Better pictures for your website

Unless you are a professional photographer or very keen amateur it can be difficult to get a good picture of people at an event, so here are a few hints to help you get the best images on your website.

Red eye

Red eye occurs when the pupil is open wide (because the room lighting isn't bright), the flash literally lights up the back of the eye and so you see the red of the blood vessels.

To reduce and hopefully eliminate the problem, turn up the lights and use your camera's red-eye reduction setting.

You'll get moans if you turn up the lights for photographs and you'll get moans from the subjects when they are dazzled by the bright flash if you don't turn up the lights - you can't please everyone, so go with the long term view in mind and turn up the lights and set the camera to red eye. All being well you should have a better memento of the day.

Keeping a steady hand

This really isn't easy in a busy situation. So take advantage of anything close to hand that is stable or invest in a tripod or mono pod - lightweight, fold-up tri or mono pod are generally quite inexpensive.

Crowd control

Try to catch the attention of everyone when you are taking a picture. You really want everyone to face the camera. This can be difficult so don't be afraid to enlist the help of the bossy one in the group and have them organise the subjects as you require - they'll love the moment of power and you (and the subjects) will be pleased with the result.

Take several shots

The more people in the group the more likely someone will be looking the wrong way, blinking, talking or generally looking a bit cranky, so take 2-3 pictures.

Keep pictures focused

A few moments preparation will reward you. Try to keep the background and surroundings as clear as possible, move cups, discarded napkins and redundant cutlery from the table (spoons can really sparkle when caught by the flash). If you can maneouvre your subjects so that there is blank wall behind them all the better. If you can't move the subjects then take a few moments to place yourself in a position that will keep background clutter to a minimum.

In this picture the subjects are almost overshadowed by a large music speaker, with silver music deck underneath, the orange picture on the right is very bright and the flash bounced off the glass door behind them but didn't light their legs! They are lost in the picture.

On the plus side they are both smiling and looking at the camera - so you can use the picture with a bit of help from your camera software or using Microsoft Paint (free from Microsoft).

Watch the professionals

There are often photographs of events in magazines and newspapers, it is worth examining the composition. How does the group stand? How are the photographs cropped?

A good camera helps but composition is the most important element.

Improving a photograph with the basic software

This picture, taken on a camera phone in poor light, suffers from a lot of unnecessary distractions around the two men (sound system, picture on the wall, door, lights and reflections).

The best that can be done with this is to cut it down to the main point of the photo - the chaps shaking hands.

The original