Posing
Nobody poses at a festival, and photographs that look posed are the ones that get deleted. Everything here is placement plus timing.
In short: Nobody poses at a festival, and photographs that look posed are the ones that get deleted. Everything here is placement plus timing.
From in front, moving backwards, shot continuously.
The default festival pose because it is what people actually do.
Only where it is safe and allowed; it is the frame that says festival instantly.
From low, against the sky or the lights.
Camera held high — the one arrangement worth asking for.
Two minutes away from the crowd, one clean frame.
Start with walking through the crowd — the first two minutes are warm-up and the first pose should be the one that asks least of anyone. Move to sitting on the ground, drink in hand and on shoulders once the shoulders have dropped, and keep close portrait at golden hour for the end, when self-consciousness has gone. Shoot each one in bursts through the movement rather than holding it: the usable frames sit between the instructions, not on them.
Two metres back with the lens zoomed rather than close and wide — distance is what keeps facial proportions natural. Camera at or slightly above eye level for portraits, at chest height for full length. Below eye level enlarges whatever is nearest the lens, which is rarely what you want in frame.
Lining friends up in a row in front of the main stage at midday. Hard overhead sun, squinting, and a background of strangers' backs.
Photographing only at night when the light is hardest. Bringing a bag you cannot close. And trying to capture the scale of the crowd, which never works — one person in front of it does.