Taking this opportunity photographing the carnival parade in Aglantzia Nicosia I ended up with some thoughts regarding shooting parades. Always my perspective and I know that different people will have different views on the subject. So this is my guide for photographing parades.
Prepare
First of all like always do your math before you go. Study and study and study. Learn as much as you can before heading to the parade. If there is history behind the parade you should know it. It will help capturing the most important moments of the parade.
If it’s just for fun parade like a carnival parade you will need to study the eyes of those who are there to have a great time and will love to be photo shoot while having fun.
Gear
You are on a budget gear like I am ? No worries. You need nothing more than a travel lens and a wide angle maybe to get some stunning shots. A couple of cards and a couple of extra batteries depending on how much time you will spend to the parade or for how long the parade lasts.
Weather
As in all outdoor photography the weather conditions do define good frames. I was lucky enough since the day that the carnival parade took place, it was cloudy but bright enough not to use flash.
Unexpected weather conditions can make your promising day a bad day. Wind, rain or maybe too much heat and humidity will not be good either for the participants of you as the photographer.
Location
One of the most important aspects for getting great images from a parade is your location. Getting there early is essential. By now you should have studied all the parameters before getting there. Street locations parking slots for your car, getting to the street that the parade will be held and so on….. you know all that.
So there you have. A street. A line that starts from A and ends to Z. The rest of the alphabet is the street in-between. A and Z are the worst positions to photograph a parade. You know why ?
You guessed it right J A is too cold and Z is too hot.
At place A participants have not yet got into the parade mood. They are too cold to dance and they are just starting to have fun. They need there time. They need to adapt to the place and the mood.
At place Z or something close to it don’t even bother. You have your camera for dinner fed to you by the exhausted participants. One more photo and they will shoot you. No more photos please. Too tired to walk mind you pose of a photo.
So the best location would be something between D, E and F.
In the case of a historic parade then you may have to consider moving around between A to F so that you get all the exciting ceremonies that will happen in A.
Choice of frames and people
Look for the eyes. Participants eyes will tell you who are there to have REALLY good times and those who have been dragged there by force. Yes, yes I know there are kids that are dragged to parades (and adults) by force that they would prefer the comfort of their couch and their electronics instead of jumping up and down like monkeys. The body language also will guide you to which people are there to be stars in a frame.
Composition is easy in parades. Anything goes and in my opinion shooting parades is one of the photographic themes that rules don’t apply. Well they do. Horizon. That’s about it though and not always.
Do use wide angle and mostly get down on the street. You will be impressed of the frames you will get from that angle. Portraits, framing people within people frames are some other techniques to consider as well.
Lastly but most importantly. Go for the happy people. Those are the ones who do good to the planet. J Have fun and enjoy. Happy jumping people.
Comments