28 DIGITAL CAMERA^ AUGUST 2019 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
Capture crowds
Charlie Marshall heads to the Seachange Festival in
Totnes and Dartington to capture people in the crowds6 | FESTIVALSf you love documenting people and
places, summer festivals are a great
place to do just this! Not only do you
have excellent light available, from
the natural ambient environment to stage lights,
but you also have thousands of people at your
fingertips ready to photograph in many different
scenarios, from dancing to watching music.
The great thing about music festivals (as well
as food festivals, airshows and other events) is that
people let their guard down and are usually happy
to have their photograph taken. The best images,
however, are the ones where the people are unaware,
so try to blend in and move around the crowd to
get the best shots. On my shoot, I found if anyone
caught me then I would simply smile and be open
about what I was doing – and on every occasion
they smiled back! Of course, if anyone is offended,
just delete the image and move on.
I had three lenses in our kit bag for this festival:
a wide-angle 15-35mm, a 50mm f/1.8 and a
70-200mm long lens. For the majority of the time,I used the 50mm lens as it replicates how the eye
naturally sees on a full-frame camera. This made
capturing the moment much easier. You also
want to make sure you have plenty of memory
cards (you’ll shoot lots during a two- or three-
day event), and a spare battery.
Finally, don’t switch your camera off: you never
know when that magic moment is going to happen!I
1
Connect the people
It’s important when documenting events like
a music festival to connect what’s happening
on the stage to the people in the crowds. Use people
in the foreground of your frame to fill the front of your
composition, then lead the image back to the act on the
stage. In this example the image has two separate layers
of people in the crowd, which draws the eye back to the
lead singer of the Flamingods. Use a wide aperture setting.