Image Sales at an Event

Hi folks,

 

<p>Glad to see this forum was finally added to the list!

 

<p>Anyway, I shoot quite a lot of events and end up selling some

prints and/or image disks after the event to the participants. I'm

wondering if others out there have a system to deliver high quality

prints on-site. My guess is that people would be more willing to

buy prints while they were still at the event and feeling the

participants' "high". Any ideas?

 

<p>Sean

<br><a

href="http://www.stnphotography.com">www.stnphotography.com</a>

<em>I'm wondering if others out there have a system to deliver high quality prints on-site.</em>

<p>

I guess it depends on how large you want the prints, but I've been very interested in the <a href="http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=147&modelid=10074&sa=true" style="text-decoration: underline">Canon CP-330</a> dye-sub printer with battery pack.

</p>

 

Quite mobile and excellent quality.

I have seen someone lately doing exactly those types of sales.

 

Ten days ago at a large vintage auto racing event in Wisconsin there was a vendor tent selling images of the vintage racers. Hung on the front of the tent there were several 24"x 36 index sheets of images from the event with more index sheets added each day. The signs directed customers to pick an image and included a price list for various print sizes that would be printed to order. Sorry, but I was too busy thinking about the economics of this approach and I didn't take note of the printer he was using. Interesting idea.

I saw that tent to Fred. I did not see the printer either. I have seen the same setup at a dragstrip I go to. I see a couple of problems. One if someone wants to buy a print I want to PS it in the comfort of my home to get everything looking proper. Second I go to photograph races, but also enjoy them. Sitting in a tent running a printer is not my idea of fun.

Did you understand what the setup was with this vendor? Was there one person off photographing and one or two people manning the tent? If I remember correctly most of the shots were from Turn 6 so it must have been at least a two person operation, with a lot of photo editing going on in the evenings. I couldn't figure out how they made money with those prices with two people involved. Sorry, but that's the economics major in me.

 

As for Sean's question, conidering the position of this vendor's tent not too far from the RA gift shop it could be that they had electrical power rather than operating off batteries. I hope to see more response to Sean's question because now I'm really curious about how all this works.

Take a look at www.robgalbraith.com. There are both event and sports forums - posts there have extensive info on the setups for onsite printing.

Hi Sean

I shoot and print photos on site. I shoot mostley hockey here are my methods.

 

1. No time for photoshop Simple is best. Adjust the camera to get what you need. The majority of purchases at these events are motivated by emotion and spur of the moment thoughts. They did not get the shot you did their camera was not good enough ect....

 

2. I use two pc notebooks running XP 2 Canon I950 printers pooled together, 1 Display Monitor 17" running a slide show of the event with Iview software this displays the filename as well. I also use IOMEGA photo Printer its free and runs a slide show and supports drag and drop printing. Again I cannot emphsize enough that you should keep it simple and you do not have enough time to make each image just right

 

3. I shoot and get the images on the pc My wife runs the slideshow and handles the printing.

 

4. At hockey I have power from the wall but remotely as in soccor or baseball if Hydro is not available I use a generator.

 

5. I use a tent even indoors it defines my space and looks proffesional.

 

6. Take special request this make the customer feel special and you will do your best to get a good shot.

 

 

 

I hope this info helps I shoot about 3000 shots in a 3 day event and sell about 150 of them I do this about 7 times a year.

 

Cheers

Michael