Pro Photo HOME
Go Back   Pro Photo HOME > Professional Photography Discussion- Full Access for Premium Members > Event

Notices

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 08-07-2001, 02:40 AM
Nick_Ridley Nick_Ridley is offline
Basic Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK
Posts: 37
Nick_Ridley 10
First major event

I have just undertaken my first major event and thought it would be nice to share my experience with fellow event photgraphers. The event was a large dog agilty show with around 600 dogs attending, I had decided to set a jump up alongside my stand so that I could have greater control over the images and keep the background as clean as possible.

I use a D30 with the excellent 28 - 135IS lens, during the day the light was very variable so I did use a 550Ex to add some sparkle. The "film" settings varied from 100 - 400 depending on the light. The camera was contected directly to the computer system and using the fickle "remote capture" programme the owners could view the pictures straight away.....they loved it....as I have said in previous posts in the UK we are miles behind you guys in the States.

I took over 300 pictures with very few problems (the computer system locked up a couple of times) I sold nearly £1000 worth of photographs...but just as important I had a great time and lots of people went away very happy(isn't that what it is all about ??...as well as making a crust) I didn't print on site but that is the next stage....roll on next year !!

Finally I would like to thank all of the members that post subjects in this forum...I have learnt so much and it has inspired me to take on this aspect of my photography.

If you would like to check out some of the images then follow the link: www.nick-ridley.20m.com/ACTS/FrameSet.htm
Regards
Nick Ridley www.nick-ridley.20m.com




Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 08-07-2001, 07:42 AM
AaronHochman AaronHochman is offline
Basic Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: usa
Posts: 118
AaronHochman 10
Re: First major event

what an amazing variety of personalities you captured, so anthropomorphic! very cute and funny! great job!

most of the darker dogs could do with a reflector or fill flash though

looks like you're on your way

one of these days i'll get started if i get my courage up, but i'll have to start the slow way with film until i get some $$$ [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 08-07-2001, 05:17 PM
petehalsted petehalsted is offline
Basic Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 277
petehalsted 10
Re: First major event

If I got my conversion factors right thats about $1400 US not a bad day at all, espcially if you did not print on site.

Did you get any negative feedback about having your own jump, instead of pictures from the actual competetion, if not thats a great deal makes it much easier to do as a "one man show".

Pics are great, although as the other poster mentions the darker dogs need some side lighting. Dark dogs and horse are probably the hardest things there are to expose.

Welcome to the world of event photographers, and hope you realize you will be working every weekend from now on <G>

Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 08-07-2001, 06:25 PM
Peter Orr Peter Orr is offline
Basic Member
 
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Albury, Australia
Posts: 61
Peter Orr 10
Re: First major event

Nick - lovely pix, I can well believe you did well with these. What metering system are you using? The clouds look correctly exposed in most pix suggesting that you are on matrix metering which is not picking up the need for more exposure for dark coated dogs. I too have been tackling some dog shows & agility/obedience recently, and found that centre weighted metering gave best results for the dog, and that that was more important than correctly exposed backgrounds. An incident light meter is OK, but does not allow for the coat colour, and is a pain if the light is constantly changing. Flash is one option, but for myself, I prefer not to fire a flashgun at a jumping dog or horse. Very light or dark coated animals do result in under/over exposed backgrounds, but none of my customers have seen that as a problem if their dog/horse looks right.
Peter.

Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 08-07-2001, 07:37 PM
Norm_Cabana Norm_Cabana is offline
Basic Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Milpitas, CA USA
Posts: 689
Norm_Cabana 10
Re: First major event

Nick,

Great job! I love the dogs expressions. You are going to be working quite often I'm sure.

Norm Cabana

Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 08-07-2001, 10:47 PM
Paul_Payne's Avatar
Paul_Payne Paul_Payne is offline
Premium Lifetime Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Attica, MI. USA
Posts: 316
Paul_Payne 10
Re: First major event

Nick,

Your photos look great and thats comming from someone who has shot over 10,000 dog portraits in the last 5 yrs. If you can shoot and show, the clients wont mind waiting 4-5 weeks for a good photo of their dog. If you print onsite you'll probably need an assistant....remember this point..."If your taking up your time with showing and printing, your not shooting...so if someone else can show and sell while you shoot then your constantly makeing money.

In your post you didnt mention how many photos you took for each client but from experience I'll tell you that if you only take 3-5 you'll make more money than if you take 10-15. Most dog owners have a hard time picking from 3-5 photos and if you show them alot more it only confuses them more. If you have 3 good photos in the first bunch they will probably buy them all but if you show them 10-15 they will still only buy about 3 and all you have done is take up your time for the same Dollars.

Keep up the great photos

Paul

Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 08-08-2001, 02:01 AM
Nick_Ridley Nick_Ridley is offline
Basic Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK
Posts: 37
Nick_Ridley 10
Re: First major event

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

Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:54 AM.


Advertise Here! - Contact Us!


Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.1.0