# What to do???



## leeroix (Mar 19, 2013)

Well I have another event coming up, and this time the promoter wants to have pictures printed out on site. A few questions, or concerns on my end... before I politely tell him that this is not possible, I wanted to make sure it wasn't. This will be a typical event, similar to this http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/people-photography/317327-party-time.html
He suggested that I print pictures at the event for people. The problem is, that I shoot RAW, and don't lug my computer around to process all the photos. He said he is willing to purchase a printer or another camera or whatever is needed. Im trying to tell him that this style cannot simply be spit out of a camera like a Polaroid. Any advice for me?


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## tirediron (Mar 19, 2013)

Pass on the job?  I don't like the "photo-booth" style of work either, but if that's what the dude signing the cheque wants, and it's not what you want...


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## KmH (Mar 19, 2013)

To print onsite you shoot JPEGs and use dye-sub printers.


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## leeroix (Mar 19, 2013)

Wellllllllll, I'd rather not do that as this is opening other doors for me. He doesn't really know how everything works, and thinks it would be simple to do. I guess I just wanted some reassurance that this was in fact a bad idea for this event. Would there be another way to catalogue the photos and deal with it later?


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## runnah (Mar 19, 2013)

Can you set up a lightroom preset and batch em through that way?


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## leeroix (Mar 19, 2013)

Yeah, thats a possibility. Even with a preset, I still find that some photos still need some tweeking (individually). I guess thats better than nothing.


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## orljustin (Mar 19, 2013)

leeroix said:


> Wellllllllll, I'd rather not do that as this is opening other doors for me. He doesn't really know how everything works, and thinks it would be simple to do. I guess I just wanted some reassurance that this was in fact a bad idea for this event. Would there be another way to catalogue the photos and deal with it later?



Let's see.  Accommodate the client's request, or tell him you are unwilling or unable to handle it.  Seems easy.


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## TATTRAT (Mar 19, 2013)

leeroix said:


> Yeah, thats a possibility. Even with a preset, I still find that some photos still need some tweeking (individually). I guess thats better than nothing.



If amusement parks can do it with roller coasters, I am sure that you could set something up that would do the deed. If it something that's opening doors for ya, I would go for it, but politely explain that it's not typically how it goes, and then if it works out, you look like a photographer bad ass. If there are some flubs, then he can't say you didn't warn him.


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## leeroix (Mar 19, 2013)

Yep, all good points. Im not shying away from doing it, I just want to do it right. And by that I mean I don't want to compromise the typical product I deliver. Without sounding selfish with my point of view, I wanted to look at all the angles. I appreciate his business, and would like to stand out from other people. I guess what Im coming to grips with is there is no "easy" way to do it, and to do it efficiently it may require more than myself?


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## Derrel (Mar 20, 2013)

Shoot RAW + JPEG and set the camera up "right", so that the images coming off the card look decent. Most any Nikon made since 2007 can do that--easily. Set the camera up right, for printing direct output.

Have you seen the output off of the small EPSON portable printers that print right off of a memory card onto pre-cut paper? The pictures look damned good. Dye sub is much more costly, but prints out faster. You could own four of these small EPSON inkjet printers for a little over $400, including the paper to print 800 or so 4x6 prints.


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## Steve5D (Mar 20, 2013)

leeroix said:


> Wellllllllll, I'd rather not do that as this is opening other doors for me. He doesn't really know how everything works, and thinks it would be simple to do. I guess I just wanted some reassurance that this was in fact a bad idea for this event. Would there be another way to catalogue the photos and deal with it later?




If you want the gig, adapt. Don't shoot RAW.

If you don't adapt, you can bet your last dollar that he won't be telling others that you couldn't do it because you needed to edit your photos before printing them. Instead, he'll be telling others that you simply couldn't do what he saw as a simple request.

He wants to hire you, and one of the things he wants is for you to be able to print on site. You can either accomodate that, or you can't.

Make the call...


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## bratkinson (Mar 20, 2013)

While one could get an eye-fi card and wirelessly transfer the pictures to your laptop as RAW, + post processing, plus printing, that would likely require an extra body to do all the computer work while you keep shooting.

Plan B would be to have an Epson or other ink jet printer (I have Epsons) that take CF and/or SD cards directly.  Assuming you are shooting JPGs, you should be able to simply put it in the slot, scroll down on the little screen to the picture you want to print, and print it on whatever size you choose.  I've never tried it before.  So I don't know if it works that easily or not.  I also suspect that whatever card you use will have to have only JPGs on it, not RAW + JPG...just a guess.  Hopefully, someone here can confirm all that I've said.  

