School Prom.. Advice.

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mattR

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Matt
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I have been asked by my employer if I would like to photograph the leavers prom this year, I jumped at the offer but I am now getting cold feet.

I am in no way going to be judged but at the same time I want to get good results.

I plan to get some outdoors shots when they arrive in various means of transport and then go indoors later to get some more portrait style shots. I have no issue in shooting the outdoor stuff and getting action type of shots, its just the portrait style shots I am worried about and also shooting group portraits. I mainly shoot action photography and outdoor sort of stuff.

I have done portrait stuff in the past but not alot of it. I am have ordered myself an white umbrella, lightstand and speedlite mount etc...

I have watched a many tutitorials on how to get good shots and practiced with out the use of an umbrella.. i.e working with shadows and how the position of the flash makes a difference, camera settings etc.

I feel confident and know I will do fine, the room I have been given has a nice big space to work in so light levels shouldn't be an issue.

Has anybody shot this sort of thing before? any advice.tips would be fantastic :)

Cheers Matt
 
Matt
There are many aspecs to concider when covering proms. School proms is very different to shooting portraits. Imagine a queue of 100+ or more 16 yr olds waiting to be photographed. You need to be organised for shooting singles, couples plus small and large groups. Can your speedlites keep up with that? I very much doubt it and you have no time for changing any settings.
Your next point will be how will the kids view their images? will you be shooting tethered or wifi, are you offering on-site printing? if so what printer do you have? School proms are fast and furious and it is essential for you to have a slick workflow from posing through to the final product.
 
Hi Snappzz,

Thanks for your input,

The kids will view the images after the prom, we have a setup where they log in to a page on the school website and view them. They then write down what number pictures they want to order and return the order form back to school before a set date.

I will reconsider my options with regards to using my speedlites if its going to be that much of an issue. I plan on using two lenses - 18-105mm Nikon/35mm F1.8

I can use them on a d90 and my D300s so I won't have to keep swapping lenses over.

I am hoping the weather stays good so I can get more outdoor shots than indoor but, they have set aside a room in for pictures, which is abit like a library so hopefully I should be able to get some good results without using my speedlites.

The results from last years photographer where very poor so any improvment on last year should be better than what they where expecting, but I still want to get some shots I am happy with and something I would want to buy if it was my prom.

Hope I am making sense here! I think the only way I am going to do it is go for it and just go with the flow.
 
For the portrait shots have you thought about renting a small kit comprised of a few monoblocks with modifiers and a portable background. I assume with the 35mm you are using that for group shots/walkaround?

Trying to get any shots that look glamourous without using any flash is going to be hard and I know I definitely prefer to have that kind of lighting on my side than not available at all. If you are going to sell a decent number of orders the rental cost will be negligable.
 
There are many issues the OP will face and all while under pressure. In short a library as a background without lights ...... even at 11pm? Outdoor shots .... even if raining?

Its ok to prepare but have you prepared for every eventualities? Matt I get the impression you feel confident about handling this job so I may be wasting time adding anything else so I just wish you luck and hope it goes well.
 
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