Monday, February 2, 2009

What's it like to take photos of our new President?

A short post on the NYTimes.com Caucus Blog gives a glimpse into what it's like to take part in a 'pool spray' - a presidential photo op that is very much like a run and gun event.

From the size of the crowd and the amount of shutters you hear firing I would guess the approach is a 'spray and pray' one - hoping that if you bracket and fire off as many exposures as you can that you'll get at least one good image.

I can't imagine what it must be like to be one of these photographyers. It would seem that all the joy and passion of taking images is completely gone when it comes to something like this.

Anyway, here's the link that contains a video of the event - just don't blink or you might miss it:


The White House spray


from NYTimes.com from The Online Photographer

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! What a rush!

Cait said...

Do people bracket in situations like this? I have no idea. It seems like if you're just firing continuously, the chance of missing that one good shot would be diminished by 1/3 or 1/5 depending on how many stops you bracket?

But I guess you can correct exposure in post-production anyway.

Anyway, I agree with you- there seems like there wouldn't be much joy in this type of photography.

Matt Allen Photography said...

C.Wade - totally a guess on the bracketing thing. I know at least on the camera I shoot (Canon 30D) you can set the bracket and then go into high-speed shooting mode which automagically fires through the three-frame bracket. I know if I were there shooting I'd want as much coverage as possible, but you're right - you can save a poorly exposed image pretty easily now-a-days in any post-processing tool.