Parade photography

[jewels inet]

As I mentioned in the Sports Photography thread (http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18&page=4), I'm traveling to a bowl game in Arizona. We will probably be doing other things before the football game, such as going to the parade. Any suggestions on getting good parade photos?

Anyone have any to share?

[andy206uk]

I've never done parade photography before, but I should imagine unless you can actually get into the parade itself you're going to need a good telephoto/zoom lens if you want to get any close ups.

It's likely that there will be a lot of background clutter, so use a wide aperture and a fast shutter speed to blur the background and freeze the action.

[ron.richardson]

i agree with everything andy said. zoom lens, wide apeture would give your best, more "intimate" shots of the parade participants. i always find wide shots that try to include too much of the parade (unless it's from the air) are cluttered and boring.

[RandomConnections]

Narrower DOF will definitely help reduce clutter. Also watch for interesting reflections and/or patterns. I was fortunate to get in close to a local parade. This isn't the best of photos, but I like it because I was able to capture the reflection of the spectators in this bass drum...

<a title="drum people" href="http://flickr.com/photos/93102487@N00/163898923" ><img src="http://static.flickr.com/77/163898923_7032e83414_d.jpg" border="0"/></a>

[z999]

you should try to find happy people (or kids) and shoot them. or make a close up on the people in the parade. DO NOT TRY TO CATCH ALL THE PARADE! I did it with something else and it was terrible disaster!