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Associate field guide

Event photography style guide

For Orange Photography event and conference assignments. What we expect before and during the event, how to cover candids and stage moments, and how to edit and deliver.

Presenter on stage at a corporate leadership forum

We have extensive documentation, but these are the essentials for every job.

The current project brief, client requirements, and producer direction take precedence over anything on this page.

Required for every assignment

  • Introduce yourself to the onsite contact the day before.
  • Arrive at least 15 minutes before your start time.
  • Route turnaround and social-select requests to the producer.
  • No assistant or second shooter without clearance.
  • Don’t share images or event details on social media.
  • Deliver 35–50 edited images per hour of coverage.

01 · Before and during the event

Show up early, communicate, and protect the client

Introduce yourself

Contact the onsite contact the day before to introduce yourself. If you’re running late for any reason, let the client know.

Arrive 15 minutes early

Arriving right at the start time doesn’t give you enough time to get situated. Clients are more at ease when you arrive early.

Route requests

Don’t promise faster turnaround or social-media selects. Kindly ask the onsite contact to relay the request to the producer, and we’ll update you. You can say whether you think it’s possible, but don’t confirm anything; the job may have other requirements.

Keep it confidential

Don’t bring an assistant or second shooter without clearing it with your producer and the client. Don’t share images or event details on social media.
0–50
Edited images per hour of coverage
0 min
Arrive at least this early
0 %
Environmental shots, unless requested otherwise
0 %
Rated 4-star best-of (15–20% of edited images)

02 · Candid and environmental shots

Faces, expressions, and the room around them

  • Use a combination of a prime lens and a medium zoom for variety. Use flash as needed, but not exclusively.
  • Shoot in your camera’s RAW format, ideally with two card slots (saving JPG to the second slot).
  • Keep profile shots to a minimum. Angle yourself for clear, face-on expressions.
  • When using flash, light your subjects but also bring in the environment: use ISO and shutter speed to capture the ambient light and decor.
  • Keep environmental shots to about 10% of images unless explicitly requested otherwise. Skip wait staff and bartenders unless they really stand out or it’s an action shot.

03 · Keynotes, speeches, and presenters

Speakers in context, audiences engaged

  • Get at least 5–10 great shots of each key speaker from multiple angles, and more if they’re on stage for 20 minutes or longer.
  • Always try to capture the speaker with background branding, logos, or slides in context.
  • Get crowd shots: a combination of wides and prime-lens shots of people looking engaged.
  • For panel discussions, shoot wides of the entire panel plus tighter shots of each panelist from multiple angles.
  • Get at least two images of each winner.
  • Check with the client whether winners will stop on stage for a photo. Sometimes it’s planned; other times it’s more candid.
Billy Beane keynote stage interview

See the quality we expect across an entire event: full conference gallery · full evening reception gallery

04 · Post-production

Shoot mindfully, edit in two rounds

The more mindful you are while shooting, the less time you’ll spend in post.

Edit targets

Crop 2:3 only · 35–50 images / hr · 15–20% rated 4★

Use a two-round approach

Round one: cull to find the usable images. Round two: clean up images and make Best Of selections. If you’re outside the 35–50 images per hour goal in round two, this is where you remove questionable photos or add more to reach it.

Cropping clearly promotes the main focus of an image, removes distractions, and makes an okay image better. Only use a 2:3 aspect ratio when cropping.

Do color correction in batches using Sync Settings in Lightroom.

Rate the best images 4 stars. They should be about 15–20% of the edited images. Many images are used on social media, so a clear best-of set saves clients a lot of time.

05 · Event checklist

Before you call it done

  • Introduced yourself to the onsite contact the day before.
  • Arrived at least 15 minutes early.
  • Shot RAW, ideally with a JPG backup to a second card slot.
  • 5–10+ strong shots of each key speaker with branding in context; crowd, panel, and award coverage complete.
  • Environmental shots kept to about 10% unless requested otherwise.
  • 35–50 edited images per hour, cropped 2:3, color corrected in batch.
  • Best-of images (15–20%) rated 4 stars.
  • Any turnaround or social-select requests passed to the producer.