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04/03/2008 08:47:58 AM · #1 |
I have been asked if I would be interested in shooting portraits at a father/daughter dance at a local elementary school. I am, but it would be new territory for me. From what I understand, I could expect around 100 to 150 clients. I haven't shot anything other than individuals before, so mass-production and mailing is something new to me.
Ok, here are the questions:
1) If you have shot something comparable, what did you offer in terms of end-product, and what did you charge? What type of background have you found works best?
2) How did you handle printing and distribution? Any suggestions on sites / companies would be appreciated.
Thanks. |
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04/03/2008 08:56:44 AM · #2 |
In regards to the background choice...I've been to a couple of father/daughter dances as a parental participant and they both had a theme. The photographers' that were contracted used a background that matched the theme.
Good luck! :-) |
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04/03/2008 09:15:16 AM · #3 |
Hey, Sam.
For background, I'd go with a neutral, perhaps mottled gray or similar. That way it will work okay with most people's clothing.
It helps to have a 2nd person around for events like that. One person to gather name, address and payments and the other to do the actual shooting. You could print on-site, but that can be a bit too time-consuming if there are a lot of participants. Best bet would be to order prints & mail them out a few days after the event.
When is the dance? I'd be happy to help ya brainstorm. Call anytime.
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04/03/2008 06:24:27 PM · #4 |
Cindi, I will give you a call tomorrow.
Anybody with any experience pricing these events?
Thanks. |
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04/03/2008 07:40:02 PM · #5 |
I've done a couple similar things lately that were charity, but it may be able to help.
At my elementary, a parent volunteer took down the information and took care of the payments. Becuase the students are in the school, we took the mame of the student AND HIS/Her TEACHER. To keep it simple, we offered only one size, 8X10. Clients prepaid, and were able to order additional copies at the same time. Once the pictures were ready, they were sent home with the child, and the office was able to get them to the correct child. In the elementary, most communication is done through the children: notes and such.
I took 4 shots of each family group, to make sure I got a nice shot. Each set would result in a 4X6 with the 4 shots as proofs for possible reorders, and an 8X10.
I went home, weeded out the few extras to cover problems, and made sure there were 4 for each client. Then, I ran the automated picture package in CS2 and put 4 pictures on a 4X6 with the file number on the shot.. These sets went into one file. Then I went back through the original 4 and chose the best (in my opinion) shot, and copied it into another folder. Using that folder, I ran an action to crop the shots to an 8X10 and same them in the folder (these were already copies of the originals.)
I used an online printer and uploaded my proof, ordered a single 4X6 of each, and uploaded the 8X10's, ordering the number requested for each. By keeping both the proofs and the 8x10s in the order they were shot, I was abe to quickly match up the sets. Once the prints were ready, I simply assembled the proofs with the 8X10's, placed it in the sack with a business card and a reorder form. I placed a label on the front of the sack that I had printed off from a merge file of my spreadsheet data (name, teacher, number of copies, etc.). Then I separated them by teacher and delivered them to the school for distribution.
The church Daddy/Daughter Dance was done in a similar fashion, but I could have easily gone with only 2 shots instead of 4.
It took about 5 minutes to shoot 4 shots of a family group. Then couples took less time, about 3-4 minutes for 4 shots. It can go faster for 2 shots each.
When I helped shoot a high school dance, we shot only 1 shot per couple, then checked the LCD to make sure the eyes were open before sending the couple on.
It helps to several predetermined poses you want to use with your couples. Four or five possibilities makes for some variety.
End product - we had only 1 option (charity and all), an 8X10, which was priced at $8 for the 1st copy and $5 for additional copies. The school patrons are not well off, and the PTA wanted all that wished pictures to be able to participate. I felt that $10/8 would have been very reasonable.
The schools picture packages run between $12 and $30 depending on the contents - based on pricing requirements set by the Board of Education.
If your elementary is more affluent, and the dance is a big deal, I believe you could easily charge in the $20-30 range and create a package of sizes.
We used the background curtains on the stage, which are black, for both shoots. Props made the shot unique. Obviously you'll need a hairlight or background light if you use the black curtains.
I also had Costco print the images and it was wonderful - just make sure you have the color profile or have them color correct.
I hope this helps. (Just in case you wondered, I run a school.) |
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04/03/2008 08:01:06 PM · #6 |
Thanks Rebecca. That's exactly the information I need. This is a Catholic elementary school, and they too want this to be as affordable as possible to ensure anyone who wants to participate can. I'm hoping to come up with a reasonable offering for $10, just to minimize change making. I like the idea of the 4 by 6 proof.
I had already spoken to the organizer about distributing via school to keep the cost down, and they were very willing to do that.
I'm hoping to make something on this, but primarily want to get my card in the hands of people who may be interested in at-home portraits later.
Thanks again. |
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04/03/2008 08:06:17 PM · #7 |
Are you sure they want you to do it? Or did someone in the committee meeting ask who was going to do portraits for the event and someone else answered "Nobody"?
Good luck - I think you'll do great though. Post some pics ina free study for us low voters to feast on. ;-) |
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04/03/2008 08:25:57 PM · #8 |
I just went to my Sons Mother son dance (pure chaos)
Anways, they had the photographer there
she had an assistant that took names adn the money and handed out prints or put them on the table.
They where 5 bucks each money up front
she did go with theme of the night which was Cowboys, so had a fence, a bucket red background I think a hat or two too.
she did do the prints right there and either gave them to the people or put them on a table for them to pick up, didnt matter to her if they picked them up or not as she had the money up front |
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04/03/2008 09:52:55 PM · #9 |
Figure out how much you want to make per hour. I was able to do 20 client sets per hour. The prints cost me $1.67/set. It took about 3-4 hours to process the shots and package them, so I'd figure double the shooting time for processing. So, how long are you going to shoot? How many potential couples? One will impact the other.
Figuring 3 hours of shooting and 60 couples, you'd have 9 hours and 60 client sets. So, in order to make $50 an hour, you'd need to charge $7.50 over your costs. Not counting your equipment costs, etc., just your printing, you'd need to charge $9.00 for an 8x10 and proof. Whoops - forgot to figure in set up- take down and packing, but you've got the idea. $10.oo for the 8x10 and proof would be a reasonable minimum.
You may want to make a packet with 2 5x7's so the dad gets one, and the daughter gets one. That would cost about $1.55 to print. That would also work at $10/set. |
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