By Ivan Yap
So, a hot act is in town only for a limited time, promising a visual spectacle that only occurs once in a blue moon. You excitedly run through a thousand scenarios in your head, meticulously planning where to position yourself and what gear to lug along in order to capture the priceless images that you can already picture with crystal clarity in your mind.
The day arrives, and you stride into the venue full of anticipation and confidence.
Then reality sets in.
Everyone has decided to arrive early, and the place is already packed to the gills with people. There’s no way humanly possible to get to the vantage points that you were so confident of securing… apart from shouting “fire” or creating some form of mass hysteria—but let’s not even go there.
So what’s a photographer to do? I recently encountered this exact situation at the fantastic (but also fantastically-crowded) Singapore Night Festival 2015, and here’s what I found myself doing out of necessity.
Try unusual angles.
When circumstances seem dire, and you can’t fire off any shots without someone’s obnoxious noggin or smartphone gyrating in the middle of your frame, thrust your instincts aside and try unusual angles. Not only will you find additional room to squeeze your subject in, but the odd skew may just add a bit more dynamism to the scene.
Sometimes, it helps to see things from a different perspective.
Use long exposures to ‘erase’ the distractions.
If you happen to have a sturdy tripod with you and have sufficient wiggle room to set it up, try using long exposures to ‘erase’ the moving distractions. Of course, the presumption here is that the subject is static—a moving subject will only yield something akin to an abstract painting. Another possible issue is that there may still be some ghosting in the final shot. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers.
Sometimes, breaking out into long exposures will help you to get usable shots when there isn't a ghost of a chance at normal exposures.
Or if all else fails, turn the obstructions themselves into subjects.
It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes the very things that are obscuring your view and driving you insane can be as interesting as the subject itself. Instead of feeling frustrated at being unable to shoot through the ‘maelstrom’ as it were, do a scan of the surroundings to find something else interesting to capture.
Even in a sea of heads, heads and more heads, there's usually something worth shooting. All it takes is an open mind.
There you have it! The humble and inexhaustive suggestions of a fellow photography enthusiast. Do share your own tips by leaving a comment :-)