Big Job - Any Suggestions?

[kenna]

I hope I am posting this in the right forum. I have an upcoming job doing family portraits at a local church on Easter Sunday. They are expecting 7,000 people, and will be heavily advertising the portrait sessions. Has anyone ever handled a similar job? I expect about 700 people based on preliminary surveys. I have never done anything like this. I anticipate allowing each family 20 seconds. Is that unrealistic? I will have a total of three photographers, three assistants taking forms and recording the photo numbers for each family, and three assistants managing the lines and preparing folks. Are there any software programs designed to support these type of events? Any advice is welcome, and if you need any more information, I'll be checking the boards frequently. Thanks so much for the help and for making these forums available!!!
Kenna

[another view]

Wow, sounds like a three-ring circus! I think once you got everything set up you could do it pretty quickly, but 20 seconds sounds really fast! I'd want a few exposures to make sure everybody's eyes were open at least.

I know there are software packages available for shoots like this but can't really tell you much about what they do and how they do it. Check with Calumet, I think I saw something in their catalog.

[drg]

Big job, and the hard work really comes after with the printing and order filling etc.

Are you shooting with tethered DMF (Medium Formats), DSLR's or chip n' carry's(the commercial store cams with the photo card) or film . . . ?

If there are very many children involved 20 seconds is not probably going to be very close to average. I'd allow at least 2 to 3 minutes per, on average, for everything. Stools get knocked over, people are different heights and you have adjust lighting or find a box to stand on, people stop and talk. Give yourself a little cushion.

I'll think on this and try to give you some more ideas in detail later, particularly with 3 shooters and keeping everything straight regardless of of format.

- CDP

[92135011]

Allow more time.
You are shooting families not just single people.
They will take time positioning themselves and so on.
Just use 100iso and under, perhaps iso50.
Looks like you gonna have to rent a backdrop and a light kit.
Take at least 3 shots of each family.
Have one guy constantly going back and forth between one computer, uploading the images. (this means that you need a spare card)
What you can also do is get a dry erase board. Write down each family's number and place it at the edge of the image. Crop it out later. This is just in case you mix up the images.

[kenna]

Great ideas, especially the white board. Thanks for your suggestions!
Kenna

Allow more time.
You are shooting families not just single people.
They will take time positioning themselves and so on.
Just use 100iso and under, perhaps iso50.
Looks like you gonna have to rent a backdrop and a light kit.
Take at least 3 shots of each family.
Have one guy constantly going back and forth between one computer, uploading the images. (this means that you need a spare card)
What you can also do is get a dry erase board. Write down each family's number and place it at the edge of the image. Crop it out later. This is just in case you mix up the images.

[kenna]

Thanks for the considered response! I really appreciate it! All three photographers will be shooting with Nikon D70's (Digital SLR). At this point, we're planning on using one photographer to shoot the families with no small children, then the remaining two families will photograph the families with children. That should at least allow us to get the adults through quickly. There will be separate lines roped off with stanchions to keep the groups organized while waiting.

I've got a mini-session lined up tomorrow. I am photographing 12 families, all with children, in the same manner I plan to do on Easter Sunday. While it's a very small sample, I will at least get a realistic idea of how much time each family will require. I'll post that information after the shoot.

This shoot will be set up outdoors under tents, so there should be a lot of sunlight. I was hoping (I'll test this) to use only a Nikon SB600 for a fill light. What do you think?

Thanks again for all the advice!
Kenna

Big job, and the hard work really comes after with the printing and order filling etc.

Are you shooting with tethered DMF (Medium Formats), DSLR's or chip n' carry's(the commercial store cams with the photo card) or film . . . ?

If there are very many children involved 20 seconds is not probably going to be very close to average. I'd allow at least 2 to 3 minutes per, on average, for everything. Stools get knocked over, people are different heights and you have adjust lighting or find a box to stand on, people stop and talk. Give yourself a little cushion.

I'll think on this and try to give you some more ideas in detail later, particularly with 3 shooters and keeping everything straight regardless of of format.

- CDP

[kenna]

Thanks for the advice! I've checked out a few software solutions at the site you sent me to, and it is just too much of an investment for one event. But that's a great website. I'll be using it frequently I'm sure! Thanks for the referral!

[drg]

Thanks for the considered response! I really appreciate it! All three photographers will be shooting with Nikon D70's (Digital SLR). At this point, we're planning on using one photographer to shoot the families with no small children, then the remaining two families will photograph the families with children. That should at least allow us to get the adults through quickly. There will be separate lines roped off with stanchions to keep the groups organized while waiting.

I've got a mini-session lined up tomorrow. I am photographing 12 families, all with children, in the same manner I plan to do on Easter Sunday. While it's a very small sample, I will at least get a realistic idea of how much time each family will require. I'll post that information after the shoot.

This shoot will be set up outdoors under tents, so there should be a lot of sunlight. I was hoping (I'll test this) to use only a Nikon SB600 for a fill light. What do you think?

Thanks again for all the advice!
Kenna

Its late and I'm trying to finish several things at one so I'll make this brief, do consider taking a notebook computer with you to evaluate the photos as you go and unload them and back them up. Have you ever shot in a tent? The fill flash may be a very good idea, or certainly take a big card you can use for custom white balance (it changes in a tent about every 3 minutes on a sunny day according to some measurements, or at least the color temp will). Other wise some beautiful egg shell Easter dresses and bonnets will be a yucky color. I'd be curious to see the output of the three D70 side by side with the same settings taking the same scen at the same time.

You can also take several Flash cards and split up the photos in to manageable sized units. By all means take multiple exposures, thats the beauty of digital event photography. Choices for the customer that don't cost you the photographer any thing but time! (or not much)

You had a separate post about backdrops. It Easter, use at least some lilies in photos!

Look forward to hearing about the test shoot, sorry it so late you may not get this until after your practice run!

-CDP

[kenna]

Thanks for the tips! Yes, I'm interested to see how consistent the output of the three d70's will be, too. I'll post a couple after the event. The test run went great! I was averaging about 20 seconds per family of four (two babies, two parents). It wasn't the best test, because I only had famililes with babies, no children, which will take longer since they walk as opposed to being carried. One idea I had was to provide "pose cards," which would basicaly be wallets of families of various sizes posing in various positions. Families could pick these up when they got in line, so when it's their turn, they know exactly how to position themselves. What do you think? Thanks again for all the info!

[Clemmie]

Sounds like an interesting shoot. I'd love to be the 'mouse in the corner', watching how it goes.

I could recommend the usual - extra bodies, batteries, and lots of memory cards........but you surely already KNOW that.

But above all - and it would certainly be fitting to the setting - I suggest a GROUP PRAYER before you begin shooting.

Good Luck!