Just a note on what is required from the photographer of an art exhibition.

Identify what camera and equipment you will be using, send the make and model number. This is so it is known what kind of photographs to expect.

Style

Familiarise yourself with previous exhibition photos, look at these from the 9th Competa Art Walk or these from the ANA Las Torcas show, so you can see the style and how the images are going to be used.

Shot List

* the venue (establishing shot)
* setting up
* portraits of guests (looking at the art, posing for the camera)
* portraits of artists with their work
* artwork in collections and singles
* artist group photos

Quantities

Please take at least 10 photos of setting up with people. A minimum of 50 photos of the event. Then a good picture of each artist with their work if possible. Natural shots and staged are both useful.

Directing

Posed pictures need directing, take your time to arrange and re-arrange people. I like to capture several positions and moods, serious and jovial. You will need a loud voice for large groups. Communicate for them to relax until you give the word, when you will take the photo, so as not to leave people with strained smiles for too long. I get them to say “patatas”, when I’m ready to click.

Lighting

It’s always better to have natural light rather than flash, though good light is better than no light!

Composition

Get in close but leave some meat around each composition. You can feel when you get your shot!

Orientation

All photos need to be in landscape orientation, as portrait orientation are rarely used on websites or social media. All photos need to be in the same aspect ratio, this facilitates when flicking through an online gallery / album.

Post Production

Edit out all blurred images and send files over to your marketing person, web master or social media guru, after each session, using file sharing (DropBox or WeTransfer). So they can be used straight away, in medium resolution – 500 pixels across. Let it be known if you can do image re-sizing and optimising for web? Send full res images later on, once edited properly (cropped and adjusted).