Party Pix - Digital Flow

I have agreed to shoot party pix of attendees of a charity auction. The

auction tickets include the price of a 5x7 photo of each couple, before they

leave for the evening. I will take 100-125 photos.

 

The auction people set me up with their laptop, their printer, and their

paper. So it's really just me making the photos and printing them and getting

them to the right people.

 

I normally shoot film, But I shoot some digital too. This will be my first gig

wherein I will be asked to produce a photo almost imediately.

 

Question: What would be an optimum in-camera set up to get the best quality

photos with the quickest possible turn-around? I plan on using a flash on a

flash bracket and possibly another flash/umbrella unit for some depth.

 

I realize I will have printer limitations.

You will have to nail down your exposure, meaning you will probably need to use your camera in manual mode and have your flashes in manual, and pre-figured so you can shoot large fine jpegs that are perfectly exposed (within 1/3 stop) that can go directly to the printer. You could get away with using automated flash metering on the on-camera flash IF your off camera flash was in manual, and you will need to allow time for your flashes to recycle properly between shots or your perfect exposure will be off.

Also, this kind of thing is difficult to do if you have to shoot AND handle the printing yourself. Get a helper.

What camera are you using Jeff?

 

To pull this off you WILL need help.

 

The way I'd do it (and have done it) is to set up in one area and bring the people there

(that's where the help comes in handy). That way you set up on a tripod, nail the exposure

and leave it ... and if your camera allows it, shoot straight to the laptop via a teathered

line. You see the full image on the screen immediately, name the file for them, and send it

to the printer ... Next !

 

BTW, don't forget to have envelopes to put them in.

 

Best of luck.

Actually, I'm thinking of using my wife's Lumix FZ50 for this. Its lightweight and sharp. I'm not doing anything special, so I can set it on a tripod and forget it. I will tether it to the laptop and print.

 

Nadine: Thats exactly how I had it pictured (pardon the pun). I was thinking of getting my flash meter out and working manually all night.

I do this sort of thing every year. I shoot the image, then I swap chips with my daughter who brings it up in Adobe Camera Raw, makes it pretty, and prints it.

 

The reason I use Camera Raw is because my conditions and locations are variable, and I shoot at night outdoors, which means I can't nail my exposure flawlessly on the first take (most of the time).

 

Later,

 

Paulsky

the key to the photographs is keeping your setup simple and getting consistent results.

 

a few months ago I was looking at doing a crazy number of photographs in 3 days (around 4 thousand a day!). dye sub printers are the answer.

 

in this case, I think you would need:

 

-camera setup (this is the easy part)

-one assistant

-one computer

-one printer

 

assuming no technical difficulties, your assistant would take your card every five minutes and print from the files (which should need VERY little correction).

 

what is your budget? I think that you should consider renting one of the dye sub printers that can turn out 4 5x7 photos a minute - they are great b/c you don't worry about ink. just put in the paper and spool and go, I believe.

Wow... I just did this and it was a nightmare! Here is my story and recomendations:

 

I did an event, hired out under another photographer. She couldn't be there, so I did it with an assisant. It was a banquet where about 500 people were in attendance. We set up a "photo booth" where each couple could get one picture taken during the cocktail hour. We brought in a backdrop and lights. I metered, custom white balanced, and shot it jpeg. That part went ok... then we put the card right into the printer and printed them onsite.

 

Here was the problem. We had no idea before hand if this would be a hit or not. We didn't know if we were going to do 20 couples, or 250. Well, it turned out that we did 164 couples... in a little more than an hour! I figured out it was an average of 30 seconds each couple. WOW... we were flying! There was a huge line up the whole time they could get pictures taken. My assistant was taking candids, and helping with the printer... that was problem #2.

 

The other photographer that I did the job for, went to Best Buy and bought 2 HP consumer printers. Well, it took over 2 minutes to print each image... you get the picuture. We were sweatin it that we wouldn't have them printed in time. We were just finishing the printing as people were leaving. The printing took about 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

 

But, that is not all... My photographer friend read in the instructions of the printers that you could get 87 images out of 1 ink cartrage. So, she figured we would need about 3, but on the safe side she bought 5. I had to send my assistant to the store to by 4 more. We went through 8 of the nine cartrages before the end of the night.

