Hiring one company to do the wedding photos and wedding video as a one stop shop

You got engaged–hurray!

All the butterflies flutter-flutter in your tummy and you are actually already in the honeymoon phase. You start dreaming of your perfect wedding day and get lost in thoughts of celebration and beauty. Then it hits you: the decisions.

When planning a wedding you need to make thousands of decisions while trying your best to accommodate everyone involved. This can be quite a daunting task. It is daunting and it is exhausting!

One thing you can do to avoid a little bit of extra stress is to hire one company to do the wedding photos and wedding video –a one-stop shop to capture the most precious moments on your wedding day. You will have less admin to worry about which will save you some precious planning time. After all is said and done all you have left of your wedding day are the wedding photos and wedding video, so you need to make sure that you are in excellent hands. Finding one reputable company will just set your mind to rest knowing that that important “to-do” has been ticked off.

Another great benefit of doing this is that the company you have hired to photograph and film your wedding will most likely have a team working on your wedding that has worked together before and who know each other well. As a photographer, you intuitively know how the others in the team work, move and think. You will know when to get out of the way and when you can quickly go in to grab a shot. There is also no competition between photographer and videographer to get better shots or to get more time with the couple.

Unfortunately, when you hire different companies it is possible that the photography team and the video team don’t completely click work-wise which can cause some frustration. Not to worry though, we’re all proper professionals so the bride and groom shouldn’t even catch on to any conflict.;)

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The role of colour and light when it comes to corporate event photography

Many of our hours behind the camera has been spent at conferences taking photos of speakers and delegates and capturing the general vibe of the event.  Corporate photography is more challenging than it looks. Most often we need to work with very low light situations, and because we prefer not using our flash this means that we truly need to seek pretty light. More often than not the venues are a bit dull and colourless, which means that apart from good light we also have to incorporate colour into the photos in some way. As corporate photographers it is our job to make the photos pop – sometimes we need to make it look more exciting than it actually is.

We realize that putting up a conference can be super expensive and only the necessities make the cut. After everything has been paid for there may not be much money left to use for décor and lighting, however, making the stage more attractive does not need to cost a whole lot of money. Good lighting on stage makes the world of difference to the photos and that stage light reflects back onto the delegates, which again works wonders for making the photos look pretty. The easiest and most cost effective way is to put a colourful light on each end of the stage and put up a good spotlight so the speakers are well lit on stage. The lights on the sides bring colour and add great ambient light, while the spotlight draws your attention to the speaker and gives us the opportunity to get fantastic creative shots.

The second important thing to remember when looking for great corporate photos is branding.

You’ve set up a conference, you’ve hired a photographer and you want to use the corporate photos for marketing purposes, correct? So be proud of your brand and flaunt it! Make sure there are banners or some kind of branding material on stage close to the speaker so it is possible to get photos of both the speaker and the company logo in one shot. Branding around the exhibition area is also a great way to add colour and advertise the company.

The last tip we have for getting the most out of your corporate photos: declutter. Keep the stage area clear and clutter-free. Make sure that cables have been neatly taped down and keep the podium as clear as possible. So many times we have to try to shoot around dangling cables when the best shot is from the same angle as to where the cables are hanging from. Ideally, you would have a neat podium with a wireless laptop and wireless microphone so there is very little to draw your attention away from the speaker, and it makes our job a little easier too.

A professional corporate photographer will deliver good quality photos no matter the circumstances, but it definitely pays to add elements that add that professional touch which will give the photos a truly polished finish.

Travelling to Africa for a corporate photography event may not be the easiest trip to undertake, so you’ve got to make sure you have all your ducks in a row, your I’s must be dotted and your t’s have to be crossed. Yes, make sure you are well prepared! We have over 10 years of experience photographing in Africa, from Lagos to Kenya, Mozambique to Ethiopia and more.

The clients who send us off to Africa the most are The Economist and The Financial Times, so whenever they have a conference in Africa we need to be there.

We’ve listed a few handy travel tips to make sure that you are as prepared as one can be to do some corporate photography up in Africa!

Tip 1.

Remember a black pen – one that works – and then a backup pen as well. You can never carry too many pens! African airports still love the idea of landing cards so you will have to fill them in when you land, and it is quite difficult if you don’t have a pen.

Tip 2.

Pack only what you need.

When we photograph an event we only pack 2 camera bodies, 1 Canon 5dmkiv, and a backup body, just in case.