Also, you wouldn't need to be attached to a computer with the printer.  But I think you'll still need a helper to do the printing while you're out shooting.  You'll also need a handful of smaller size cards to work with, perhaps one per 'family' to give to your helper to print.  

Lastly, not having post processing availablilty, you'll have to have the white balance correct in the camera.  Hopefully, there's no florescent lights to screw things up WB-wise.  Or, 'overpower' the florescent with a flash...

Bottom line, get used to "get it right in the camera" mode of shooting.  Digital with post processing has made me very lax in that respect from my film days.


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## leeroix (Mar 20, 2013)

Cool. Thanks everybody Im going to look into a printer that accepts the card directly. I totally forgot about setting RAW+jpg. (the RAW shots I could then edit later) For the straight-on people posing shots, it should be good right out of the camera as I dont usually touch those (maybe a better crop) If you look at my link on top, the streaky/nightclub-ish shots I bumped up the blacks and tweeked some other things to pull some detail out of the haze of the lights and movement. -Thats mainly what I was concerned about. Again, thanks for the ideas!


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## shefjr (Mar 20, 2013)

This is probably a dumb idea but, what the hell. I recently saw a photographer who set up a projector to his laptop and was able to project photos of the wedding and after party while at the banquet facility. I know it's not printing but, maybe the event guy is just looking for an instant type of thing for people to be able to see themselves. You could then offer to print all or selected photos at a later time. I don't know if this would be tasteful enough for your event but, it's a thought.

In either case, good luck!


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## pgriz (Mar 20, 2013)

Frankly, I see "win" in this. You print the local JPG files and keep your customer happy. You also stamp your coordinates on the back (you do have a stamp, no?) so that those who want "better" images can contact you for followup, and presumably more print sales of a better kind. RAW+Jpg is normal for this kind of thing. Just remember to put the frame number on the back so you know which one it came from.  It the paper bleeds though the stamp ink, get preprinted labels, or print a bunch on a laser printer.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Mar 20, 2013)

Derrel said:


> Shoot RAW + JPEG and set the camera up "right", so that the images coming off the card look decent. Most any Nikon made since 2007 can do that--easily. Set the camera up right, for printing direct output.
> 
> Have you seen the output off of the small EPSON portable printers that print right off of a memory card onto pre-cut paper? The pictures look damned good. Dye sub is much more costly, but prints out faster. You could own four of these small EPSON inkjet printers for a little over $400, including the paper to print 800 or so 4x6 prints.



^^^^^^^That sure beats turning work down! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





And your competitor that does bring printing gear may have the work from this customer till the end of time.


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## leeroix (Mar 20, 2013)

pgriz said:


> Frankly, I see "win" in this. You print the local JPG files and keep your customer happy. You also stamp your coordinates on the back (you do have a stamp, no?) so that those who want "better" images can contact you for followup, and presumably more print sales of a better kind. RAW+Jpg is normal for this kind of thing. Just remember to put the frame number on the back so you know which one it came from.  It the paper bleeds though the stamp ink, get preprinted labels, or print a bunch on a laser printer.


Thats a good idea too!


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## kathyt (Mar 20, 2013)

shefjr said:


> This is probably a dumb idea but, what the hell. I recently saw a photographer who set up a projector to his laptop and was able to project photos of the wedding and after party while at the banquet facility. I know it's not printing but, maybe the event guy is just looking for an instant type of thing for people to be able to see themselves. You could then offer to print all or selected photos at a later time. I don't know if this would be tasteful enough for your event but, it's a thought.
> 
> In either case, good luck!



This is a good idea. I have the same problem every year when I shoot dance festivals. The dance studio owner wants me to sell the images after the show. Yeah right. I normal shoot about 1000 images from one performance and it takes time just to upload to my computer, let alone do a few edits. This type of thing is reserved for big box studios that spit out pictures with the same lighting setup. I want to be able to sift through my work, and make it look its best. This takes time. I simply told her I was unable to do something like that, because I did not have enough time after the show to accommodate. I did do a slideshow during intermission of the dress rehearsal that was a huge hit. They saw a glimpse of my work, and knew the quality of images they could expect with their purchase. Win, win. I still am shooting for this studio twice a year.


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## dutcheagle (Mar 20, 2013)

Our photo-group does stuff like this on a regular basis, we show up with 6 people and have 2 boots, 4 photographers and 2 printer/computer operators. In this way we can do about 200 prints in 4 hours. So take that in halve if you are with 2 people, you shooting and someone else printing/editing (crop and fix major problems) it can be done. It is a quick sell and not a lot of after event work but new business if your marketing is right. 
We use several memory cards, WIFI is too slow for this. Have a IN bin and a OUT bin on the table to rotate the cards. I don't see this kind of thing to be a one person task.


