"LIve" printing during events

Hey guys, just a question.

You see, I might have an event coming up for the local National Service (army) Social Night. If I am hired, the event organiser says that I'll have to set up this "station" (whether it be a physical station is to be determined) where I'll shoot and print one 4R photo per "couple" or something like that. It can't be put on Facebook like I normally would because of security reasons.

The thing is that I am working alone, and for the pay that I'm getting, I don't have enough money as an 18yo to hire a friend to be an assistant.

So I think I have two options now:

A) Bring tripod, Macbook, desktop printer, shoot tethered with USB cables and print from Lightroom 3

Pros:
Fast printing
Shoot tethered = instant backup
Can edit if need be
If the organiser allows, can put my name/email there for advertising (beats having to hand out namecards which might be thrown away quick)

Cons:
Heavy, heavy, heavy
Logistics nightmare (Ink, power wires, connection wires)
Needs set up time

B) Find out another way, such as through a portable printer.

Pros and cons are reversed from above, with the added con that I might not know exactly what I'm doing. Plus, aren't those portable photo printers pretty heavy on whatever dye sublimation thing they use?


Also, since I'm sure many of you guys have done this sort of thing before, how much extra should I charge? The peeps want 100 photos.

I need help here!

Cheers,
Zexun

If you don't have enough money for that, then why are you considering Plan B? So, first charge enough so that you can afford to get the help that this PITA job needs to be done right. If they won't pay it, then you have two options:
1. Bow out.
2. Plan A, but I don't see where "Can edit if need be" will work unless you spread the shooting out throughout the night, or you'll have a mile long line at the door waiting for you?

Now if everyone, or almost everyone will be from the same base, suggest that you deliver the prints & let their CO distribute them for you.

Good luck! Some info:
Event Photography Software?

Plan A is the typical approach. Having the gear and the "logistics" is just doing what you need to do. If you are doing this for pay rather than as a "service" then you need to charge not just for the photography but for the setup and takedown as well.

Do you in fact have the printer for this job? That's certainly a consideration -- any good photo printer will do, of course you also want a fresh ink supply, which should figure into your charges as well.

Thanks for your comments, both of you.

@Frank - My consideration of plan B is that I can scout around and borrow a portable printer from friends, give them a small treat and pay just for the dye and paper (which I have a lot of already) use.

@Tony - Yes I do print regularly from my desktop printer (just a printer, not a 3-in-1 - so it's not that large). I have fresh supplies of ink and paper, but I'm just not looking forward to the back-breaking weight and bulk if I go this way.

One item to consider is what happens if the printer breaks during the event. Printers have a lot of moving parts and while most are pretty good all mechanical items can fail. You should have a backup plan. Maybe if you borrow a printer, bring your own printer a long just in-case you have problems.

Headshotzx wrote in post #12664016
Thanks for your comments, both of you.

@Frank - My consideration of plan B is that I can scout around and borrow a portable printer from friends, give them a small treat and pay just for the dye and paper (which I have a lot of already) use.

@Tony - Yes I do print regularly from my desktop printer (just a printer, not a 3-in-1 - so it's not that large). I have fresh supplies of ink and paper, but I'm just not looking forward to the back-breaking weight and bulk if I go this way.

Dye sublimation printers do not use standard paper. The paper and "dye" rolls come as a matched pair of say 210 prints (or more depending on the print size).

They are not cheap to run but you do get a fixed price per print that you can factor in to your prices.

If you really want to do the job properly and make a better impression you should also hand out the prints in some form of mount.

You haven't said how many prints you will be making.

To present a 9 x 6 in strut mounted photo, in a bag costs me about £1 or $1.60 - cost spread between the print cost, mount cost and bag cost.

OP mentioned 4x6 per couple and about 100 prints.

A back up printer seems like a good idea. I think ink would be a big expense so stock up on that and paper.

Shoot jpg so you can print SOOC if speed is of the essence and minimize/eliminate pp. Good luck.