Charity Event Photography in San Diego

We captured the excitement and emotion of a volunteer event at the San Diego Food Bank in September. It was part of a national effort called CoreGiving Day 2021 with ShopCore Properties. We shot both charity event photography stills as well as event video b-roll and interviews to contribute to an overall, national event recap video. Our San Diego b-roll shots make up about half of the video. Take THAT New York and Chicago and Miami and…

Happy Clients = Happy Production Company

When we receive an email like this after an event, it makes all the effort worth it.

“I just wanted to send a quick thank you again for all of your work for us yesterday. We are so grateful. The photos you’ve sent are amazing. I love the vibrancy of the colors and think you did such a great job capturing everyone’s excitement as well as really wonderful shots of the volunteers at work.”

Another happy corporate client

Compliments like these always amaze us because, like… how bad is everyone else’s work? In the moment, we’re simply doing our best to juggle all of the variables and produce the best images and videos we can. Before Brendan moved to San Diego from the east coast, one client said, “everyone is so slow and lazy there… you’ll get bored.”

We like to think this is what they really meant: you’ll be able to deliver competitive results while just being yourself. Even if the bar is set low, why should we ever phone it in? Hard work and attention to detail are a must; not a luxury.

Gear Talk: Shooting Event Photography, Interviews & B-Roll Video

It’s amazing what you can accomplish with some new gear! We took the Canon EOS R5 mirrorless hybrid camera and DJI Ronin RS 2 out for some 4K Fine 60fps b-roll shot in C-Log 3. We used the Ronin’s awesome built-in front dial focus wheel for some manual focus shots then removed it for a field test of the Canon R5’s human-priority face/eye tracking autofocus. It performed beautifully in both situations.

The Ronin’s new SuperSmooth mode is unmatched. And combining that with both the lens IS and in-camera stabilization from the Canon… it’s unreal how smooth it gets. Our b-roll footage came out so buttery smooth; a level of cinematic quality that used to only be available with much higher production budgets.

Since we’ve invested heavily in Canon EF lenses over the years, being able to use them with an RF adapter is key. The drop-in variable ND filter EF-EOS R adapter made the sunny outdoor b-roll shots possible at f/2.8 and native ISO 800. It saved a lot of time over the old ND filter inserts or lens filters.

Let’s not forget the interviews. We did a 2-camera setup with our Canon R5, the flagship hybrid camera, and our 7D Mark II, a seriously underrated DSLR for video and event photography. The client spec was for 1080p video (once edited) so we shot the R5 in 4K Fine 24fps with C-log3 and the 7D in 1080p 24fps with C-log. Shooting in those colorspaces made matching the footage with color grading much easier in post production.

Audio is always an important priority of ours. Since the volunteers were wearing t-shirts, we opted for a boom mic instead of the default lavalier microphone. While it’s possible to hide the lav or make it look OK on a t-shirt, a boom microphone is much less hassle and tends to sound better. Plus there are virtually no germs exchanged since we don’t need to touch the talent or hand a lav mic back and forth. We allowed our talent to be mask-less for the interviews, but otherwise we maintained the appropriate safety precautions.

Here’s my favorite part: the audio recorder and mic were powered by a solar rechargeable battery! No AAs to drain and toss. What a game changer! We can’t wait for Canon cameras to become compatible with USB power like this.

Charity Event Video Production

Since the charity event was happening in locations across the country, the client had a dedicated editor for a long best-of video. We did a quick edit for an event highlight video for San Diego. Watch that here or in our portfolio. [COMING SOON]

Charity Event Photography Gallery

We of course shot tons of photos, but check out the gallery below for some of our favorites. These are at the full crop. Since the photos are very high resolution, it allowed the client to crop them again for various social media sizes and shapes.

Gratitude

Thank-You to ShopCore’s San Diego staff who were so welcoming and friendly. Of course we also need to thank the San Diego Food Bank’s marketing team and warehouse staff for not only being instrumental in the event’s success but also helping us scout locations for the video interviews. Last but not least, shout out to Casey at the Food Bank who delivered an incredible, eloquent, detailed and above all, heartfelt interview.

Mom, we’re famous!

Just kidding. But our photo made it to the email blast. Look for the lady in the top left of the gallery.

You’ve made it to the end of this long post about charity event photography and event videography. Your attention span must be higher than average. Thank you for being one of the smart, gifted & talented ones! Or at least you’re someone who tries hard. We really appreciate you reading all of this. And we hope you have a great day.