Event Coverage

[bcap]

Hello All!

I am relatively new to photography - have been playing around with my equip for about a month now. I have done action shots, some portraits, candid and some landscape and am VERY comfortable with my camera.

I have been offered an opportunity to go to a baseball tournament this weekend (both Sat and Sun) and do action photography and sell the photos.

Does anyone have any tips/advice as far as workflow, selling points, prices, etc goes?

What I was thinking was that I will have a booth setup - with a main computer and 2 viewing stations. I will take pictures of a game, and then bring them back to the sales person (person on computer) and upload them. They will be viewable on the viewingstations.

People can then view them and order photos - shoudl I just have them be able to order a 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 8 x 10 or shoudl I do collages of multiple photos?

I was also thinking about talking to each coach at the beginning of each game to let them know that I am there, as well as handing out "your child has been photographed" cards to all the parents.

Any more advice/tips from experienced photographers?

Thanks,

Bryan

[Gary_Evans]

Firstly, and I'm not wanting to sound harsh but after a month are your photos really sooooooo much better than what your average DWC will take? Shoot with a narrow DOF so as to isolate the subject, and anticipate the swing.

OK, lets assume that they are.

Firstly, you really need to be able to make the sale on the day. Do not expect to take lots of orders over the internet. Moms and Dads go to lots of events like this and will compare internet shots from several events to see which is the best - and then forget and buy something else instead :evil:

So set up your booth, (ideally near the food vendors and toilets) with viewing stations but also dont forget the humble contact sheet. While 2 people are using the view stations another 10 can be looking at contacts instead of walking away. Make sure your booth is highly visible and well promoted - flags and announcements on the PA make you visible and audiable!! Yes, handing out cards is a very good idea.

Take an assistant (and a runner if possible) so that you can concentrate on the shooting while someone else is doing the printing. That way you hopefully dont miss the shot or the sale. Also remember that the teams that get knocked out will be leaving early, so you need to have their pix on display as they pass the booth.

Keep things simple on the day - sell prints in various sizes, dont worry about Tee's, mugs etc. Offer small and large prints, I would suggest 7 x 5 and 10x7 (or similar) plus something such as magazine covers.

You say that you are shooting the action. Have you considered T&I stuff as well - or is there another tog doing this?

Finally, event photography is not so much about the photos themselves - its about selling as many as possible.

Best of luck.

[bcap]

Thanks Gary

You see - I have worked for a photography company for the last 6 months - sometimes takign pictures, but most the time working the booth @ events such as this. So I have learned quite a bit about photography, the way things can be set up, and the way to organize the workflow for this type of event.

I have been shooting non-stop for the last month, and have really been practicing action shots (especially baseball), and feel my shots are prety decent - at least in parents eyes.

I appreciate your feedback, and by the website idea, i was talking about hosting a website for each team on my main computer (the one i am offloading onto) that the other 2 viewing stations can see - that way there is no file browsing involved, they click the team name (from a main website - again, hosted off my main comptuer), and then that comes up with a flash slideshow website (again, hosted on my main computer).

Thoughts?

[Gary_Evans]

ah, so you're not as new as you initially made out !! - and you seem to have some knowledge of whats involved in event photography.

However, personally I am not convinced with viewing stations. They can work, but you need more than two - other than for really small events.

As I said, while two people are viewing, another 10 maybe walking away from you taking their dollars with them. Also, how long have people got to wait for the slideshow to get to the part they are interested in? namely their own kids.

I would still produce contact sheets. They may seem low tech, and less impressive to some people, and peronally I would (in fact do) create onsite web galleries that show pages of 20 images all in one go. You need to let parents see the images fast.

Remember event photography isnt art, its about making money, in fact you could describe it as "The Art of making Money" ;)

[bcap]

Hi Gary.

Here are some of my thoughts.

First off, The event ISN'T huge ... it's 10-15 baseball teams.

Second, as for the whole slideshow thing - maybe I explained it wrong. What it will be is a website slideshow kind of thing - so that the parent can look at a bunch of small thumbnails and click the photo to make it bigger to see more details. So, they don't have to sit and wait for a bunch of other kids photos, they can go on to the next set of photos.

I DO like the contact sheet option - but how would I go about doing this? I will be taking probably close to 300 photos per game. I cannot print all 300 out on a contact sheet and give them to people, can I?

I totally agree that it isn't abou art, I need to perfect a speedy, effective workflow.

If anyone has any more tips/advice, I would GREATLY appreciate it :)

Again, Gary, thanks for the help - keep the advice coming, you are very knowledgable in the area!

Bryan

[bcap]

So I was just informed that there will be no power supply. How do you guys usually cope with this? Generator I assume?

[Gary_Evans]

sorry, been away for a couple of days which is why I didnt reply. Gotta have a few days vacation - it a national holiday here in the UK over this weekend and I have 5 events on. :D:D:D

Firstly, with regards to power I drive a mini-van which has a total of 7 power points fitted. If the engine is left running their is sufficient power for a laptop, inkjet and dye sub printer. If you need a generator, hire one - a 3kva will be sufficient.

I use a program called Fotostation for creating contact sheets, but photoshop will do them as well, just not as quickly. Personally I print 24 images on a single A4 contact sheet and even using old Canon inkjets each sheet takes less than a minute to print (printers are set to draft quality). Dont hand them out - buy some display panels and pin them on, that way you only need to print one set.

My reason for using a runner is so they can collect the CF cards from you and by the time the game is finished, so are most of the contact sheets for that game.

Out of curiousity, whereabouts in the US are you? Reply by PM if you dont want the world to know

[bcap]

Gary, I like your ideas. I like the display case/contact sheet idea.

So you do a contact sheet for all your photos you take, and then you have people gather around them, look @ them and write down the image number?

I'm also NOT in the US, rather in Canada, in Ontario.

Bryan

[Gary_Evans]

My contacts include nearly every image taken. If my printer (person not machine) sees an obviously duff whilst downloading she will delete it (oof or really poor cropping, for example) otherwise everything is printed on the contacts. I never cease to be amazed at what people will actually pay for, and so I dont delete, as there is a good chance of what I consider bad will still sell.

Both programs I mentioned put the img**** number on their contact sheets.

I asked where you are as I have an ex-employee in Dallas.

[bcap]

Gary - your system sounds great. I am an Adobe Lightroom user, and it does a fantastic job with contact sheets. In fact, with the click of a button I can print 5 x 8 contact sheets.

Are the photos not too small for people to like them, or what is your opinion on this?

[Gary_Evans]

Personally I dont think the prints are too small - if I did I would change them :p - tho' I would certainly put less (6 or 9?) on a 8 x 5 sheet

Do I get a cut of your takings if you use my methods ?!?

[bcap]

Sorry Gary, what I meant was an 8 photo x 5 photo page - on an 8" x 10", I understand how this could sound confusing.

Sure - I'll cut you into my millions (HA), once I get there ;)

You wouldn't happen to have a photo of you set up @ an event would you? I am a bit confused as to how I can put all this together and still make it look professional. The company I used to work for,w hen we did events, he just had a table with a table cloth on it with laptops on it. Wires all over the place, I felt it looked extremely unprofessional.

I also have a 5 foot x 3 foot banner that I have made a stand for, so it will hang 7 feet in the air so it is visible - it looks very professional and clean as well.

Again, any other tips/advice I would appreciate :)

Thanks,

Bryan

[Gary_Evans]

Sorry Bryan, I dont have a photo of my set up and all my near future events are either student groups or proms so I cant take one in the field so to speak.

However, I do have a few bits that need a refurb so if you are happy with a mocked up image??

[bcap]

Sure! Whatever works :)