Grab some spectacular shots of live music events in the coming months with these great tips from our live news team. Whether you’re off to your village fete or have secured accreditation at your favourite festival, these tips will help you out!
Before the event
- Check if you need accreditation. Even if the event is free, if it’s ticketed the likelihood is that you’ll need to get accreditation if you plan to sell your images
- To get accreditation, all you need to do is contact the press officer or the event organiser. Just explain what photos you want to take and who you’re going to send the pictures to, and that should do the trick
- Small-scale events like a village fete or summer street party are unlikely to require accreditation, as long as they’re not ticketed
If you secure accreditation, don’t forget to let our live news team know so they can expect your images. You can call them on 01235 844 590 or email news@alamy.com.
Top tips to boost the chance of your images being picked up
- Make sure you put the names of performers or celebrities in the caption so that newspapers can pick up the images when they search
- Remember news is very much ‘of the moment’, so send pictures in as soon as possible, even if the performance is late at night. Our best advice is to send your best 6-10 images by 8am at the latest for the greatest chance of the press picking them up
What shots are the press looking for?
Depending on the time of day, the shots that have the best chance of being picked up by the press will differ. Here’s our guide to help you capture the music images that are most popular with the press in 2018.
All-day events
- Crowd shots and images that show the volume of people at the event are really popular
- Also popular are those ‘morning after’ shots of festival-goers emerging after a heavy night!
- People dancing or having fun and enjoying themselves, especially people in fancy dress costumes
- Artists arriving at the venue or mingling with the crowd
- Celebrities or artists ‘spotted’ in the crowd as other artists perform
- If there’s mud, you’re onto a winner. Anything that shows people covered in mud, splashing in puddles of mud or generally enjoying the mud!
Night time gigs or concerts
- Artists interacting with the audience during the performance
- Pictures of the artist with their eyes fully open
- A clear shot of the performer with nothing in front of their face (e.g. no microphones)
- *For the star shot*: Combine the last two points with the addition of the artist looking straight at the camera
Check out our blog for more top tips on getting the most out of your festival photography >