Brainstorm session for commercial photographers

Most of the photographers here are far away from each other, geographical (I
live in Portugal, for example) so we won't "bite" each other by sharing some
idea's. I was thinking how to extend my / our business(es).
One thing I came up with, is to make a small studio / booth at my local
shopping mall and make free pictures. After all, it doesn't cost that much
to make and print pictures. After people have their picture taken, they can
come back another day to pick up the photo. I was thinking of giving my
business card to them, along with the picture, but maybe it's better to make
a watermark in the picture with my business card.
As an option, I (you) could offer to make more picture at a reasonable
price, without the watermark ;-)

Now there's the practical side of the whole thing and the challenges coming
with it:

1. how do you make sure you have the right photo number and give it to the
people, so thay can pick up the photo easily?

2. I was thinking of making the pictures with the computer attached (remote
controlled), so you can already have control over the name of the file. But
this seems unpractical, because if you need to make more pictures for one
person, you want to hold the camera in your hands. I don't think (but I'm
not sure) that you can transfer the photo's automatically thru a USB cable
(Nikon CCP in my case).

3. how and with what software can you make an extended watermark, with your
name and phone number, for example? PS comes to mind, but I never used that
feature. Batch seems logical.

4. because the printed photo's have no information and you're probably
dealing with a lot (I expect a few hundred) of people, how do you set up an
easy system, to retrieve the photo for each person?

5. anybody have different idea's or aditions, welcome!


--
---
Focus

Focus wrote:
Most of the photographers here are far away from each other, geographical (I
live in Portugal, for example) so we won't "bite" each other by sharing some
idea's. I was thinking how to extend my / our business(es).
One thing I came up with, is to make a small studio / booth at my local
shopping mall and make free pictures. After all, it doesn't cost that much
to make and print pictures. After people have their picture taken, they can
come back another day to pick up the photo. I was thinking of giving my
business card to them, along with the picture, but maybe it's better to make
a watermark in the picture with my business card.
As an option, I (you) could offer to make more picture at a reasonable
price, without the watermark ;-)

Now there's the practical side of the whole thing and the challenges coming
with it:

1. how do you make sure you have the right photo number and give it to the
people, so thay can pick up the photo easily?

2. I was thinking of making the pictures with the computer attached (remote
controlled), so you can already have control over the name of the file. But
this seems unpractical, because if you need to make more pictures for one
person, you want to hold the camera in your hands. I don't think (but I'm
not sure) that you can transfer the photo's automatically thru a USB cable
(Nikon CCP in my case).

3. how and with what software can you make an extended watermark, with your
name and phone number, for example? PS comes to mind, but I never used that
feature. Batch seems logical.

4. because the printed photo's have no information and you're probably
dealing with a lot (I expect a few hundred) of people, how do you set up an
easy system, to retrieve the photo for each person?

5. anybody have different idea's or aditions, welcome!


Renting space at a local mall won't be cheap, and I don't think the
return business generated from a free photo - instant print, no
afterwork - would make any profit. The passing public these days just
aren't into using pro photogs except for occasions like weddings. Even
wedding photogs are not doing too well either, owing to Uncle Ted with
his P&S, G10, 400D, or D40 etc. Unless you are a high-end name photog,
there's no fortune in photography now.

Digital is a two-edged sword. The fantastic technology available to
pro's now puts acceptable photography within reach of practically
everybody. It's very sad.

Colin D.

On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:47:22 +1300, "Colin.D"
wrote:

Focus wrote:
Most of the photographers here are far away from each other, geographical (I
live in Portugal, for example) so we won't "bite" each other by sharing some
idea's. I was thinking how to extend my / our business(es).
One thing I came up with, is to make a small studio / booth at my local
shopping mall and make free pictures. After all, it doesn't cost that much
to make and print pictures. After people have their picture taken, they can
come back another day to pick up the photo. I was thinking of giving my
business card to them, along with the picture, but maybe it's better to make
a watermark in the picture with my business card.
As an option, I (you) could offer to make more picture at a reasonable
price, without the watermark ;-)

Now there's the practical side of the whole thing and the challenges coming
with it:

1. how do you make sure you have the right photo number and give it to the
people, so thay can pick up the photo easily?