 

One more glitch. Our plan was to just stick the cards in and hit "print all". So, after the printer printed a few images, it said the ink was low. When we changed the ink, it asked us if we wanted to continue printing where we left off. Even when I said "yes", it would reset back to the beginning. So, we had to try and figure out where the printer was in the print job. It was a disaster! Also, the printer said that a few files were corrupt, and it wouldn't print them. When I got home they were all fine. In the end about 10 people couldn't find their picture, so my freind is going to have to mail them the image. (How she is going to figure out who they are, I have no idea. But, that is her job now...)

 

So, my recomendation is to have one or maybe even two assistants. Also, make sure that your printer is meant for the job! I don't think that this little HP printer was meant for this kind of work. If it would have been my job, I would have come here and researched it first, and bought something a little more professional!

Lots of good advice here, help is a must. swap chips and as marc said : The way I'd do it (and have done it) is to set up in one area and bring the people there (that's where the help comes in handy). That way you set up on a tripod, nail the exposure and leave it .

Will you have the chance to test the work flow and throughput before the night of the event? You are using someone else's computer and printer. It sounds like a potential disaster without a dry run.

Kari - Oh crap.

 

Tom - I think I'll have about an hour.

 

Khalil - good advice.

 

I am being supplied everything except my camera and equipment. They are supposed to provide a printer, paper, and a laptop. Like any photographer, I plan on doing the best quality work I can afford to do. The only problem it's with someone else's equipment.

Jeff, I'm worried that if the charity is providing the printer, it will be a low-end $100 consumer printer that takes a long time to create an image. You should at least find out what model printer you'll be using so you can look up the specs and figure out how slow it will be.

 

I haven't used an inkjet printer for a long time. Without further information, I'd figure an average of 2 minutes per print. Put the memory card into the card reader (Are they providing a compatible card reader? Does the computer have a working USB 2.0 port for your own card reader?) Copy images to hard drive to allow card to go back to the camera. Open images with software of some sort. Send image to printer. Wait for print driver on slow computer to rasterize image. Expect a lot of hard drive activity while the printer output spools. Wait for printer to start doing it's thing (note: printer specs do not include print driver processing). Deal with people coming back to pick up their prints.

 

2 minutes per print means the printer will need three to four hours to do all the work.

 

Putting all this together an hour before the event is a recipe for disaster. Is it a paid job or are you donating your time? With the given conditions, I'd try to get out it. The other alternative is to change the conditions - you can't do this job if you are seeing the equipment and software for the first time one hour before the start.

 

Good luck.

Yikes--its always the printer and printer speed that causes problems. I've heard stories similar to Kari's before. Since it won't be your printer, I would definitely make sure you have extra supplies--underestimation is typical, especially if the printer isn't one that is best suited to this kind of thing. Check out the print times, and double them, as well as expected wastage. Also, try to work with the administrator of the event to spread the sessions out during the first few hours of the event, so the last few hours can be spent making the prints. You also can then avoid people waiting around. When I did something similar, I had the person "checking people in" direct each couple to my station immediately. If there aren't too many couples arriving at the same time, it went pretty smoothly, and if there were, give the couple a timeframe to return to your station after cocktail hour is over. During dinner is inconvenient, but this avoids people getting crabby about waiting in line rather than socializing.

I agree with others that the printer and its speed is the main concern of the work flow. I had shot many asian weddings and the B&G usually provide their pictures w/ guests as a gift. I use dye-sub Fuji ASK-2000 for the job. It prints 5x7 in 16 sec. and 4x6 in 8 sec. with good quality. No ink-jet printer can do that. The only draw back is you have to be very close with your exposure since you do not have much time for editing, and the printer is a little pricey. I shoot jpeg tether to a laptop and have my daughter helps with cropping and printing, maybe a little PS if we have to. You need to be well-prepared for this, especially the printer.