Suzanne Caris Loc: Noneya, USA

Hello everyone. I was asked by a friend to take over school portraits this year. I have no previous experience with something of this nature, but I'd like to give it a try.

Does anyone here have this under their belt and could offer advice about prints. I don't have a printer but it has been on my wish list for a while. Any suggestions on which model would be a good choice in terms of quality along with durability? Would i be better off doing the prints myself or sending the files out for printing?

Any suggestions on preschool pictures are appreciated.

Thanks for your time

traderjohn Loc: New York City

Before this day ends.....drink the Kool-Aid. Best of luck.

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

I take pictures of kids with Santa each year. I use an Oly em-1 tethered to an Epson 1430 inkjet printer. This system has worked well for me for many years. Time from shutter to finished print is about a minute so parents can leave with child and print. If you do not need immediate prints you can batch print or send files to an outside printer. Hope this helps.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Suzanne, I wish you well.
--Bob

aschweik Loc: NE Ohio

That sounds like fun! My biggest concern would be lighting. And do you have a backdrop? Tethering your camera to a laptop and using something like Lightroom would let you look at the picture on the screen, then decide if you need to retake it. Convenient when the kid is still sitting there. I would go home and edit the portraits if need be, then send them off to be printed. It would probably be cheaper than doing it yourself by the time you got the printer, photo paper and ink. Good luck! As long as you have a good setup and the right lighting, you'll do fine.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

"...I was asked by a friend to take over school portraits this year..." Is this a commercial assignment, or are you an instructor at the school? If there is recompense involved and you are not employed at the school in another capacity then you seriously need to obtain Professional Liability Insurance. Even if you have a Home Owner liability insurance policy it likely will not cover commercial use of your camera.

The brutal fact is you would be turned down if you attempted to attain a "Photography Permit" from either a private or public entity if you couldn't provide evidence of Professional Liability Insurance... It's virtually always in an application for same. This is to protect both the entity issuing the permit and you... Possible one of the highest hurtles to enter the commercial photography arena is obtaining Professional Liability Insurance which btw is not cheap.

Until you resolve this issue everything else is secondary...

Sorry to be the messenger here... But most MOB's will certainly ask a potential Wedding Photographer if they do indeed have Professional Liability Insurance. Remember the MOB is likely the one who signs the check...

Bottom Line? Any time there are minors involved Professional Liability Insurance isn't optional it is in essence mandatory...

Best Advice? You might want to start your search for Professional Liability Insurance with the PPA
https://www.ppa.com/benefits-mem/insurance-options/general-liability-insurance
They are one of the more notable organizations which serves the commercial photography sector.

All the best on your journey Suzanne

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

"Any suggestions on preschool pictures are appreciated"

Heavy doses of drugs! Seriously, just be aware today's parents will blame YOU if not happy with little Johnny's photos, never their little "angel".

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Suzanne - I did pre-school portraits and 1st Holy Communion pictures in my town for many years. Some of the things that come to mind are:

Use an AC powered monolight, larg(er) umbrella or softbox, light stand, appropriate background and background stands, long AC extension cord, 3 prong to 2 prong electrical adapter (just in case), gaffer's tape to tape down the extension cord in the event I wasn't close to the electrical outlet (and also to mark an X where the child should stand), white board with erasable marker (to write the child's name and teacher before the child sits down), a primary camera and backup camera, shorter stool, extra charged camera batteries, and if possible a backup camera. Position the monolight above the camera position so the shadows fall behind the child. Optionally, you can bring a few age appropriate props - I use to bring large alphabet blocks. If an assistant is available to help you, the whole process will go smoother.

Use large envelopes with front facing clear cellophane for the portrait packages. I returned all the images to the front office of the school to be distributed to the children's classrooms. At the time, I printed all the images using a Canon Pro-100 printer. If I were doing it today I would ship the printing out. And be sure to calculate what your costs will be and decide what markup is necessary to compensate you for your time and efforts.

I carried liability insurance, and you may or may not be asked if you have it.

It's been a while since I did this, so it's entirely possible I'm leaving some things out.

Finally, make sure to practice setting everything up and dialing in exposure, and on the day of the shoot (and the re-take day) arrive early.

Vietnam Vet

When I did school sports pictures I edited them and uploaded them to zenfolio. Orders are thru Mpix. Had the pictures back in a couple of days. It was faster, easier, and better quality than I could have printed myself. You can also set prices and let parents order additional items from the site.

Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

Take pictures at their own eye level. Use RAW & gimp a lot. A flash used properly will be a lot of help.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

ELNikkor

Everyone who's ever done it, did it for the first time at some point in time, and you are at least as good, if not better than them! You don't say how many (a hundred children? a thousand?), but with all the infrastructure out there these days, you can find the resources to get yourself a satisfactory set-up for a reasonable price. With some cheap umbrellas and slave-driven 4-AA battery camera flashes, I made a simple set-up which made thousands of school portraits on film for yearbooks. You can brainstorm your own system, background and props, then make adjustments as necessary. Maybe bring a stuffed animal or toy you can wave to attract the toddler's attention in the direction you want them looking for the shot. Be ready to be a bit goofy to make them laugh or smile, have an assistant to facilitate going to and from the photo-seat. Good Luck! Let us know how it went!

rusty66

Many overwhelming suggestions. To keep it simple ,why not practice with your own or a borrowed child. Probably need a flash. Figure out a reasonable background in the classroom. Pull the child out from the background to reduce shadows. If subjects are preschool then an assistant to direct them would be very helpful. If you want to use the exercise as an excuse to buy a printer, you might look at an Epsom PM 400 which makes excellent 4x6 and 5x7 prints. $400 price tag. Instead of buying and putting some miles on that , I would use Costco’s very good printing service at .37 for 4x6 prints. Bottom line: keep it simple, make it fun and plan on doing a better job the next year with lessons learned. If the atmosphere is hostile enough that you need liability insurance then you probably should not undertake the opportunity.

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

How can you possibly know if this person is equal to or better than anyone else that has gone before them? What you fail to understand is that anyone doing a commercial job who has never done it alone before, will, if they have any intelligence about them, first work as an assistant or second shooter in order to learn the ropes. No one in their right mind should consider doing someone's wedding for example, if they have never shot weddings before. And I see so many times that others offer advice saying.. "Just go for it, it will work out". Most stupid advice anyone could ever give someone.

Doing any commercial work without first having the liability insurance is just the dumbest thing in the world, in case anyone is suggesting that or thinking of doing that. If someone bumped a light stand and it fell over and hit a child, that would be the worst day of your life, especially if you injured a poor child.

Taking on any new job is a risk if you have no experience but for some reason when it comes to photography, many people think it is just a simple thing to do and you can teach yourself as you go. Some have luck but many do not and cause the poor client stress and loss of a special event if they screw up the photos. You never see someone asking a friend to do an operation because they know they have a set of knives and have seen them carve a turkey in the past.

Shooting an infant school is a hard job because the little ones have almost no attention span, and will be fidgeting all the time. You will need to have a good lighting system and know how to use it properly and efficiently. You will need an assistant to make sure the line flows well for those you are taking photos of, and to be sure no one comes close to your light stands. You will need to use a Pro Lab that will print out your photo packages and you will need to be well organized so you have everything going to the correct parents.

Like anything that you know how to do, it is not a difficult task. However, like anything you don't know how to do, or don't know what you are doing, you will find it a great effort and others who are watching you, will realize you don't know what you are doing. It is always best to attend several shoots of something you are considering doing, in order to understand how it goes and see what problems can happen and how to solve them.

What will you do if your lighting system fails, do you have a back up for that day? What about your camera, do you have a backup body? What lens will you use for the shoot, because as a photographer you will be expected to know this. If you don't know the answers to these questions then you are not ready to take on the job.

I don't wish to be the bad guy here, I just want people to think about these things because I see all the time where someone wants to do a photo shoot or someone asks them to be the photographer for some such event, and the potential photographer comes on here asking how do I do such and such. Good luck, it is not rocket science but it does require a certain skill set with proper equipment. Good luck if you try it and yes everyone started somewhere, but if they are successful, they most likely started as an assistant or second shooter to learn the ropes first.

aschweik Loc: NE Ohio

When the OP stated a friend asked her to take over the preschool photos, it sounded to me like this is something small and typically taken care of by parents, not a professional gig. Some preschools are small with a few classes and they don't want or need a professional. If this is the case here, the OP really just needs a camera, extra battery, flash, backdrop and an assistant. And going to the photo shoot area ahead of time to determine lighting would be good, too. This isn't a wedding. Maybe the OP can clear that up for us, as far as whether this is something that needs all the professional set up, or just a simple preschool class photo session done by parents. It doesn't need to be difficult.