Taking Pictures

Did you know that our hosts used to have to do a whole-ass, multi-paragraph blog after every event? It's true. Uphill, in the snow, both ways, and within 24 hours of the event start time. 

These days, your only requirement is the event report which consists of pictures. This little section will break down some best practices for taking team pictures during your event. 

Why are they required? Simply put, they go up on geekswhodrink.com and are supposed to help promote your event by showing off how fun it is. So don't take or post crappy pictures. 

If your event has 10 or fewer individuals/groups playing, you should have time to try and hit everyone up for a picture. 

If your event is 20+ individuals/groups, try and get a healthy sampling of 7-10 pictures. 

If you have a dog-friendly venue and you're a dog-friendly person, take some dog pics. Those are always popular. 

DO NOT just take crowd shots from where you're hosting. 

DO NOT just take pics of the winners.

Remember, the pictures are supposed to help promote your event by showing off how fun it is. 

We recommend taking pictures during the break between Side A and Side B. You can also take pictures during the small breaks after round 2 in each set, whichever works best for you!

Yes! (Sorry, old timey hosts with actual cameras. Phones have come a long way.)

Always ask before taking a picture!

Some people don't want their picture taken. Respect that. It doesn't hurt to announce before coming around to take team pictures, e.g. "During the break, I'll come around and take team pictures. They will appear, with your scores, tomorrow on geekswhodrink-dot-com. Please let me know if you don't want me to take your picture. 

Keep your file sizes 1.2 MB or smaller

If your file sizes are too large, you can run into issues uploading them to your event report.
Two easy fixes:
1. Email them to yourself and re-size them in the process.
2. Change your phone's settings to take photos at a smaller file size so you don't have to mess around with re-sizing. 

Pay attention to file type!

OYQ currently only accepts JPG and PNG files

Yes, HEIC is a dope format. OYQ will accept it eventually but does not currently.

Take your pictures in landscape!

If you take pictures in portrait on most phones, they will flip on their side when you upload them to OYQ. 

Watch out for lighting. Bars tend to be dark. 

Check your phone's settings for a "night" setting. Take pictures before it gets dark. Use a flash. You may have to play around with this a bit but these are pretty solid tips on how to make sure your pictures don't look like you have a bunch of Cheshire Cats playing at your event. 

Double check your pictures after you press save and publish. 

Are they on their side? Are they upside down? Are they blurry as hell? Are they just plain bad? Unpublish the report, adjust or scrap the bad photos, and republish. We can't emphasize this enough: The pictures are supposed to help promote your quiz by showing off how fun it is. The bar owners and taproom managers look at our website and if they see a bunch of cruddy or missing photos, that's not a great look.