At Home with Tech

Over the years, I’ve occasionally been asked by family and friends to take photos during their celebration event. I’m not a professional photographer, but yes, I’ve got a decent camera that can shoot RAW, and I’ve been known to snap a good picture or two.

I’ve also leaned on friends to take photos during similar moments. Who hasn’t done this? (Today’s phones take great photos.)

Besides, it’s expensive to hire a professional photographer. When literally everyone at your party has a camera, why would you need to bring in a pro?

Well, sometimes you don’t. But it’s also important to recognize the flip side of the equation.

If you’re going to stick with a volunteer camera crew solution, here are the critical variables you should not leave to chance.

There Can Be Only One Official Camera
You may not have a hired photographer. But for a variety of reasons, which I’ll get into, someone in your crowd must serve the same ‘alpha’ camera role.

That doesn’t mean your other friends still can’t snap photos for you. In fact, that’s likely going to happen regardless.

Spray and Pray
Here’s the problem. When everyone has a shared responsibility. Nobody has individual responsibility. And that can create major gaps in your photographic coverage. 

As a result, even with hundreds or thousands of photos taken, you may still not get the ones you really want.

Group Portraits and Your Paparazzi
When more than one photographer is there to capture your group portrait shots, nobody in that group will know exactly which camera to look at and when. 

Even if you have an ‘organizer’ trying to direct everyone’s attention, it’s never going to be perfect. There are already too many distractions. 

And that will almost certainly guarantee many of those portraits (or worse) will be useless, because someone is looking off camera.

Remember, one ‘alpha’ camera. That’s all you really need in that moment.

Go let your paparazzi eat more hor d’oeuvres.

Dimly Lit Rooms and Blur
Yes, today’s cameras are amazing. Even the ones crammed into our phones. But they can’t handle every situation, especially in low light when there’s a lot of motion. 

People like to dance and move around at parties. And when the lights are turned down to enhance the party mood, the people in those photos are likely to look blurry. You need some serious ‘glass’ to freeze the action in low light. (I sadly need to remind myself of that limitation every so often.)

So sometimes, you require a flash in the room as the solve. But to avoid annoying everyone, only the ‘alpha’ camera should have the flash.

Conversely, if you want better photos from your volunteer team, turn up the room’s lighting a bit more. (Everyone will thank you.)

Where Does the Buck Stop?
As I’ve mentioned, with multiple volunteer photographers, you still may not catch all the highlights. Moments happen quickly. If you miss them, there’s no second chance. 

You don’t need every moment. Just the few that matter most. And again, one volunteer with the ‘alpha’ camera must own the responsibility to get you those for you. 

Yes, that may inevitably take a little time away from that guest’s ‘partying’ enjoyment. Both of you should have this understanding, and it doesn’t have to be a problem. (I’ve greatly enjoyed owning this responsibility.)

But when absolutely everyone is enjoying cake, nobody is snapping photos.

How to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
Sure, lots of volunteer photographers will get a variety of interesting shots your ‘alpha’ photographer will inevitably miss. And that’s why there’s nothing wrong with all your other friends taking photos too.

It doesn’t have to be an either/or situation.

But it does need to be both.

Don’t Play the Odds
I learned this lesson the hard way at my own wedding. We didn’t hire a professional photographer and instead asked a few friends to help out. (And I really appreciated their support.)

We received many hundreds of photos. But honestly, a lot of them were unusable for the all the reasons I’ve discussed.  And those few key moments that mattered most?

Well, happily, yes… someone captured them successfully. But if you were to review the totality of all our pictures, you would also conclude the odds only narrowly favored us that day. It could have gone much differently. 

Lessons from Experience
The presence of many cameras in a room will democratize the responsibility of photographing your event. That’s the problem.

Ultimate responsibility needs to fall to one single source of photograph truth. And that person needs to know it.

This doesn’t mean you always have to pay for a professional photographer. (Though it’s a good way to get the job done right.) But yes, there has to be someone in your crowd who effectively is playing the same role. 

And of course, it’s lovely to receive everyone’s else’s photos as well. (There will be some great ones.)

This two-step strategy will go a long way to ensure success.

You’ll maximize the opportunity that comes with having dozens of cameras snapping away, while also preventing the disorganization that can develop without having an appointed ‘alpha’ camera in place.

A little planning can make all the difference.