A Canon photographer gives her five best tips for photographing Vivid Sydney

VIVID is just around the corner, so to celebrate news.com.au sat down with a Canon photographer to find out what you need to do to capture great shots.

Vivid will feature at Taronga Zoo for the first time to help celebrate its centenary year.

WHEN Vivid emerged in 2009, it contained 25 light installations at Sydney’s Circular Quay.

It has since become one of the world’s largest celebrations of light, music and ideas with 1.7 million visitors enjoying the 80 displays on offer last year.

This year’s event promises to continue the growth, with the program spanning 23 days and including iconic venues such as Taronga Zoo, the Royal Botanic Garden, Darling Harbour and Martin Place.

Whether you are a budding photographer or just looking to capture some snaps while out with your family, Vivid offers a plethora of opportunities to help capture some amazing images.

This year will be Sydney’s biggest yet.

As the nature of shooting an event like Vivid can pose some challenges, news.com.au recently caught up with Emma Desira from the Canon Collective to find out the top five tips for capturing great photographs during the celebrations.

1. Pay close attention to your frame and focus on exactly what you want in the photo.

2. Keeping the camera still is critical, bring a tripod and cable release so you don’t move the camera when you press the shutter button.

3. Keep ISO on low and narrow down your aperture — this will minimise the amount of light entering your camera sensor so you can capture all the finer details of the lights on show.

4. Narrow down the aperture for a suitable depth of field, this way you can capture all the details in one frame. This is particularly fun when capturing lights, as it will help create the starburst effect on the lights! We recommended (f11-f22).

5. Experiment — Be creative and look for something different. A great way to do this is testing out a variety of shutter speeds to achieve different results.

Everyone should be able to capture decent pictures with these tips.

In terms of the best location to capture great shots, Ms Desira said it all depends on the atmosphere you are trying to capture.

“There will be some great action in the middle of Circular Quay, but if you wanted to do shots throughout the city I would head across to the North Side as it will offer a beautiful city scape,” she told news.com.au

For those fearful they do not have the skills to capture some great images at Vivid, the photographer encourages you to get out and try.

“I think a little bit of understanding and encouragement can go a long way,” she said.

“Just shoot with enthusiasm and passion, and you will see good results.”

For those wanting a little more guidance, Canon will be offering a number of walking tours and other events to help people get the shots they want.