Beginner Advice for event photography

[MrColobus]

I've been asked to be a photographer at a few events taking place during the Whitby Goth Weekend at the end of April. Most photos will probably be indoors, the venue has a high ceiling of which a fair bit is glass and the events will be both day and evening. So it's people dressed up, in varying light conditions, and they may be rather trousered! In addition I'm also looking to do as many comic/sci-fi/anime/nerdy events as possible this year with a focus on cosplay.

I'll be using my Pentax K-3II mostly with a Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 lens with a Metz 58 AF-1 speedlight. I don't own any portable flash modifiers yet, although after having a good rummage through the helpful advice on this forum that'll probably change soon.

I'd like to know how others would approach these kind of events, both technically and in terms of getting the best out of the people there. I photographed a lot of cosplay whilst in Japan for 6 months last year which was great fun and is partly what has made me want to photograph people a lot more, please have a nose at some of my images at https://500px.com/colobusyeti - CC always welcome.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[BlackCloud]

If it was me, static position I'd probably be tempted to put my strobe into a decent sized collapsible softbox on a stand a foot or so higher and to side of the camera... or bounce the flash off an angled white card. A few test shots once in position to decide shutter speed on how you wanted the background to look from any ambient light. If I was doing as many events as you plan, I'd soon invest in a second light or reflector/modifier or whatever so as to increase my options. In some instances, one light, direct flash may work well with costume.

You maybe already have a system to sell images, but my experience is if you can't sell there and then, you need to supply cards and a website address and get them uploaded pretty quick as sales and interest wanes pretty quickly. Sell more when they are there full of alcohol, peer pressure to buy images etc.

 

[MrColobus]

I hadn't really considered selling any images as this is quite new territory for me. I'm just sorting out a SmugMug (or similar) page at the moment so I may give that a go.