2. I was thinking of making the pictures with the computer attached (remote
controlled), so you can already have control over the name of the file. But
this seems unpractical, because if you need to make more pictures for one
person, you want to hold the camera in your hands. I don't think (but I'm
not sure) that you can transfer the photo's automatically thru a USB cable
(Nikon CCP in my case).

3. how and with what software can you make an extended watermark, with your
name and phone number, for example? PS comes to mind, but I never used that
feature. Batch seems logical.

4. because the printed photo's have no information and you're probably
dealing with a lot (I expect a few hundred) of people, how do you set up an
easy system, to retrieve the photo for each person?

5. anybody have different idea's or aditions, welcome!


Renting space at a local mall won't be cheap, and I don't think the
return business generated from a free photo - instant print, no
afterwork - would make any profit. The passing public these days just
aren't into using pro photogs except for occasions like weddings. Even
wedding photogs are not doing too well either, owing to Uncle Ted with
his P&S, G10, 400D, or D40 etc. Unless you are a high-end name photog,
there's no fortune in photography now.

Digital is a two-edged sword. The fantastic technology available to
pro's now puts acceptable photography within reach of practically
everybody. It's very sad.

On a trip to the UK in the late 60s, my wife and I were walking on a
boardwalk in a seaside town (Scarborough, I think) and photographer
was taking snaps of people with a Rolleiflex. For a pound (about
US$2.40 at the time) he'd mail a print. His sales patter was so
amusing that we paid the pound, plus some extra for international
mail, but figured we'd never see the print. About a month after we
returned to the US, the print arrived.


--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

tony cooper wrote:

On a trip to the UK in the late 60s, my wife and I were walking on a
boardwalk in a seaside town (Scarborough, I think) and photographer
was taking snaps of people with a Rolleiflex. For a pound (about
US$2.40 at the time) he'd mail a print. His sales patter was so
amusing that we paid the pound, plus some extra for international
mail, but figured we'd never see the print. About a month after we
returned to the US, the print arrived.

I was going to post a similar thing yesterday to the OP, but thought
better of it, being as it sounded like a troll.
Anyway, yes, to do such photography, you dont need to be a photographer,
you need to be a salesman.
The average 'man in the street' would not be able to tell a good
composition or exposure, so as long as the faces are reasonably clear,
you can sell the pic. No skills at all involved, apart from the sales
talk.

There is no money in photography now, almost everyone can do it
themselves, and see the results minutes later on their computer screens.
I have recently been working for a pretty serious photographer, who ran
a shop/studio, now runs a photo selling internet store.
He has sold all his equipment, and just has a Nikon compact digital,
which does all he wants, and can fit in his jacket pocket.

I'm beginning to think the same of my Canon SLR equipment. For 95%+ of
my subjects, a 4mp compact would suffice, which is how 99% of the
population also think, so why get in a 'Professional', when they can do
it themselves at vitually no cost.

Alan.
--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.

"Focus" wrote in message
...

Most of the photographers here are far away from each other, geographical
(I live in Portugal, for example) so we won't "bite" each other by sharing
some idea's. I was thinking how to extend my / our business(es).
One thing I came up with, is to make a small studio / booth at my local
shopping mall and make free pictures. After all, it doesn't cost that much
to make and print pictures. After people have their picture taken, they
can come back another day to pick up the photo. I was thinking of giving
my business card to them, along with the picture, but maybe it's better to
make a watermark in the picture with my business card.
As an option, I (you) could offer to make more picture at a reasonable
price, without the watermark ;-)

Now there's the practical side of the whole thing and the challenges
coming with it:

1. how do you make sure you have the right photo number and give it to the
people, so thay can pick up the photo easily?

2. I was thinking of making the pictures with the computer attached
(remote controlled), so you can already have control over the name of the
file. But this seems unpractical, because if you need to make more
pictures for one person, you want to hold the camera in your hands. I
don't think (but I'm not sure) that you can transfer the photo's
automatically thru a USB cable (Nikon CCP in my case).