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## leeroix (Mar 20, 2013)

Hmmmm... an associate of mine, (who will also be there) handles all the lights, and special effects. He also has a projector...


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## pgriz (Mar 20, 2013)

leeroix said:


> Hmmmm... an associate of mine, (who will also be there) handles all the lights, and special effects. He also has a projector...



Why not ask for a corner where you can put up a poster board with "SOOC" shots, and what they look like after editing?  You know, before/after.  The projector will show the shots as they come in, and like moths to a flame, you'll have a queue forming.  And if they want to look good (the point being driven home by your little display), well that where the editing part comes in.  And since it's super-hard and time-consuming, you'll have to get that to them later.


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## bratkinson (Mar 21, 2013)

One of the things I've been learning about photography and producing results is "time is of the essence". Yeah, that one, found in almost every contract ever written, from what I've seen.

In any 'event' situation, people want to see the pictures yesterday, if not sooner. Even waiting a week loses a good portion of potential customers. Being able to see the results now, or 10 minutes from now is what they want to see. Everyone wants instant gratification these days. In years gone by, Polaroid made a fortune selling 'instant print' (1 minute) cameras and film. Even by photography 'standards' of 1953, Polaroid pictures were less than great. But they got 'em right now! Sixty years later, we should be able to do better.

To that end, I'm guessing the participants and attenders of the 'event' (bride and groom excepted, maybe others) would be satisfied with something not far from SOOC. I'm in the middle of processing through the pictures of a 5 day event at church and need to put together CDs of the pix as well as a presentation, 7 days after it happened. So I don't have time to make the pictures as 'perfect' as I would like to. So, after paring them down to about 25% 'keepers', I'm cranking them through Lightroom with little more than WB adjustment and cropping to fix less-than-horizontal shots. The end results are far better than what any cell phone, point-n-shoots or lower end DSLRs could produce, so I'm sure they will ALL be delighted! In short, it's not my best results, but it is better than absolute SOOC.


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## Vautrin (Mar 24, 2013)

Any product (in this case: photos) have a target market.

Most people who are interested in paying $20 for something a photographer took just as they were coming to an event aren't interested in your best work.

Why not?  It's not your target market.

It's the same reason you probably don't own a ferrari.

If you really wanted to, and ferrari were to condescend to allow you to, you could own one.

But probably it's not so important, and Ferrari doesn't view you as such an important customer.

My point is such a thing as a photo booth is by definition not of your best work where you adjust sliders, burn, and dodge until it's beautiful.

It's about getting an OK picture in 30 seconds you can sell for $20

Maybe you can indeed do a GREAT picture, or an AWESOME picture in 15 minutes of photoshopping.

Doesn't matter, that's not the target market, and not what you're paid for.


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## amolitor (Mar 24, 2013)

If you could arrange to get a distinctive "look" for the printed on-site photos, maybe apply some instagram style pseudo-polaroid look, or similar, you avoid polluting your own brand as much. There's a distinct "oh yeah, those are leeroix's on-site prints" versus "oh yeah, those are leeroix's real work"

It doesn't have to look BAD, just distinctly different.


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## leeroix (Mar 24, 2013)

^good points


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## jacoba (May 1, 2013)

I agree with a lot of the ideas here.  There are some very good ones.

I just have a couple of suggestions for you.  If you are worried about tweaking your photos, then I would compromise with the promoter.  I would explain that in order for this to be viable, you'd have to set up a "booth," per se.  Maybe just have like a vinyl backdrop that has the venue name, or the event name/sponsors printed on it.  Then you could set it up and take photos of people in that spot.  This would allow you to use presets in lightroom that match all of the photos since the settings should remain the same.  If you have an eye-fi card, you could set up a router and a laptop and your lighting assistant could quickly edit the photos for you.  If it's like a 4 hour event, then start doing the photo shoots about an hour, or two in to the event and then you can spend the last couple of hours printing the photos so that they will be ready when people leave.  Or, you could even print each one on the fly as they download to the laptop.

I would also explain to the promoter that photos of the actual event will need to be later edited and processed on your end for the website, or wherever you post them.  This way, you are compromising by taking his idea and still making it work, but you are not actually sacrificing your moral dilemma of photographic integrity.  The onus would be on the people who posed for the photos.  If they don't look good, it wasn't you, or your camera's fault.  I would also discuss with the promoter that you will be definitely taking a cut.  Either a lump sum for this extra work, or a certain percentage of each photograph that is sold.  Or, since you are the one doing all of the work, I would attempt to take 100% of the profits; he is already getting his wish of having the photos printed.

If you want to be generous, you could give him a small percentage, and possibly donate some proceeds to whatever event this is.

Gotta spend money to make money.

That's just my two cents.


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