The size of a ball – such as a student summer ball – can vary from a few hundred people to a few thousand people and the number of photographers attending will be dependent upon this.
Top quality cameras, lighting and backdrops that give a professional standard picture:
Having the right backdrops at their disposal is important for a photographer taking portrait photographs, as an effective backdrop focuses your attention on the face of the subject and provides a memorable shot, while a bad backdrop can distract the viewer from looking at the subject. The correct lighting is also essential within the portrait side of ball photography. It gives the photographer a lot to think about, with colour temperature and contrast being their main two concerns. Due to the efficiency, good light intensity control, good light colour temperature control and low power consumption of strobes they are by far the most used type of lighting. A pure white light is usually the ideal colour temperature for a portrait photograph.
This is acquired by emitting an equal amount of light from all three of the primary colours of light (red, blue and green), although these proportions vary in different lighting conditions. The contrast of a light source is dependent upon the angle the rays hit the subject. If all the rays hit the subject from the same direction, the contrast will be high, producing shadows with extremely visible edges. If a diffused light source is used, the rays will hit the subject from different directions and will therefore give a low contrast, which has softer edges and is more aesthetically pleasing as a result. On top of which, accessories such as umbrellas are often used to improve the picture quality by spreading out and smoothing the light. The picture quality is also raised through the use of accessories, most commonly umbrellas, as they spread and smooth out the light.
The mobile studio is also sufficiently equipped so that pictures can be viewed on a screen and, if required, can be edited, printed and mounted in front of the customer within no time at all. Alternatively, once the ball is over, they can choose to buy photographs that they like from home, as the pictures will be put on the internet.
Ball photography also involves the candid, spontaneous, aspect, capturing the things happening during the ball such as the bands playing. To do this the photographers must always have a camera handy so they do not miss a trick. They often take a lot of shots instead of just one by shooting in bursts so they can get the perfect shot. To prevent the attendees being conscious of them, photographers sometimes shoot from their hip, i.e. they do bring the camera up to their face. This means that the attendees do not realise the photographer is taking a picture of them and remain relaxed. This also provides a different perspective that can look quirky and interesting. A long zoom (or telephoto lens) and not using the flash on their camera also helps the ball photographer get intimate photographs without invading the personal space of attendees.
The final pictures to be taken are the photographs of the survivors, which are a major part of ball photography. Having a survivor photo is a memento; the picture is taken in the morning at the end of the ball, before the celebratory breakfast, and gives the students proof that they survived and partied till the end.
