Images are powerful, and they tell a story about your event. Taking high-quality photographs at your event is as important as filming great quality video -- invest some time and effort into finding really good photographers with professional cameras:

Reach out to professional, amateur and student photographers in your community.  

You might find that a lot of people come to your event with their cameras, and take some pictures, but to get the best of your special day, assign some special photographers to take event photos. The better the image quality and composition, the more powerful the image of your event will be. There are people with both great skills and great cameras who are more than willing to volunteer their time. Connect with local artist club networks and/or student photographers at local schools and universities. Have one person on your team manage the work with photographers, and be responsible for recruiting them and informing them about the types of images they should be taking.

Have more than one photographer at your event

Each photographer has their own style. Some like to focus on details, some on faces, some on broader images. To capture your event from different perspectives and different angles, you'll need several cameras and eyes. Images are about moments, and the more cameras you have ready to photograph those precious moments and details, the better it will look. Two to four photographers is ideal.

Photo diversity

Consider every part and component of your event -- speakers, stage decoration, audience, individual faces, whole room/venue big picture, logos and creative products. Show us what is happening right before the event, give us the glimpse of the after party and the post event gatherings.  Take advantage of breaks -- let us see what is happening there, how people interact and what activities are going on. Take us to the backstage dynamics -- how organizers and volunteers are working.

Speakers are exciting part of your event, but don't just focus on the stage and speakers. To grasp the whole picture of your event, focus on your audience, too. Get a picture of everybody sitting -- show how many people you have, focus on rows, focus on certain individuals, try to capture individual faces with different emotions while they are listening to talks with excitement, surprise or other expressions. Here is where having at least two photographers makes a difference -- while one stays focused on capturing great speaker moments, the other can be spotting the audience reaction.

Let your photographs carry on the inspiration and energy that you experience during the event.  Because once your event is over, it is the images that will speak for it.

Written by Nafissa Yakubova.