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Sindobook:
I got multiple requests over PMs for a guide to events so here is what I can write down.

(1)

Shoot only what you like.  Don't just walk around and shoot everything.  If it's not interesting to you, don't bother with it.

This is the principle of trusting your own judgment of what is good and what is bad.

(2)

Try to fill the gaps in active shooting with video.  By passively using video, you can capture the goofy or spontaneous things that you would otherwise miss.  Later, you can edit the video, or create stills from it.

This is the principle of being ready for anything to happen at any time.

(3)

Especially when capturing video, avoid any temptation to cross over into the scene.  Your job is to capture the scene, not to interact with it.

This is the principle of letting things develop naturally or on their own.

(4)

The commonly held beliefs are often wrong.  People often live in the past, or in their own little world.  One does not become an expert by studying the common-rhetorical methods or engaging in discussions, especially online.  

This is the principle of action before discourse or acting without thinking.

(5)

If you cannot get it out and ready in 3-5 seconds, it is barely worth bringing along with you.  Carrying around lots of elaborate gear, studio lighting equipment, reflectors, assistants, stands, etc., it only serves to slow people down with unnecessary weight.

This is the principle of avoiding unnecessary attachments.

(6)

When shooting a scheduled event, arrive on the scene 10-15 minutes early.  If it is going to be crowded, stake out a good spot.  Imagine the place full of people, plan out angles, lighting, and gear configuration.  Sometimes the best opportunities are before the event officially starts, or after it officially ends.

This is the principle of staying ahead of the pack.

(7)

Likewise, try not to think or shoot in the way others are thinking or shooting.  There are plenty of people who follow the pack and you do not want to be one of those people.  When others are shooting the whole scene, shoot a single person, or two, when others are just shooting one person, shoot the whole scene, etc.  

This is the principle of offering something unique.

Notes:

4) Too much of what I see online is just wrong or off in the modern setting.  A good example is lighting.  You are not in a studio environment, you are at an event, so why bring along all the studio gear or the studio methodology.  You have to stick with what is practical for what you do and where you are.

There are basically 4 levels of lighting, 1) direct on-camera flash or flash accessory; 2) on-camera flash accessory, bounced and/or with reflectors; 3) as level 2, only with some additional slave flashes, 4) off-camera lighting only.  And you can cover 95% of what you are going to encounter just fine with (1) and (2), with perhaps a little bit of postprocessing as necessary.  Lighting is something to be aware of, but it's not something you need to obsess over like a lot of people do online.

5) People often focus on gear and this is what I carried along with me in the past.

1) An inexpensive DSLR, two or three generations old.
2) a) normal (50mm equiv.) prime and a b) normal range zoom lens, the best you can afford.
3) An on camera flash accessory, which can rotate to bounce and then has a diffuser and a reflector shield.
4) A digital camera for video, when necessary (some of the newer DSLRs take decent video).
5) A circular polarizer filter.

But seriously do yourself a favor and don't focus or stress out over gear.  Early on I only had (1), (2a), and (4), and I still did just fine then.  

The filter and the lens takes longer than 5 seconds to change, so honestly you need to get those ready before you need them.  For instance if you are going outside to shoot under the blue sky, you need to put the circular polarizer on as you are in the process of walking outside.  

6) This goes against some of my other rules, but still makes sense.  Some places are better than others and only one person can occupy a space at a time.  Often times events start before their stated time, and end after their stated time, so it is best to plan on being there early and plan on leaving late.

7) Again this goes back to following or trusting your own judgement.  Many times people take a group shot simply because the group is there.  You don't necessarily have to forgo the group shot, just do it quickly and then focus in on one or two people that are the most interesting to you.

Sindobook:
This isn't really small-animal related, but Tuan Tuan's 'friend' will be hosting two panels at AX.
See the list below -- the panels with '***' next to them.

2010/07/02 : (14:00 - 15:15) Tuan Tuan "Dark Panda Brigade" Panel
2010/07/02 : (15:15 - 16:15) Danny Choo Focus Panel (LP1) ***
2010/07/02 : (16:15 - 17:30) Tuan Tuan "Panda Comedy" Panel
2010/07/04 : (09:00 - 10:00) Danny Choo Focus Panel. ***
2010/07/04 : (10:00 - 11:30) Tuan Tuan "Wolong Conservatory Informational" Panel and benefit auction
2010/07/04 : (11:30 - 12:00) Tuan Tuan "Learn the Panda Panda Dance" Panel

I don't know much about his friend but, apparently, at one of these two panels (no idea which, please don't ask), some exclusive 10 minutes or so of footage for the upcoming B*RS anime will be shown.  The B*RS anime is now due to be available on July 24, 2010, but whether this date will be pushed back again remains to be seen.

Sindobook:
Yes, I do know of that hotel, it was last 'fixed up' when Yue-bing was the leader of the Bunny Brigade quite some time ago.  The owners contracted Yue-bing to fix it up for them.

The refurbishment was mismanaged and Yue-bing siphoned most of the money off to her own ends.  The carpets, electrical wiring, etc. were all taken out (in preperation for replacement) but the project went belly-up when they ran out of money.  So now the hotel has no carpet, no electricity going to the rooms, etc.  The only thing the bunny brigade did to completion was put in a new pool.  But due to a misunderstanding the pool is both a wierd shape and only inches deep instead of feet.  So it's basically like a wading pool for small children to get their feet wet and that's pretty much it.

