How to Cover Festivals on The Street

  

how-to-cover-festivals-on-street

In my previous blog, I wrote about street photography where I described how to shoot on the street. But it’s a huge genre and it has so many parts to cover. In this blog, I am going to write about how to cover festivals on the street. People take street photography very seriously, but here we also have fun, enjoyment, and lots of opportunities to mingle with the people, different cultures through their festivals.

Festivals depict a race, a nation, tradition of people where you don’t need to explain it to the audience from where you have taken the photos. But your particular photo reveals about them. Every festival has its flavor, vibes of tradition. Capturing that within a frame is the creativity where a viewer would go through every single pixel of the photograph. Yes, involve a viewer all over the frame; it's the creative composition.

The main problem is clicking on a festival. It's a huge crowd. You don’t know anyone except yourself. You may get hurt, injured, your gear may also get damaged if you are not prepared properly. Obviously, to click here you need a little bit of homework, proper attention, proper planning. You should be well aware of the streets of the place where the festivals will be celebrated. Sometimes a few unwanted situations may happen and you have to save yourself. For all of this, proper identity is required or you may take local help. To overcome all of this awkward condition and obstacles, you should follow a few tips and tricks. Read it carefully. I am going to discuss here step by step about all the required points.

 

how-to-cover-festivals-on-street

1.      Camera Setting - In the previous blog I have discussed that it is not possible to set your camera according to each subject rather you can use a constant setting and let your camera decide to set other necessary settings. If you ask me, I would like to tell you to set your camera in aperture priority mode which is a very useful trick to take photos during daylight when you get appropriate light for your shots. You can also use program mode where you will get a nice exposure during daylight but for low light, it is very problematic to take stable shots. Before going outside, you should set your camera otherwise you will lose your shots. Shutter speed is very important here because you have to freeze your moving subjects. Why I prefer aperture priority mode: for landscape, we need very shallow aperture to increase the depth of field throughout the frame. But on the street, most of the time we need an open aperture or super aperture to cut out the subject from a blurred background and DX-format in a wide-angle. Also, we don’t need the shallow aperture for that. But we need high aperture in a highly daylight exposed area for detailing of the subject as well as to freeze the movement. So set your camera before going outside according to the festival.

 

2.      Entry Cards or Tickets - Most of the festivals have their entry cards to avoid unwanted people. So, collect your cards/passes before it’s too late. Entering somewhere without permission is called trespassing and trespassers will be prosecuted. To avoid this in all situations collect your proper cards. You have the internet. Do some homework as to when and where you will be able to get the pass, how much they are going to charge. Once you have the valid pass and proper planning of your upcoming activity enter like a boss.

 

3.      Place of the Festival - The most important part of this genre is to know the place where the festival will be held. You should be familiar with the place and have sufficient knowledge of the area like your own palm. I prefer to go to the place one day before the festival to know the streets, places where I can stand to take photos. I like to ask local people about the direction of the streets which leads to the festival area. After that, I decide on the light source and set my camera accordingly before going to the place the next day. Sometimes unwanted situations happen. To save yourself and your gear you have to use the short-cuts. Hope, you do not have to be in that kind of situation in your life but after all, God knows.

 

how-to-cover-festivals-on-street

4.      Think Beyond the Composition - I think street photography does not follow the grammar as compared to the salon photographs or pictorial photographs. The main difference between these two genres is in the street you cannot arrange your subject, you can take candid photos but in salon or pictorials, photographers think about the frames first then arrange the frame accordingly and click. So, clicking candid photos beyond the composition makes your mind behave like free-flowing water. Whatever you get on the street compose your frame accordingly because your subject will not behave as you want them to rather you have to compose your frame according to them. If you mingle with the people of the festival then you can manage to access the backstage of activity also, which is another great concern of photography.

 

how-to-cover-festivals-on-street

5.      Awkward Subjects - Because of the fancy dresses everyone likes to be photographed by you and they will make eye contact with you and give poses that we don’t want actually. Nowadays the most common is pout expression. I don’t like this in my frame directly. If you are too close with your subject then distortion will be in your frame sometimes out of focus also. Now the concern is how do you avoid this type of situation. I would like to tell you to practice taking photos without keeping your eye on the viewfinder. Hold your camera at your hip or chest level and click. Believe me, you will be able to get fabulous angles if you do so and can secretly click the candid expressions of your subjects.

 

6.      Don’t think about the Quality of Your Image - Always you may not get the same image quality. The image quality depends on the lighting condition of the environment. If the light condition is not good then your image quality will decrease and vice-versa. But your framing will tell you the quality of your image. So, forget about the quality of the image but think about the framing of your composition.

 

how-to-cover-festivals-on-street

7.      Enjoy the Rhythm of the Festival - Now you have so much knowledge on this genre of photography, what are you waiting for? Jump on the street without any hesitation, mingle with them, enjoy the festival, be a part of that. Sing, dance along with clicking.

 

                                          Enjoy clicking, keep clicking & safe clicking