3. how and with what software can you make an extended watermark, with
your name and phone number, for example? PS comes to mind, but I never
used that feature. Batch seems logical.

4. because the printed photo's have no information and you're probably
dealing with a lot (I expect a few hundred) of people, how do you set up
an easy system, to retrieve the photo for each person?

5. anybody have different idea's or aditions, welcome!



I never watched it (and don't plan to), because I despise the program, but
you never know, you may get some ideas here where the teams had to set up
their own photography business at a busy shopping centre for 'The
Apprentice' show:

1 of 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toXpMYazEBA

Personally, if I was going to print the photos later I think I would look at
using the date/time in the exif to organise and make a note of the name,
addresses, etc of who you were photographing on that date and time. But, if
I was you I would consider taking the photos, printing them and selling them
on the day with a quick turn around time. I have also seen people using
raffle tickets, where they hand out a numbered ticket to people.

Of course, there's always the street instant photos route:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tzofia/258938865/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsii/98514355/sizes/l/

BTW, if you are in Portugal, why are you on EST time zone, as opposed to
UTC/GMT?

On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:52:19 -0000, "Steve Hanson" wrote:
: "Focus" wrote in message
: ...
:
: Most of the photographers here are far away from each other, geographical
: (I live in Portugal, for example) so we won't "bite" each other by sharing
: some idea's. I was thinking how to extend my / our business(es).
: One thing I came up with, is to make a small studio / booth at my local
: shopping mall and make free pictures. After all, it doesn't cost that much
: to make and print pictures. After people have their picture taken, they
: can come back another day to pick up the photo. I was thinking of giving
: my business card to them, along with the picture, but maybe it's better to
: make a watermark in the picture with my business card.
: As an option, I (you) could offer to make more picture at a reasonable
: price, without the watermark ;-)
:
: Now there's the practical side of the whole thing and the challenges
: coming with it:
:
: 1. how do you make sure you have the right photo number and give it to the
: people, so thay can pick up the photo easily?
:
: 2. I was thinking of making the pictures with the computer attached
: (remote controlled), so you can already have control over the name of the
: file. But this seems unpractical, because if you need to make more
: pictures for one person, you want to hold the camera in your hands. I
: don't think (but I'm not sure) that you can transfer the photo's
: automatically thru a USB cable (Nikon CCP in my case).
:
: 3. how and with what software can you make an extended watermark, with
: your name and phone number, for example? PS comes to mind, but I never
: used that feature. Batch seems logical.
:
: 4. because the printed photo's have no information and you're probably
: dealing with a lot (I expect a few hundred) of people, how do you set up
: an easy system, to retrieve the photo for each person?
:
: 5. anybody have different idea's or aditions, welcome!
:
: I never watched it (and don't plan to), because I despise the program, but
: you never know, you may get some ideas here where the teams had to set up
: their own photography business at a busy shopping centre for 'The
: Apprentice' show:
:
: 1 of 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toXpMYazEBA
:
: Personally, if I was going to print the photos later I think I would look at
: using the date/time in the exif to organise and make a note of the name,
: addresses, etc of who you were photographing on that date and time. But, if
: I was you I would consider taking the photos, printing them and selling them
: on the day with a quick turn around time. I have also seen people using
: raffle tickets, where they hand out a numbered ticket to people.
:
: Of course, there's always the street instant photos route:
: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tzofia/258938865/sizes/l/
: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsii/98514355/sizes/l/
:
: BTW, if you are in Portugal, why are you on EST time zone, as opposed to
: UTC/GMT?

