images of your audience interacting with your event, but it’s also a good idea to think about who you’ll be putting that image in front of and what they’d want to see to encourage them to buy a ticket to your next event. Are the images for social media? Are they for a press release? Are they for stakeholders? Or maybe for your next brochure or advert? There can sometimes be several audiences you want to target, so it’s important to remember this when writing out your image list.
• Branding: if you have a set of brand guidelines, it may be worth supplying those to your photographer, so they get a good feel and understanding of your brand and are better able to create images that accurately reflect it. 
• Know the event: the more information your event you can supply your photographer, the better. If you have an event programme or guide, it may be worth sending this to them in advance so that they can plan out their time to make sure they’re able to get all the shots you need in the allotted time. Once arriving at the event, it may be worth showing them around to know where they’re going and can be more effective in how they spend their time at your event. If there are any VIPs or specific people you need plenty of photos of, make sure you introduce them in advance, so there’s no confusion, and it makes it easier for both the photographer and the person of interest.
• Key moments: let your photographer know the key moments of your event that you want to capture in advance. Creating a timetable of these moments may be really useful in timings for your photographer and make it easier to create a shortlist.
• Timings: before your event, it’s important to agree on both how and when they will supply you with the images. It’d be useful if, at some point during the event, you receive a few images to be used across all communications whilst the event is still live, and enough to use immediately after the event for ‘round up’ emails and press releases. The remaining images can then be scheduled to be delivered depending on when you need them. 

Permissions 

Generally, you don’t need to get permission to photograph large groups of people at public events, provided the images won’t be used out of context or aren’t likely to cause distress or harm. However, if minors are present, you’ll need to get parental consent for the child to be photographed. 

Despite the fact you generally need permission, it’s advised that you highlight that there will be a photographer present at your event and have a procedure in place for those who are unhappy having their photo taken. Many events include opting into having the attendees’ photo taken as a condition of admission into the event, depending on the type of event and audience. 

At Helm Tickets, we want to make sure you make the most out of your event and set yourself up to have even greater success at your next event. Finding a great event photographer and using the images to promote and share your event is incredibly important, and we hope these tips will make the process that little bit easier!