Chinese New Year is a great time to capture some bright, fun and interesting images for your portfolio or even to use as stock library images.  The key is knowing where the best place to be is, when to be there and being able to deal with a very busy scenario without losing your cool.  Families tend to take their children out for Chinese New Year so make sure you are able to concentrate amongst the many people.

Here are some more tips on how to get a great set of shots.

1.    Exploit color

Chinese New Year celebrations are often very colorful affairs –the emphasis on red and gold.  So make sure you capture this – use a polarizing filter if you need to and under expose a little if you have a very bright day to capture the detail.  You can make adjustments later in Photoshop to boost the color but make sure you get a decent shot to work with!

If the weather is terrible, as it can be in February then consider mono.  It can be a nice break in convention to have your Chinese New Year images in black and white – if this is the case and you can see that your photographs are looking flat, then make sure that you start thinking in mono instead (looking for strong lines and shapes).

2.    Food!

Chinese food is always eye catching so make sure you take lots of pictures of street snacks and stalls. In addition to this there are always nice cakes and sweets on sale during Chinese New Year.  Make sure you capture these (use a telephoto lens and crop closely) or buy some to take home to shoot later!

3.    Performers

There are always performers at the celebrations.  This could include dancers young and old, singers, lion dance artists, martial artist and so on.  Make sure that you get pictures of these people! You can even get in touch with the people hosting the performances beforehand and get permission to be back stage.  This way you get an up close and personal with the performers but make sure they know who you are and why you are there and in the case of children, make sure the parents have been informed before hand of what is happening.
In return you could ask to use the photographs in your portfolio and they could get some shots to use of the society/group websites.

4.    Night

If celebrations go on into night time then make sure you stray around to take some beautiful photographs!  You can plan heard and take a tripod with you, otherwise use a fast lens and open the aperture right up to avoid camera shake.  Use anything you can, like a wall for support. Look out for interesting lights and lanterns!

• What to photograph in February – Valentines Day (0)
• Taking Photographs at a Theme Park: Part 2 (0)
• Taking Photographs at a Theme Park: Part 1 (0)