# Doing a school photo shoot



## Scott_McPhee (Oct 7, 2013)

I have been offered the chance to do my local school photoshoot.

This will involve shooting approx 300 kids pictures, producing proof sheets with prices and supplying the pics in mounts, etc.

I am an experienced photographer so the picture taking doesn't worry me but I need some help in the production of the proof packs and possibly the mounts etc.

I have found a few companies that will offer the whole service to me but are these any good or just a costly luxury?

Is there software that can produce the contact sheets for me and I could do it myself (although the amount of work in this would be huge).

Any advice from active school photographers out there would be greatly appreciated.

I am based in the UK.

Cheers
Scott


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## ajfotofilmagem (Oct 8, 2013)

I always do my samples in Photoshop and sending by email. I do the samples at 300 DPI with 6 photos per sheet (small) or 24 photos per sheet (large) and can print if I need to. You find on Photoshop > FILE> AUTOMATE> CONTACT SHEET II. Then you choose the folder where the photos are, 300 DPI, size in centimeter that matches the paper that I might want, number of rows and columns on each sheet, rotate or not the photos, and Photoshop will calculate how many sheets to create fit the full amount of photos. When you click OK, wait while the computer does the work. At the end you can write your email and phone number on each sheet (text tool), is then just save to JPEG. If printing, take the JPEG in store photo developing, and pay only for that printed paper.


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## docholliday (Oct 8, 2013)

The last time I did a large group like this, I used Express Digital Darkroom Assembly...makes life easy. I thought about doing it with PS and a template, but I didn't want to spend hours sitting around on the box editing.

Nowadays, I just avoid portraiture and especially "event" and group photo work altogether.


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## Halfrack (Oct 8, 2013)

http://www.fotovelocity.net/

TriCoast Photo did a volume workshop on CreativeLive and the software is theirs - 
http://www.creativelive.com/courses/high-volume-photography

Also picked up some bits on http://www.millerslab.com/schools/overview as another solution.


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## Scott_McPhee (Oct 8, 2013)

I was thinking, to make things easy and preserve the way which the parents have been presented with their photos, of using a company to handle the packs and prints.

This is one I have found: http://myschoolpictures.co.uk/

They do everything from producing your sample packs to the finished orders in bags complete with mounts.

Any alternatives in the UK that anyone uses?

Much simpler that using Photoshop and producing my own sample sheets.


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## ajfotofilmagem (Oct 8, 2013)

Scott_McPhee said:


> I was thinking, to make things easy and preserve the way which the parents have been presented with their photos, of using a company to handle the packs and prints.
> 
> This is one I have found: http://myschoolpictures.co.uk/
> 
> ...


Honestly, I do not see the difficulty of making samples of photos with "CONTACT SHEET" in Photoshop. Basically, you set up in 2 minutes, waiting for the computer do the work in 30 minutes after you spend a few minutes to save each sheet in JPEG. As for the final assemblies, is something I really do not like doing, and I'd rather pay a local store photo developing, can do the graphic art.


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## Halfrack (Oct 8, 2013)

ajfotofilmagem said:


> Honestly, I do not see the difficulty of making samples of photos with "CONTACT SHEET" in Photoshop. Basically, you set up in 2 minutes, waiting for the computer do the work in 30 minutes after you spend a few minutes to save each sheet in JPEG. As for the final assemblies, is something I really do not like doing, and I'd rather pay a local store photo developing, can do the graphic art.



It isn't just 'create a contact sheet', it is the top to bottom management of the process of putting out pricing to the students, collecting the orders, getting the shots done, making sure you have all your names to faces and then the final packaging. Lots of moving parts when there are 300 students. 

I found a thread that may apply: http://www.eventphotographersociety.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/5976-fotovelocity-com

It mentioned http://www.timestonesoftware.com/ as an option with offices in the UK/EU.


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## Scott_McPhee (Oct 8, 2013)

I really want to keep the hassle factor to a minimum with this one - anyone using any UK based companies to do their school shoots?


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