Photographing Crowds Successfully: What You Need to Know

With 7.7 billion people in this world, we run into crowds quite often. Whether you were hired to photograph a sporting event, a music festival, or another event, you can use some of our tips on photographing crowds at the next event you attend!

If you’re photographing crowds all day, you’ll need to edit a ton of photos. Perfectly Clear will save you hours of editing! Just upload your photos and use our batch processing capabilities. Try it for free on Perfectly Clear Cloud, our online automatic editor.

5 Tips for Photographing Crowds

1. Pick a Focal Point

Picking a focal point may seem obvious, but having some intention in your crowd photography will make a great photo. Hone in on specific people in the crowd that have good energy and start snapping! They will stand out and carry the spirit of the crowd into your shot.

2. Reduce the Depth of Field

If the crowd is too busy, reducing the depth of field may be exactly what you need for an extraordinary picture. A sea of faces may be a difficult image to enjoy– when you blur your background and have one focus, it’s easier for the eye to know where to go.

3. Avoid the Crowd by Getting Above It

Sometimes the crowd just gets in the way. If you’re trying to get some shots of the scenery without the crowd, one of the easiest ways to do it is to get above it. Find a wall, a staircase, or something that will get your camera above everyone else.

4. Find a Unique Point of View

Crowds are such an interesting subject. Get creative! Try photographing from different perspectives– shooting from the waist down or just focusing on the ground as the crowd moves are just a few ideas. There’s no limit to all the things you can do!

5. Shoot From the Hip

If you don’t want anyone in the crowd to know you’re photographing them, shooting from the hip is a great option. This will ensure that your subject acts naturally! Hold your camera at waist level and just press the shutter button as you make your way through the crowd. While you can’t control your composition this way, chances are you’ll get at least a few great photos.

Time to Edit!

After you’re done photographing crowds, you’ll have tons of photos to edit! Perfectly Clear’s batch processing is here to help. Our automatic photo editing technology intelligently reads the contents of the image and applies corrections depending on what your image needs. Our automatic backlit correction almost always comes in handy when editing your outdoor photos. Try it out with our web app, Perfectly Clear Cloud!