Your newsreader may be lying to you. Mine shows him as being on GMT:

From: "Focus"
Newsgroups: aus.photo,rec.photo.digital,rec.photo.digital.slr-systems,uk.rec.photo.misc
Subject: Brainstorm session for commercial photographers
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:29:42 -0000

Bob

"Robert Coe" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:52:19 -0000, "Steve Hanson" wrote:
: "Focus" wrote in message
: ...
:
: Most of the photographers here are far away from each other,
geographical
: (I live in Portugal, for example) so we won't "bite" each other by
sharing
: some idea's. I was thinking how to extend my / our business(es).
: One thing I came up with, is to make a small studio / booth at my
local
: shopping mall and make free pictures. After all, it doesn't cost that
much
: to make and print pictures. After people have their picture taken,
they
: can come back another day to pick up the photo. I was thinking of
giving
: my business card to them, along with the picture, but maybe it's
better to
: make a watermark in the picture with my business card.
: As an option, I (you) could offer to make more picture at a reasonable
: price, without the watermark ;-)
:
: Now there's the practical side of the whole thing and the challenges
: coming with it:
:
: 1. how do you make sure you have the right photo number and give it to
the
: people, so thay can pick up the photo easily?
:
: 2. I was thinking of making the pictures with the computer attached
: (remote controlled), so you can already have control over the name of
the
: file. But this seems unpractical, because if you need to make more
: pictures for one person, you want to hold the camera in your hands. I
: don't think (but I'm not sure) that you can transfer the photo's
: automatically thru a USB cable (Nikon CCP in my case).
:
: 3. how and with what software can you make an extended watermark, with
: your name and phone number, for example? PS comes to mind, but I never
: used that feature. Batch seems logical.
:
: 4. because the printed photo's have no information and you're probably
: dealing with a lot (I expect a few hundred) of people, how do you set
up
: an easy system, to retrieve the photo for each person?
:
: 5. anybody have different idea's or aditions, welcome!
:
: I never watched it (and don't plan to), because I despise the program,
but
: you never know, you may get some ideas here where the teams had to set
up
: their own photography business at a busy shopping centre for 'The
: Apprentice' show:
:
: 1 of 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toXpMYazEBA
:
: Personally, if I was going to print the photos later I think I would
look at
: using the date/time in the exif to organise and make a note of the name,
: addresses, etc of who you were photographing on that date and time.
But, if
: I was you I would consider taking the photos, printing them and selling
them
: on the day with a quick turn around time. I have also seen people using
: raffle tickets, where they hand out a numbered ticket to people.
:
: Of course, there's always the street instant photos route:
: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tzofia/258938865/sizes/l/
: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsii/98514355/sizes/l/
:
: BTW, if you are in Portugal, why are you on EST time zone, as opposed to
: UTC/GMT?

Your newsreader may be lying to you. Mine shows him as being on GMT:

From: "Focus"
Newsgroups:
aus.photo,rec.photo.digital,rec.photo.digital.slr-systems,uk.rec.photo.misc
Subject: Brainstorm session for commercial photographers
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:29:42 -0000

Bob

You're correct.
I did have a good laugh about the street photographers, LOL. It's not
exactly what I had in mind.
The Aprentice was quite amusing and interesting.

--
---
Focus

My sister took a white water canoe trip, one time. Some
clever person had set up a "duck blind" of some kind, and
was taking photos of the canoers, at a curve. They would
rush the film back to the lab, do the one hour processing.
And then try to find the people at the lodge, down stream.
Not a hard thing to do, most folks stopped at the lodge to
dry off, and get a bit to eat before going home. And, you
have pictures of the person in question.

They would offer to sell em the photos. Real life action
photos. With the canoers paddling intently, coming around
the curve. Not knowing they were being photographed. She
said that company sold a LOT of photos, people recognized
the once in a lifetime moment. Both canoing, and having
photos taken at that moment. Knowing they could take these
super authentic photos back to show their families the
action that they had just endured.

Now days, you'd use a cell phone to transmit the jpegs, and
run em off, on a color printer. But, it's the same concept.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Focus" wrote in message
...

5. anybody have different idea's or aditions, welcome!


--
---
Focus

Stormin Mormon wrote:
My sister took a white water canoe trip, one time. Some
clever person had set up a "duck blind" of some kind, and
was taking photos of the canoers, at a curve. T

Indeed. I have a priceless photo, made by such an outfit (though
not in a duck blind ... prominently in view with cameras),
of the guy in front of me in a rubber raft, about 2 feet in the air,
being propelled into the drink with me behind paddling like mad and
smiling with a grin big enough to have swallowed a tuna.

Doug McDonald