Shooting inside a convention center

[QuietOne]

I'll be going back to the Bay area in May. We've had a friend die of cancer last week and another has been diagnosed with prostate cancer that's metastasized to the bones. One of Mike's ex-girlfriends spent a few days in the hospital a couple of months ago, for a root canal that had finally gone bad, and the oral surgeon wasn't willing to treat her in office. Another just had surgery for a broken ankle. We've got a number of friends who are just in poor health. So it's time to go and see them.

What's that got to do with a convention center? Well, almost all of them attend Baycon, so it's a convenient place to meet up with everyone without running all over central and northern California. Naturally, we want pictures of friends, and of the convention events. I've been to the Hyatt Regency, but it's been years. The convention center, which is attached to the hotel, wasn't built then, and I've never been in it.

I know some of you have done convention shooting. I'm considering renting a lens, probably only 1, because the furnace and this trip will basically trash my budget. I'm considering renting it in the near future to try it out, then again closer to Baycon. Any suggestions?

[Iguanasan]

I've never shot conventions but I'll offer my ideas and see how well they stack up to the people who know what they are doing.

You're a Nikon shooter so I'm not sure what lenses you have but as a Canon shooter I would get the Canon 17-40mm. I would expect that a good wide angle lens would be a good idea as the convention is likely to be very crowded and a nice wide angle will let you get in close to shoot. You'll have to be careful where you place people in the frame if you are going to shoot wide though as proportions can go a little crazy on the edges.

You may also want to consider a flash with one of those big flash boxes as there is often not a lot of light and with 20 foot high (or higher) ceilings it can be problematic bouncing light off the ceiling though there may be plenty of walls. Better to be prepared in case you can't bounce.

[Marko]

First off - Sorry to be reading of your friends' misfortunes. :(

I'm with Iggy here - the light will likely be your issue. I would scout the location beforehand if i had the chance to see just how dark it is and choose brighter areas for shooting if available.

I'm not clear though on if this is just to shoot friends or to also cover an event - if you are also covering an event, what event is it and do you have a press pass or anything like that?

In terms of lenses...it would depend on how crowded it is. How crowded do you expect it to be? Is it a enormous space with lots of shooting spots?

[JAS_Photo]

Not sure exactly what at the convention, if anything, you will be allowed to shoot. Most likely if there is a variety of booths such as at a comic con type thing you will be allowed to shoot that, depending on the individuals of course. But really since it is at a private venue such as a mall, they can restrict you. Probably you will not be able to photograph speakers, etc. You will want a fast lens if possible and a camera with great high ISO resolution. The one thing about my D300 I hate is that at the least thought of going over ISO 400 it gets all gritty and noisy. If your camera has great ISO though, a 18-200 lens probably will get you everything you need and is lighter than the 2.8 lenses.

And, so sorry to hear that so many friends are suffering such devastating illnesses. ):

[Realist]

Well hopefully everyone gets healed up soon.

I personally have been wanting a faster lens for indoor. Even with the big flash I have it would still be nice to have a faster lens, because a flash doesn't light everything. Also I think I would want a standard or wide angle lens for such an event.

[asnow]

You may want to check out the following photography podcasts

http://twohosers.com/

Show numbers 105 and 106. Allan Attridge goes over a corporate shoot he did in a convention centre. Once you can get past all the drivel, he does have a useful description on his approach and what he did.

[QuietOne]

asnow, thanks, I've downloaded those and will listen to them.

For the rest - Baycon is a fan-run sci-fi/fantasy literary convention. The way that type of convention runs and feels is quite a bit different than a professionally run media convention (I've attended both kinds). There's less restriction on photographing than there usually is at a convention, though there may have been some changes since the last time I attended 6 years ago. About the only place that's off-limits is the art show, and even then, not always. It tends to come down to not being disruptive.

Iguanasan, my gut says a flash box would be distracting. It's hard to say how some of the people would react - there are some strong, opinionated personalities among this bunch. For the shorter zoom - advantages? Disadvantages? Maybe it would help with the events at night (even though I swore I'd only rent one lens). Marko, I have a membership to the convention, and press pass? What's those? I'll be arriving the day before the convention starts, so I should be able to get at least a quick look at the area, and maybe figure out spots to shoot from. JAS, I'm thinking traveling light might be the way I want to go. From what I've read, that wide a range on a zoom involves a lot of compromises, but the advantage is I can leave a lot of stuff in the hotel room and not worry about changing lenses during the day.

Yes, light is going to be the problem. The convention will take up the whole convention center and a chunk of the hotel. Both places have a lot of glass and hallways around the perimeters. One of the old locations had something similar along a couple of walls. Strong light in the afternoon, with shadows from the building pillars, but once you were away from the windows, it got dim fast. The meeting rooms, of course, don't have windows, with one exception. There will also be a floor of hotel rooms for gatherings and parties, and those go on anywhere from around the clock to night only. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about a flash - maybe I'll grit my teeth and consider renting one of those, too.

I'm not covering the convention in any "professional" sense. I'm getting photos of friends and happenings. The friends can be posed, and sometimes caught candid. The events - panel discussions, hall costumes, a costume contest (for a while, Baycon's costume contest was one of the bigger ones on the west coast for the Costumer's Guild), demos by the SCA for sure. There are a couple of groups that work with live steel, and they turn up from time to time. Demos of various mechanical things - the whole Maker's Faire movement has a strong presence there, and is the latest iteration of something that's always happened there. Mara's Bar will probably do their annual slave auction for charity (Klingon fans - prosthesis and makeup for costumes go waaaay back for this crowd). That's one of several groups on the party floor, and most of those won't be open until the evening. A charity casino and dance. Those will be in one of the rooms without windows, and won't be during the day anyway. At least 2 concerts, and probably several impromptu ones. A gaming room. A dealer's room, and probably an "artist's ghetto" for those who don't get a slot in the dealer's room. I'm certain of all of this even though I haven't seen a program yet. I'm also rambling. There will be more detail in further progress reports.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts. I wish I was going back under better circumstances. I still don't know 100% that I'll rent the gear. I just have a lot of time to consider it, so I thought I'd get opinions early.

(convention center floor plan Convention Center Floor Plan - Rooms - Halls - Ballrooms - Theater - Santa Clara. Keep in mind that 22k sq ft they mention is just one of the ballrooms. This is pretty big place. The hotel meeting space http://santaclara.hyatt.com/hyatt/im.../floorplan.pdf.)

[asnow]

The various lighting will definitely be an issue. The one thing I picked up in the podcast that I think would be a benefit. Scout out ahead of time where you can take pictures and then get pictures of a gray card in those locations. You can use those gray card pictures to help in adjusting the white balance.

For podcast 105 - suggest skip past the first 36 minutes
For podcast 106 - suggest skip past the first 43 minutes

[Marko]

Given what you have written - I recommend 2 lenses or 1 lens that can cover wide to medium.
Having just the wide or ultrawide, will be frustrating.
On a crop sensor camera a lens or lenses that contain the focal length (18-100 or more) would be awesome.

When you scout your locations - try scouting them at the same time as you intend to shoot so the light is similar.
Hope that may help!

[QuietOne]

Hmm. I could go with a 200 length, but if I stick with the kit lens (since it doesn't look like anything in the 18-100 is any better in terms of low light), I could look at renting a monopod instead. Flash at night events is likely to disrupt the mood, so it's a matter of picking spots with at least some light. Costume contest will have light on the stage, and I've had fairly good luck with shooting from the back of the auditorium in the past. Thanks, everyone, you've given me some things to think about. I'm open to further suggestions, since I've still got time to think on things.