I’ve uploaded a couple of photos to Twitpic that are examples of bad event photography.

These photos were taken by a photographer hired by the organizers of an awards ceremony held on Aug. 10, 2009 in Oak Brook, Ill. for the Chicago-area “101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” awards.

I was there with four other VW Credit leaders, waiting for our company to be recognized for the fifth-straight year as one of the winners. I was surprised to see each group of winners standing on the stage for a photo, with images of a projection screen reflecting on part of the groups. I asked myself and commented to my coworkers, “Wouldn’t that show on the photo?”

Sure enough, it did.

Lesson for others: Arrange to have the projector screen blanked during the photos, or find another way to avoid this bad situation.

Example 1: A picture WITH words is worth…1,002 words?
One way to ruin a group award photograph--have reflections from a screen obscure the subjects.

Example 2: Merciless example of bad reflections. Does the reflection on this subject’s neck make him resemble somebody?
Reflections create a shape on the subject's neck that make him resemble Ming the Merciless.

Leave a Reply