Photographers Guide

Mundo Lingo

0xe2A0

January 9th, 2022

Why photography is essential to our growth strategy in 8 words:

Great photography gets around fast

Photos that people are proud of, help spread awareness of Mundo Lingo

The “Aim”

Mundo Lingo’s Photographers capture people absorbed in their moment. People looking at each-other (not the camera) allow for well composed observational action moments creating beautiful photos with emphasis on body language and expression from often subtly lit and challenging environments.

(credits to Mervin for 3 excellent examples)

Benefits

We give official status to out top eagle-eyed shooters, to those who show artistic flair and ingenuity in their photography.

Capturing people when they’re deep in their most memorable moments without them noticing is a fine art that deserves recognition when done well.

Benefits include:

Certificate of Commitment.
ML Official Photographer watermark.
Access to our inner community networks
Access to paid assignments from our international team.
Join our team at local private events.

Equipment & Settings

DSLR

All photographers should use a DSLR camera. Cell phone or point-and-shoot/pocket camera photography is not acceptable.

Available Light Photography

Our venues are often dimly lit, taking photos with available light is challenging. However, the benefits are that you can capture attractive images of the vibe and ambience in a place.

Camera: Be sure to have a camera that performs well at very high ISO sensitivity. For instance, the Canon 6D or 5D Mark III will allow you to go up to ISO 10,000 and still get crisp photos. Of course, there will be noise, but with the right noise reduction, you can convert it into a non-distracting grain when you retouch your photos.
Lens: Ideally, use a 50mm f/1.4 lens. These very popular lenses are also known as “nifty fifty” lenses, and are available quite affordably for both Nikon and Canon. Presumably, the same applies for other camera brands.
Shutter speed: at high ISO and wide openings, you should be able to get anywhere between 1/30 and 1/100 even in low-light environments. Note that for anything longer than 1/30, you will need a very very steady hand.
Focus: careful: at f/1.4, your depth of field will be extremely shallow. Manually select your AF point when shooting, point it over an area with good light/dark contrast so the camera can focus, then shoot. Afterwards, check our images for sharpness by zooming in on the spot you wanted in focus (preferably a person's eyes) when you review them.

Flash Photography

Shutter Speed: It’s advisable to work with a shutter speed between 1/15 and 1/30 allowing for plenty of exposure to background light and not just the exposure of your flash victim's face.

Flash: Don’t shoot straight into people’s faces. It will annoy them and make them look flat. Some photographers point their flash at the ceiling or find inventive ways to disperse the light around the room. Photos with obright faces and dark backgrounds are not okay for publication.

AF Points: If you give the camera automatic control over autofocus (AF) points, it may focus on things you don’t want it to.

In this shot, the guy's hair on the right (red box) is sharp and crisp, but it’s not the intended subject. Instead, we should focus on the well-lit guy's face (green).

**Here is a mock-up of the Canon EOS 6D’s AF point layout:**In this example, it’s best to manually select the top AF point (in red, as above) so that the camera focuses on the subject’s eye.

Alternately, leave the middle AF point always selected, use that to focus, and then recompose the shot before triggering the shutter.

Learn from others.

The Internet is full of videos and tutorials offering advice and technique for developing and expanding your skill set. Keep educating yourself and compare tips with your colleagues.

The Candid Sniper’s Guide

Camouflage |

To capture people looking natural and not posing, we blend into the background like a world-class ninja. Only by passing by unnoticed do we capture participants off-guard, looking natural and not posing.

Sniper |

Try from a high-bar stool, the door, behind the bar, a DJ booth, a tree, get up there!
Shots from a distance or a high vantage point help achieve natural shots.
If there's enough light available, go with a zoom or telephoto lens.

Step by step, candid photos:

Walk around, observe light sources.
Find light falling on faces.
Study that person. How do they carry themselves, where do they stand in relation to the rest of the group?
Study the surroundings. Are there people nearby? Are they distracting because they, too, face your camera? If it’s an empty part of the bar, can you get more people will be in the frame?
Look through the camera at the scene and look at everything in the frame. How is your angle? Can you move up or down, left or right for a changed picture? Can you move closer or further away for a better picture?
Now, select the AF point in your camera that lies over the subject you want to have in focus (see “AF Points” above for more info).
Focus and take photos of the scene. 4, 5, more if necessary.
Review these photos closely in your camera. Look at the frame, zoom in to see if your focus is on, look at everybody's faces. If somebody looks dumb, blurry or badly under/overexposed, try again.
Repeat this until you have a great shot of the scene.

Post Production

Use post production software, even if just to tweak the white balance. Recommended programs:

Adobe Lightroom (paid, available by subscription to Adobe Cloud)
Darktable (free open-source alternative to Lightroom. Available for Linux and Mac. Windows version currently under development (Nov 2017).)
RawTherapee (like Lightroom or Darktable, but also free, and also available for Windows. Nobody at Mundo Lingo has tested this so far, so be the first and let us know how it works for you!)
Adobe Photoshop (paid, available by subscription to Adobe Cloud)
Gimp (free open-source alternative to Photoshop. Requires plugins/extensions for RAW editing)

Watermark

Every photo carries the Mundo Lingo watermark, in the lower left corner and taking up less than 15% of height and 15% of the width. It’s available as a .png file with a transparent background from the Dark Room. Please set the watermark to 50% Opacity. Feel free to put your name (but not a logo) into that same corner, also with 50% opacity.

Recommended watermarking programs:

XnConvert (free app to batch-process photos, providing a wide range of effects and post-processing options from resizing to watermarking to colour corrections)
Aoao Photo Watermarker (paid, $29.90)