Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have just passed, but New Year's Eve, or New Year's Eve, as we say around here, is yet to come. Another party, although with a different touch. If Christmas is something more familiar, with dinners and lunches, gifts, children, Christmas carols or gatherings, among others, New Year's Eve is characterized by being a happier party, of friends, of debauchery in some cases, of celebrating what we left behind and what is to come, to let go of our hair and let the music play and the champagne flow with the chimes as the starting gun.
And like any party, it's a moment worthy of being photographed, because that's what we like, to hold our camera tight and dance with it. Is that your plan? Well then stay, I'm going to give you some steps so that the dance is as harmonious as possible;).
RECOMMENDED OBJECTIVES
If you only have one goal, go for it. It is the best you will work with, squeeze it to the fullest. But if you have a choice, I will tell you which one you can use and why or for what.
BRIGHT
A New Year's Eve party is at night, which translates into low light. If you have a very bright objective it will help you a lot.
MACRO
Not that it's necessary, let alone essential, but if you have one and like to work in macro, it will help you capture the details and achieve some very interesting abstract photos, especially before the party when everything is in its place. still ;p.
WIDE ANGLE
If what you want is to capture the entire scene, you can take advantage of a wide angle, so you can capture the entire dance scene, a large group of people having fun, the entire table of diners...
FISH EYE
These objectives that are very specific will help you have fun and get different photos. Since it's a party, anything goes ;).
THE KING OF LENSES: 50MM 1.4
And if you have the king , it will serve you great as in any other social event. Ideal for getting portraits with the background out of focus, or a photo of a group of friends... a bright lens with a standard focal length. Or if not, the prince can also serve you.
OTHER RECOMMENDED ACCESSORIES
FLASH
If you have an external flash, take advantage of the party to work at high speed . A very creative way is to rear-curtain sync, very effective for capturing moving subjects with longer shutter speeds. This way you can get a frozen element with light trails and blurry shapes. A creative, dynamic and fun way to photograph people dancing.
You can have something like this, although, of course, with another decoration; P.
Here are some other creative ways to use flash, if you feel like experimenting ;). But do not abuse, especially if it is a dark environment, the flash will not be very welcome ;).
You can bounce the external flash, blur it… but please, DO NOT use the camera's built-in flash. You will "scare" the guests and you will get results that you will not like at all. If it's an emergency, use this trick: it's a bit cheesy but it'll do, put a tissue in front of the flash, at least you'll blur the flash.
TRIPOD
You will need it to photograph the fireworks, if that is the case, but also to appear in some photos, at least in the chimes or in a toast, what less, right?
REMOTE SWITCH
If you are going to use the tripod, either to stabilize the camera in a long exposure like fireworks or to get yourself in the photo, a remote shutter release will be very good for you. Ok, if you don't have one, you can activate the camera's timer, but I warn you, it's not nearly as convenient ;).
SETTINGS
I can't give you an exact recipe for the settings, since it will depend a lot on the type of photography you want to obtain and the moment, even so, in general terms I can tell you some tricks.
OPENING
If you're shooting a group of people, remember that if they're not in the same shot, a wide aperture won't capture them all clearly. The focused plane will be fine, but the rest won't. Use medium apertures with groups of people, for example f/8. You may need to use flash or raise ISO, especially if you are moving.
For details , don't be afraid to use very wide apertures. In this way you can blur the background and highlight the main subject. The same if you want to take a portrait of a single person or experiment with bokeh.
SPEED
Do you want to freeze motion? Something like flying champagne or falling confetti? Or take a picture of a group of people dancing and not blur? Use speeds starting at 1/125, for example. However, if you want to capture movement and get creative photos, experiment with slower speeds.
ISO
Leave the ISO value to adjust based on the other two. The ideal is a low value to avoid noise, however, sometimes it is better to have a photo with noise than not to have it. If you are going to photograph details, it is better to use a larger aperture and lower the ISO value, however, if you need to capture all the guests clearly in the toast of the chimes, well hey, you still have to risk with the ISO by having to use apertures medium and not very low speeds. Evaluate each situation and the importance of the photo.
