School Event Photography

I have been asked to take individual portraits of approximately 180 children

within a 90 minute time-frame. (I know....whew!) The children will be posing on

a prop, outdoors in the shade, likely under a tree. The event will be held

between 8:30 to 10:00 am.

I will be using a Canon 30D. Although I have a Canon 50 mm 1.4 lens which is

great for natural light, I prefer the catchlights and won't have time to

position the children for "natural catchlights"

My question is: Can my Canon 580 EX II flash keep up with this number of

images in a short amount of time (without recycling problems?) My alternative

would be to bring my studio flashes with either a soft box or shoot-through

umbrella set-up. For the hot shoe flash, I was thinking of attaching my external

flash to a flash bracket or just using my Lumiquest system to diffuse the light

a bit. Any ideas of input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

That's 2 kids per minute? Forget worrying about light. Shoot RAW and fix the pix

afterwards.

 

Invest your energy in building a crew that can keep track of all those children, their

paperwork and the image number cards for the shots and get them on and off the set at the

rate of 2 per minute.

" 180 children within a 90 minute "

 

Sorry but NO, I don't think so without running into problems. I work with kids myself on weekends and the schedule is similar with what you are talking about. We use portable powerpacks made by norman, with a one light set-up for outdoors and a two light set-up with umbrellas indoors. http://www.adorama.com/NMA400BMR.html?emailquote=Y For indoors we use a 400 watt powerpack that plugs into an outlet.

 

You might get by with a Canon CPE4 flash power pack. I have the CPE3 which I use for weddings. Still, bring some extra charged batteries with you. Just make sure you dont blow out that flash !

Thank you so much for your input. The thing is, the teachers are just using these images for a project that the children are to complete by the end of the day! They are making their own frames with craft sticks that they will decorate. Seems like no big deal, right? But my reputation could be at stake if I sent out a bunch of bad pictures! I definitely don't want to overwork my external flash. I have also considered liability issues since it would be difficult to tape down any power cords that are in the grass! I have Photoshop CS3, and could shoot raw, but that would take more time than I have!

Also, of course, I would have the original image files, for those parents who want enlargements and such. I'm going through this trouble because it is for my son's school but not only that, it's a chance for free advertising! I have asked the teachers to stagger the children in groups (as opposed to showing up at the last minute!) and I've even thought of making a game of it-where the kids have to run to the staging area, I take the shot, then they have to get off of the saddle (the prop) and RUN to another point (so they think it is some kind of relay instead of dilly-dallying around). Also, I feel kind of pressured because apparently in the past they have done this with multiple photographers.The parents were comparing photos and actually commented because some of the images were poor!

" have asked the teachers to stagger the children in groups (as opposed to showing up at the last minute!) and I've even thought of making a game of it-where the kids have to run to the staging area"

 

This might work if the kids are 'all' well behaved, but you got your 'problem kids'. The ones that start crying infront of the camera or worse, acting the clown, or are very, very difficult to pose. It can be done, but I would ask for a little more time.

 

Since you are using the flash for fill and the sun as your main light I suppose, maybe the flash wont get that hot, because I think that even Canon recomends letting the flash rest for about 10 minutes after a series of continuous flashes. I don't know if that means fill-flash. In any case, I think you are definately going to need the CPE4 if you plan to use the 580EX II.

 

You might be able to use you studio flash then put a bunch of bags and equopment on the wires so the kids dont trip over them.

Oh so you have to make 180 prints the same day as well. What happens if it's raining? Personally, I think you have been sucker punched. :(

If anything goes wrong, you can't afford the bad advertising it will get you. You'd almost be better off blowing half a wedding, at least you can refund the money and only piss off a few people.

Thanks, Harry. I am going to talk to the people at the school that are heading this up and let them know that given the amount of time, I would have 10 minutes to photograph each of the 9 classes with about 20 kids in each class. Not to mention that these are Kindergarteners! Maybe breaking it down like this will help them to see that these are a bit challenging conditions. Any idea how much a CPE4 would cost? I just spend a bunch of money on soft boxes for the studio and am trying to keep the cost down!

Bob, I'm not sure what they will do if it rains. After all, it is a mini-rodeo. Maybe they will just reschedule it.

I'm willing to help out the school in any way that I can, but I do have to consider my reputation. I don't want to compromise my equipment either. Worse case scenario, I may have to batch process some of the images in Photoshop! Also, a little Xanax may not be a bad idea on the morning of the shoot :) Just kidding!

"Not to mention that these are Kindergarteners! Maybe breaking it down like this will help them to see that these are a bit challenging conditions. Any idea how much a CPE4 would cost?"

 

Oh No ! Kindergarteners are the worse ! Dont get me wrong, they are the cutest, but you practically have to pose them yourself. Beleive me you will feel it the next morning.

 

The CPE4 cost abput $150, or less last time I looked. It comes with a recharger but you are probably going to need 2 sets of (8) rechargeable batteries. They pay for themselves in the long run.

Sorry, the CPE4 does NOT come with a recharger. You have to buy one of those rechargeable battery kits with a recharger. Duracell is pretty good. The batteries charge in about an hour or so, if they are not very depleted.

Good news! I just talked to the-person-in-charge and she said that all of the children do not have to be posed on the saddle! Candid shots are okay (I prefer this to posed shots...more authentic) and she has already arranged for the classes to be staggered. I can have more time too, if needed (not much, but it's better than nothing) I suspect there will be a few moments of "downtime" here and there,alternating with times when I am slammed. I personally plan on taking as many candid shots as possible so that I know I can capture all of the images I need without having to wrestle with any of the kids. Harry, you are right. Kindergarteners are the cutest, but the worst. Trust me, I have a 6 year old boy and an 18 month old girl. They are a challenge! And can you say "DRAMA?" I was also thinking of getting some kind of stickers and "tagging" the students as I photograph them. That way, the adults know who has/has not been photographed. So now I am not going to just be stuck under a tree in the shade. More options!

Sonia, you're a mom and you thought you could shoot 180 kids in 90 minutes? Try more like the entire school day -- if you could pull it off at two minutes per kids times 180 that's 360 minutes divided by 60 is six hours even with no breaks. Even at two minutes you really need to have everything working perfectly. Anything you're going to get in 30 seconds per kid, saddle or no saddle, is going to be a snapshot at best. Might as well hand the teacher a Polaroid and let her do it herself. I've shot preschool portraits, and I've also the father of a 10-year-old and 12-year and have been there and done that.

Thanks, Craig for your input. As I mentioned in my previous entry, I spoke w/the person-in-charge and they are okay with candid shots. I have expressed my concerns and the assured me that they "are not looking for perfect photos." I feel confident that I can capture images that are correctly exposed, cropped appropriately ,and that reflect the mood and feel of the event,which is what they seem to be looking for-not the professional level portraits that I thought they expected. After all, the pics are going to be glued to a homemade frame of popscicle sticks! They also want them developed at "Walgreens" because that's all that their budget allows!BTW,This is a freebee.I know that as a Dad, you know all about the volunteering for school projects :)