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Workflow Critique - Santa Portraits
SLSettles
Registered Users Posts: 2 Beginner grinner
First things first, I'm not a photographer, I'm Santa Claus. But I want to offer photo options to my clients, and they usually don't want to pay for a professional photographer... but they want me to offer professional services! My goal is to have a streamlined workflow that allows me and a helper or two to produce basic 4x6 on-site prints and web-based ordering of other size prints and imprinted products, all with a minimum of user manipulation. I shoot with a Lumix FZ20, which I choose largely for its zoom, stabilization, good aperture across the full zoom range, and a hot-shoe. The hot-shoe will allow me to trigger a softbox strobe. The main problem with the Lumix is the rather slow shutter response, which can really be important when trying to capture children's expressions. I may upgrade to a DSLR (with firewire tethering) if the photo sales warrant it.
Because the tripod mount covers the battery/SD door, I use an AC adapter and an Eye-Fi card so I never have to open that door. When the pic transfers wirelessly to the laptop, Lightroom auto-imports it and applies a couple of typical presets. Mark the rejects, crop for composition, and make any manual tweaks necessary. From LR I can send a pic to the Selphy CP800 for on-site print sales. The dye-sub is a nice print, and the paper and dye packs are unified so they both run out at the same time and are easy to change. Forty seconds for a good print is acceptable, but I may add a second (or even third) printer if sales warrant it. The prints are about $0.32 and the print folders are about $0.40 so overhead is pretty low, and sales can be in the $6-8 range, easily. Augment that with online sales and things could get a little lucrative
I know that from there I can export straight from LR to SmugMug, dropping the selected photos into a new gallery. But that's where my workflow ideas break down. I want to be able to provide each customer a card with a link to their own gallery and a password to gain access. So, it seems I'd have to create a gallery for each customer and key in an individual password, and then write out the URL and password on the card. That's a lot of manipulation. I do use an aircard and wifi router, so I can upload pics to SmugMug immediately. That means the gallery creation can happen on-site rather than all at once at the end of the shoot, which would be an onerous task if there were 200 customers on the day! Is there some easy way to do this? The only way I can think to speed things along is to preprint the customer's access card with a gallery number and random password, and then create the gallery using the info from the card. Is there anything else I can do to streamline? I welcome any constructive criticism, but be aware that I have pretty much maxed out my capital investments for this project for the next year so buying Darkroom or a Mitsubishi CP-9810DW is just not in the cards! Thanks in advance!
Because the tripod mount covers the battery/SD door, I use an AC adapter and an Eye-Fi card so I never have to open that door. When the pic transfers wirelessly to the laptop, Lightroom auto-imports it and applies a couple of typical presets. Mark the rejects, crop for composition, and make any manual tweaks necessary. From LR I can send a pic to the Selphy CP800 for on-site print sales. The dye-sub is a nice print, and the paper and dye packs are unified so they both run out at the same time and are easy to change. Forty seconds for a good print is acceptable, but I may add a second (or even third) printer if sales warrant it. The prints are about $0.32 and the print folders are about $0.40 so overhead is pretty low, and sales can be in the $6-8 range, easily. Augment that with online sales and things could get a little lucrative
I know that from there I can export straight from LR to SmugMug, dropping the selected photos into a new gallery. But that's where my workflow ideas break down. I want to be able to provide each customer a card with a link to their own gallery and a password to gain access. So, it seems I'd have to create a gallery for each customer and key in an individual password, and then write out the URL and password on the card. That's a lot of manipulation. I do use an aircard and wifi router, so I can upload pics to SmugMug immediately. That means the gallery creation can happen on-site rather than all at once at the end of the shoot, which would be an onerous task if there were 200 customers on the day! Is there some easy way to do this? The only way I can think to speed things along is to preprint the customer's access card with a gallery number and random password, and then create the gallery using the info from the card. Is there anything else I can do to streamline? I welcome any constructive criticism, but be aware that I have pretty much maxed out my capital investments for this project for the next year so buying Darkroom or a Mitsubishi CP-9810DW is just not in the cards! Thanks in advance!
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