Our favourite lenses for corporate photography are the Canon 24-70mkii F2.8 and the Canon 70-200mkii F2.8. You really don’t need any other lenses to cover a corporate event and deliver beautiful photos.

We take 4 Canon batteries. You will probably only need 2 batteries per day, but make sure to pack your charger for peace of mind.

Pack 1 Canon Flash – you never know what the light is really going to look like. Even though our corporate photography style utilises mostly natural light, there are situations where you need that extra light. To be very honest, a lot of people do still like the flashy look too, so make sure that you are prepared for any situation.

We travel with our trusty Apple MacBook (a laptop) and 1 external hard drive as well as 3 USBs to deliver the photos on. For these conferences, we have to edit on site and deliver the edited photos before we leave.

Tip 3.

Protocol, Protocol, Protocol, always remember protocol.

At 99% of corporate events in Africa, you will have politicians attending. Your job as a corporate photographer is to make sure that you capture these politicians with your clients, make sure that you find out who the important people are, and then focus on making sure that you get great corporate photos of them shaking hands, interacting with people, nice podium shots etc. The most important shot will be when the VIP arrives at the venue and is greeted by the event representative – that is usually the photo where you will have most of the important people in one shot.

Here you need to make sure that you make friends with the security guards, and inform them that you are going to take photos of the VIPs. This will minimise the risk of them shoving you out of the way when the VIP walks to the event or greets someone. Be friendly, not arrogant.

Tip 4.

Every corporate event where you are commissioned to take corporate photographs usually follow the same recipe; delegates registration, breakfast snacks and networking until the event starts. There is a welcoming and then the opening keynote address. During the keynote, you must only focus on the speaker and get as many different angles as possible. Move around until you find the best angle. Close to the end of his or her speech, grab some nice crowd shots of the people at the VIP tables as most of them will leave right after the speech with the keynote speaker. During the tea break, you have to try to get as many networking shots as people are still happy and excited – during lunch people will start getting tired. We don’t even take photos of the last tea session because people are tired and ready to go home. You don’t want droopy faces on your corporate photos.

When taking corporate photos of the other speakers and panel discussions, make sure that you get nice photos of every single speaker, and keep moving. Do not take photos from the same angle every time, otherwise, it will look like you just sat at one spot during the event.

As a corporate photographer, it is your job to make sure that the corporate event is captured and showcased as a success, with everyone having a good time. Avoid snapping shots of the sleeping delegates, please? Or rather, just don’t show them to the client.

We usually take about 2000 photos per day of a corporate event and aim to give the clients about 250 edited photos. They don’t need more than that, just make sure that your collection shows everything that happened at the event. We edit and deliver the photos on USBs before getting on the flight back home, which means that we have to edit and shoot at the same time. We make sure to get the shots mentioned above and then edit during the sessions so we can deliver the USB 15 minutes after the closing remarks. This enables the client to upload the images to social media quickly while it is still relevant.

If you are interested, have a look at our Flickr account where you can view some of the final corporate photography products that we delivered to our clients: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kaimara/albums.

Good luck and safe travels!

First of all, what is the definition of a corporate video? A corporate video is a film that tells the audience what your company or organization is all about. In this case, our corporate client is a non-profit organization, not exactly the same as a big corporate, but the same rules in creating the corporate video apply.

We created this video for a non-profit organization and in doing so contributed to the cause in the best way we know how; we gave our time and expertise to film footage for stoprhinopoaching.com. We hold this cause close to our hearts and truly believe in the good work that they do.

After discussing her ideas and forming a better view of what is required, we decided that we would make a film about the impact that rhino poaching has on the people trying to protect our rhinos. We knew that we would have to interview as many people as possible and try to get the real, emotional side of their stories.

Filming this project was quite exciting, as we got to travel to various wildlife parks across South Africa and Swaziland. Our country has the most amazing sites!

Corporate videos tend to be boring and emotionless, but with this video it was different. We were able to connect with people, connect with their hearts and tell the story and show the emotion of the real heroes that work tirelessly against the fight against rhino poaching. Through their stories, we were able to show the impact of the work that stoprhinopoaching.com does.

After two years of filming and getting some awesome video shots, we jumped right into our video-editing suite and started editing this film.

All of our corporate videos follow the same workflow; we start by looking at the script to get an outline of the video, then we edit the video interviews and after that, we cut out all the boring stuff and look for the best snippets from each interview and match b-roll to the interviewee’s story.

We then put all the video files together and started arranging them in an order that makes sense to our storyboard.