WHITE BALANCE
Either you shoot in RAW and don't care about the subject, or be careful with this point, adjust the white balance depending on the lighting in the room. It's not the same if you use flash, if not, if it's a warm light or a fluorescent light. If you don't pay attention, you can end up with all your orange or blue photos... and that's not what you want, right? More info here.
ADVICE
And then a few tips and ideas so you don't miss out on anything.
MAKE A LIST
Ok, it's a crazy night and not one for planning, but for that very reason, if there are a series of photos with which you want to go home, write them down, so that when the champagne starts to take effect you can have a reference and you won't regret it. the next day ;).
BEFORE THE PARTY
I recommend that you arrive a little earlier to photograph the preparations, if possible, and if not, at least the decoration. Once the guests begin to arrive, everything that has been prepared with so much care begins to spoil, a tribute to whoever has done the work is to immortalize it with the same affection. You can use a macro, as I have told you, or the king of objectives , for example. And take care of the funds!
DIFFERENT ANGLES AND POINTS OF VIEW
Don't limit yourself to classic eye level shots. He manages to convey the debauchery of a party with extreme angles. Shoot from high or low angles and capture scenes from more unusual vantage points. You can also zoom out and capture the scenes "from the outside" as in this example (although it's starting to look a little visible, it's still more natural and dynamic than a normal posed):
FOOD
If something is taken care of at these parties it is the food and the table. The hosts can dedicate many hours to the kitchen to offer their best dishes, they take care of the presentation as much as the flavors. Take the opportunity to get beautiful photos. A zenithal angle will look like a movie, but if you are attracted to this type of photos, you can expand the information here , you will find a lot of tricks.
CAPTURE THE ATMOSPHERE
It's a party and it has to be noticed. Try to capture with your camera the happy and festive atmosphere, groups of people, smiles, laughter, jumping, dancing, avoid photographing isolated people, with a face like #I don't know what I'm doing here or #I've spent with the drinks. Surely it is not what marks the party, better focus on joy.
CLOSED FRAMES
Close the frame, this is not the time for negative spaces, except for details. A fuller frame with no empty edges will be more dynamic and in tune with the subject you are photographing.
THE CLOTHES
Most of the people take great care in their New Year's Eve dress. Try to take photos where the clothes look good, you can take a shot only of shoes, or dresses, details of bow ties... whatever you want, but the guests will surely like you to do it. Especially at the beginning of the night ;). And I can tell you the same about makeup and hairstyles ;).
SHOW
Are you in a party room? Is there a show? A concert? Then these tips can help you ;).
HAVE FUN
It's a party, take advantage of the dynamism of a party to pan , zoom, bokeh or anything else you can think of to experiment, some have fun dancing, others with the camera. If you are one of the latter, relax and have fun.
TOAST
Don't miss the toast moment, in any sense. Try to toast but also photograph it, it's time to place the tripod, use an angular lens and toast!!
FIREWORKS
If there are fireworks you don't want to miss the opportunity to photograph them. Use an aperture of approximately f/8, try an ISO value between 400-800 (if your camera supports it well, if it doesn't lower this value) and a speed of half a second or so. Of course, with a tripod and remote shutter if you want to get some clear fireworks. Remember to disable the image stabilizer if you use the tripod. And if you can block the mirror, all the better. More details here .
THE ALARM
The festive atmosphere may throw you off, better to use the trick of setting an alarm for a while before midnight, so that when it strikes twelve you have everything ready. Make sure you have space on the memory card and 
And here are the tips on how to photograph the last night of the year. I hope they have served you, if so I would appreciate it if you shared them.
What I really hope is that you have a wonderful 2018, full of new opportunities, great moments to immortalize with your camera and in your heart, that it be a GREAT year for you, photographically and personally. Happy New Year!