The hotel does have elevators but they have gone kind of wonky since the refurb.  From time to time the elevators seem to have a mind of their own, stopping at different floors randomly or simply going up and down when unoccupied.  Certain floors that the elevators stop at, 'randomly', are completely empty and said to be haunted. 

So basically my recommendation would be to avoid this hotel like the plague. 

Sindobook:
Yes, I call it 'staged' and I generally don't do that unless I am really into something.

(1) Venue

You have to choose a good venue.  Venue is not only a place but also a time.  If it's outside, in direct sunlight, the hour after sunrise or the hour before sunset is most preferable.  The sun being directly overhead is the worst.  Other options for outside - in the shade, or in an area where you can control the lighting.  

If it's inside, it doesn't really matter, but areas with windows where the outside brightness is different from the inside brightness will require special consideration (explained later).  Inside, areas where you can control any overhead lighting and such is best.

Ultimately your venue should be based on the characters and the themes you want to portray.  Almost all the time, a place with a minimum number of people around.

(2) Lighting

For lighting, know what to avoid, ie. cross-lighting on a character is almost never used favorably. For indoor venues, turn off unnecessary lights, and learn to use existing lights, ie. use the light coming in through a window as your key light.  Your on-camera flash can be a fill light in a pinch, but you generally want to adjust it down (FEC -1EV to -2EV) because the idea of a fill light is to brighten the shadows, not remove them completely.  Don't waste too much money or weight on additional toys like umbrellas, softboxes, or goofy-looking doodads.

If you use a flash, always keep in mind the balance between ambient light and light from your flash.  It goes against what some 'pros' teach, but you can get fine results balancing the two as long as you are careful with white balance.  

(3) Photographer

Know your own movement and distance.  Avoid being 'too close', generally if you're taking a full body shot of someone 5 feet tall, you should be at least 5 feet away and preferably around 10 feet away.  Being 'too close' can result in wide-angle distortion, it can result in bounce flash off the ceiling being too vertical, and so on.  This goes back to venue, you want to choose a venue that, if possible, allows you to shoot with a 50mm focal length lens (equiv. for crop cameras) or greater.

(4) Motion

I get a lot of people asking 'how do I pose for a staged action / motion shot' and the best answer I can give is to just do it.  For instance if you want a shot of the character running, then run.  If you want a shot of the character jumping into the frame, then jump off some stairs.  

And there's a few basic techniques the photographer can use here to give the perception of motion in a still shot.  Some positions will be naturally unbalanced and
can simply be shot with a fast shutter speed.  Panning to 'smear' the background is possible if the character is instructed and able to keep their body still for the instant when the panning shot is taken.  

Trick angles, exaggerated perspective, or even post-editing can be used to make action shots look more spectacular.

(5) Contact Interaction

For action that requires contact, the challenge is to create action that looks as natural or 'not staged' as possible.

Too often I see people just 'freeze in place' for action shots.  It results in scenes that just don't look real, ie. a character that is punching another character in the face, with muscles that are loose rather than tense, and while looking in some other direction or even at the camera.

My best recommendation to avoid this is to have the characters 'slow-play' the action, ie. play it out in slow motion while trying to keep their bodies in sync as if that were actually happening.  The photographer than shoots this as one would a normal action scene, albeit a much slower one.  This will typically require some degree of force or people 'pressing into' one another, and while it can lead to exaggerated effects, it helps the characters pay attention to their own actions and act how they should be acting rather than posing.  For instance a victim character who is being punched in the cheek will first try to hold his head still as the puncher presses his fist into the victim's cheek.  But then the victim will slowly give, allowing his neck to go back as the puncher follows through with his punch.  Of course in reality both characters are using only a minimal amount of strength in the performance, enough to make the interaction look somewhat convincing but not so much that anyone risks injury.

(6) Bounce Flash

Going from the simple direct flash to bounce flash is one of the first or most basic ways to improve flash photographs.  If the flash does not already have them, some simple add-ons like a diffuser and a bounce / fill strip can be added on to allow for more versatility when bouncing.

A fill strip is a typically a small white strip that goes onto the back of the flash, to reflect a small amount of light and allow it to be both a bounce and a fill flash.

With every bounce of the flash, the ceiling typically generates some spreading or diffusion.  This means you don't necessarily have to bounce such that the first order reflection will hit the scene.  You can also do things like bounce off walls, bounce off the corner of a room, and so on.  One of the most basic things to try to avoid is bounce light coming into the scene 'too vertical', as this tends to darken the character's eyes. 

Sindobook:
I have to reiterate, please don't send me PMs with things other than questions.  I'm getting a lot of complaints, whines, lately and these do not count as questions.

AX was definately 'something else' for the animals that were involved, whether they were small animals or otherwise.  Tuan Tuan's childhood friend, Long Shan, decided to attend unannounced and despite not having purchased a badge, was able to sneak into the dealer's hall several times and even attended several panels.  Tuan Tuan's panels were all great successes, except for the 'Learn the Panda Panda Dance' panel where a lot of the participants were either tripping over themselves or could not keep up with the pace of the music. 

For the person who wrote asking about bunnies, yes, a number of bunnies from the bunny brigade did attend, Samantha is currently debriefing them and will compile a report shortly.  I know some of Mr. Sparkles friends were also there, but I don't have any additional information about that. 

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