Of course, music is one of the most important parts of video – it elicits emotion and has a big part in telling the story. We spend quite a bit of time looking for the perfect song for each corporate video that we do.

In this case, we decided not to use any music and just used the existing Bushveld sounds we had recorded while shooting, and added a sound or two here and there for effect.

Our client was super happy with the corporate video we had created for her – we even had her in tears! Nothing pleases us more than having a happy client:

“Having seen the quality of their productions first hand, Kaimara Studio’s pro-bono offer to create a video for StopRhinoPoaching.com was met with open arms.  This genuine and generous gesture has given us a video that we are exceptionally proud of. We are forever indebted, in particular to Pieter Uys, for weaving together a complex story that captures the essence of who we are as an organisation – and even more so the calibre of people we support in this cause.”

We used the following video equipment to film and produce this corporate video:

1. This corporate video was filmed on a Canon 5Dmkiii and 5Dmkiv

2. The sound was recorded on Zoom H4n Pro with Sennheiser microphones.

3. Some of the video shots were filmed on the GoPro Hero 5

4. Manfrotto video tripods

5. Gorilla tripods

6. We also used the rhino slider for all our video sliding shots.

The best thing about filming a video with the Canon 5Dmkiv was the 1×7 crop factor on 4k, which enabled me to get more reach on my Canon 70-200 lens, making it 135-400mm and I could then crop the video even more in post-production as the final video was delivered in Full HD.

Please watch and share this video.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF

YOUR WEDDING PHOTOS

JUNE 19, 2018
by  Miki van Rooyen

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR WEDDING PHOTOS

Choose the right photographer

Book a decent wedding photographer whose style suits yours. It sounds so obvious, but really give it some thought and do your research beforehand. If your style is not in line with the wedding photographer’s style, you are bound to be disappointed.

2. Have an engagement shoot

There is no better way to find out if you and your wedding photographer click (mind the pun), other than to do a trial run before committing. If your personalities clash, it may cause awkwardness on the wedding day.

3. Mind the light

When considering venues, keep the light of the venue in mind. Many couples don’t even know that this is something to take into account but do be aware that the light changes throughout the day and different light will result in very different photographs. Some venues are light and bright, which is not ideal if you are looking for dramatic photos with a darker background. A quick example: Many wedding chapels are quite dark, and sometimes the wedding photographer has no choice but to use a flash. If you don’t like flash photography, make sure your photographer has enough light to work with.

4. Look your best

When you feel pretty it translates directly onto the photos. Make sure your dress fits right, and your suit is tailored. The last thing you want to do is keep tugging on your clothes in order to keep it in place. It will just cause frustration and spoil the spontaneity of the photo shoot.

If you can, get beauty treatments done so your skin looks radiant, and your brows are correctly shaped. This makes such a difference. You will make your make-up artist’s job so much easier, and you’ll know you look your best. This brings me to the next point…

Book a make-up artist. Again, do your research, ask around and book a trial session. This will ensure that both you and the make-up artist know what to expect, and it takes the pressure off the big day because you know that you can trust your make-up artist.

5. Create a realistic timeline

To ensure a smooth, stress-free flow of events, create a realistic timeline of the wedding day. Ask your make-up artist, hair stylist, and photographer how much time they need to do their work. Leave a little extra time for everything, and start early enough. The last thing you want is to rush. You want to be relaxed to take everything in. Ask your photographer what the best time of day is for the couple shoot – which is about an hour before sunset – and schedule your day around that. Normally after the ceremony, you need time for family photos before the couple shoot commences.

6. Organise your family

One of the biggest frustrations is getting everyone together. The poor bride and groom shouldn’t walk around finding a family member to take a photo with. A good idea is to send out a message a few days before the wedding to family members you would like to take photos with so they are prepared. Have your MC announce this too right after the ceremony, so everyone stays together. Give your MC or a family member a list of all the groups you need to take photos with and have them announce the next group of people as you are taking photos.

7. Be yourself

The more you relax around us, the more natural and effortless your wedding photos will be. We want to capture that which makes you unique, so joke around and have fun with it! It’s your wedding day and I want to document you at your happiest. No two weddings are alike and we would love to capture what makes your day unique. After all, that’s what wedding photography is all about – your story.

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GET IN TOUCH

309 BROOKS STR, MENLO PARK, PRETORIA,0081

CORPORATE WORK: 082 448 9662

WEDDINGS & LIFESTYLE: 082 652 6059