Thanks to everyone for your comments..this is how we share and learn !! I will try and answer your questions....
1)I did not receive any negative comments about having my own jump set up in fact there were many positive remarks. I think people liked the idea of being able to have some control over their pictures and in reality this did not cause me any problems at all. The other advantage was that as people were waiting it created a "fun" atmosphere especially when the dogs either ran off or dived under the bar. The biggest advantage to me as the photographer was that I could control the background (try to keep it clean)and could get close to the dog so that in some of the images it looks as though the dog is coming straight into the lens (scary when youv'e got a blooming great GSD charging towards you !!)One thing that I have though about is that I will change the type of jump at other events in an effort to create different images this will hopefully keep my client base as wide as possible.
2) I used the evaluative meter setting on the D30 and pre-focused on the jump bar. By facing the jump straight on I was able to see the dog in the view-finder and if the owner stood behind me the chances were that the dog would jump srtaight towards me. In some cases the owner had to run with the dog on in those images you will see the dogs turns it's head towards the owner. I set the film speed to ISO400 and the shutter speed to between 1/750 and 1/1500 depending on the speed of the dog (collies are like lighting)
I did use fill in flash on some of the pictures but some of the dogs really do not like it. Your comments on the dark dogs being underexposed are taken on board but in print they look okay I think the web page commpression hasn't helped.
3) I took between 3-5 images per dog and have to agree with Paul most owners couldn't choose which one to buy. My average sale was £19.00p per client which evaluates to just under 2 images per person (I was selling one 7x5 in a slip mount for £10.00p) There were a few deals going on and some owners bought 4 / 5 images. I did have help on the day, my brother worked the computer system and my framer (who is also an excellent water-colour artist) took the money and sold upgrades. He and I have a pretty unique product (in the UK) where the photograph has original water-colour images painted around the mount and then it is framed. The mark-up is huge and people love them (there are some samples on my web site).
4)In conclusion I have though long and hard about the day and the following comes to mind: a) had we printed on site I'm not convinced we would have done more buisness as the weather was wet and the images would have been tucked away in the car so the "showing" factor would have been lost on this day. b) however, printing on site would have definiately cut down on my "post" event work at home and the profit margin would have been higher due to having not to buy envelopes, postage etc. c) A very positive plus to the whole event is that I picked up a number of private commisions (the bulk of my work) so I guess all in all "a good days work !!"
Once again thanks for your comments.....
Regards
Nick
www.nick-ridley.20m.com