Tips for shooting large crowds of people?

[ItsssRyne]

Alright this coming weekend is the annual French Quarter festival here in New Orleans. There's going to be tons of music, food, and people.

Yes plenty of people. So my question is how do you shoot in such large crowds? I can just imagine the tons and tons of people just standing around in my shots.

Should I shoot with a very shallow depth of field and eliminate the rest? Do I crop out my shot as much as possible and focus solely on certain individuals? Or should I just accept the hordes of people in my shots and make them a part of it?

How do you generally handle the masses?

And if you could (sort of a two in one thread) let me know some things you would focus on at such a place.

 

[imagemaker46]

Just play around with the dof, you should have lots of opportunities to come up with some interesting images.

 

[KmH]

Put a cover on the viewfinder, hold the camera up over your head, and take photos. Use deep DoF.

At least the key is you have to use a high camera perspective, by getting the camera well above eye level.

 

[IgsEMT]

IF you're trying to shoot something specific, then less dof would be nicer, however, if just general stuff, ESPECIALLY OUTDOORS... f/11 and down.

 

[ItsssRyne]

Alrighty then. Thanks for the advice. I'm sure there will be plenty of crazy characters walking around the quarter. They will make fine additions to my collection.
*evil laugh* mmwhahahahahhhhaaaa

So lower f stops for general crowds and higher ones for specifics. Plus make sure I get a few high angle shots. Cool I got it. :thumbup: