If this is your first gig without having worked as an assistant or second shooter. Be warned, Working as a pro comes with a lot of responsibility. Have at least one back up for every piece of equipment you intend to use. As for the business part of the deal... Firstly, get paid just to be there and shoot. Don't forget to figure in editing time. Then: Plan A: Include in your price a CD for every sub-set family head and sell additional CD's by the piece for those that want them. To attest to the quality of your efforts, you can upload a gallery of all the photos - but with a very obvious water mark across each image (Light Room does this easily) Someone will always try to rip you off.
Plan B: Upload your processed images to a professional site you can direct your reunion members to, to view and order prints, cups, hats, etc. You set the retail prices. The site tells you their costs and you can create a price list so you can figure in your profit per print, etc. They take the orders, make prints, etc. and send you a check when it's all over. The devil's in the details.
I shoot mostly with what I hope is the best quality and speed 16 and 32 MB cards and always format them in the camera after downloading. That way if one should fail I haven't lost the whole shoot.
My favorite quote to my students: "When all else fails, read the manual". Nikon manuals have been pretty complete over the years, layered often in a "how much do you really want to know?" fashion. My recently purchased Sony A6500 came with very little and an offer of something on line which I downloaded and promptly forgot where I stored it. It's of little use when you're traveling with a backpack.
Time is transitional and subjective. It's difficult to know exactly when to press the shutter and to select the correct shutter speed for your subject matter without studying your subject and developing a feeling for it. Is your subject moving? How much movement/time might be necessary in order to tell your story?
The Sony a6500 with it's improved "Steadyshot" technology was my choice with only one lens (Zeiss ƒ4- 16~70) was all I needed. It was light, quiet and unobtrusive. Unlike my D810 and two of the pro ƒ2.8 zooms I took on my last trip. This wasn't a "photo-safari" type trip but still my concern about an ƒ4 lens was quickly put to rest when I saw how noiseless the 24MP Sony was at high ISO's. My only regret was not getting to know the camera better before getting on the plane. I plan to use it for professional work in the future.
I'm assuming this was taken in the UK. I might guess it's a vintage Austin. They look like miniature Fords from the late '30's in the USA. I've never come across a hot rodded big block in the, UK because fuel was so expensive... but anything's possible.
Good workflow habits like formatting in camera go a long way. Also, I don't use HUGE capacity cards. If one should fail, you don't want it to have your whole shoot on it. Also I only do one assignment or shoot per card- download into LR which immediately backs up, then put back into the camera to reformat.
I like to keep it simple. Adobe is the go-to software company by virtue of their DNG universal raw format. The workflow of Lightroom > Photoshop >Lightroom makes for a great work flow providing backup, database capabilities as well as offering several types of output while preserving the original image in a non-destructive environment.
I've been a Nikon shooter for my whole career. While there are some interesting features in their software I'm disappointed with having to purchase and pay for upgrades of their capture software. Adobe has provided a platform that gives the user confidence that he/she will be able to open files well into the future.
It may have been mentioned here already but it should be clarified that what the IRS will allow you to claim on your tax return is not what is being discussed here. What you choose to charge for travel is entirely up to you, based on the job. I typically, do not charge a travel fee unless it's more than a half day round trip, and that's per person; myself , assistants, etc. If it's not for an actual job, but a go-see or interview, I do not charge the client - it's a marketing cost and has tax deduction implications.
Thanks to all for your insights. As is typical with technology, there have been improvements in the SD cards currently available. Now, those of us with big hands need to be careful and keep track of them. As a pro, i'd rather spend a little more on reliable media regardless of which size. But your comments give me confidence that the SD card can be reliable media.
Does anyone have an opinion about the reliability of the smaller cards? Is one size more likely to get corrupted? and then there's the issue of recording speed ie.: video
It's a little scary trusting your precious images to this tiny SD card that can get lost so easily. I've been shooting with CF cards for years and now a lot of new cameras have SD cards solely or CF/SD combinations. What's your opinion?
I would hope the Ezio monitor would give you more than four years of accurate color. If you are using calibration software with a colorimeter you will know when the software will tell you it can't match the target values for your monitor. I have a second monitor that just can't make the target values and it's really evident as you compare the two monitors side by side. I put tool pallets there from PS but in LR I get comparitive images and it drives me crazy.