In this video, USA TODAY photographers Robert Hanashiro and Dan MacMedan talk about how they approach shooting an awards show like the Emmy’s.
A couple of interesting things jumped out at me. First, they’re shooting the red carpet with a single speedlight on simple flash bracket and an off-camera flash cord. That’s nothing super sexy in terms of lighting but it gets the light far enough off-axis to avoid the pop-up flash look.
Additionally, I was surprised at just how far away photographers for USA TODAY have to sit from the action. The photographer covering the inside portion of the event is in the nosebleed section and has to us a massive 600mm lens to get reaction shots of people who are facing the same stage that he’s facing.
Did anything else jump out at you?
This type of photography is 99% hard work and 1% glamour. I haven’t done events nearly this big and it is still work! Fun work but work . These types of shoots require as much preparation as actual shooting. These guys are some of the very top pros in this field. You have to do this type of event to appreciate how good these photographer actually are.
Technically, wouldn’t that be “Emmys” instead of “Emmy’s” for the Emmy Awards?
Wow! Robert Hanashiro was doing his 26th Emmy Award event for USA Today!