Good Luck Friday the 13th

[WooD]

I had a shoot today of 70 marching band members.

On Tuesday I went over all my gear, and made sure I had back ups to everything. I was pretty satisfied that I had all my bases covered. Then I thought about my CyberSync transmitter using a watch type battery. I thought I might as well get one, and keep in my lighting case...just in case.

Got to the school 1 1/2 hours early to set up my gear. When I was ready to get a meter reading on my strobes, nothing happened. They all fired when I pressed the button on the light, but nothing from the transmitter. I put the new battery in, and all was good.

One tiny $3.00 battery could have ruined my day, and reputation.

Never again will I think about bad luck on the 13th again.

I also thought of something else I don't have backed up, my strobe flash tubes. I plan on ordering another light in the next few weeks, I'll be scoring a few extra flash tubes too.

[beatles2]

Thank you, I don't have a back up battery. Monday I will.

[beatles2]

And, how did the shoot go ????

[WooD]

Originally Posted by beatles2

And, how did the shoot go ????

It went great. There were 70 band members. I did 3 to 4 individual shots of each, then did a outside group shot of them all, plus they wanted group shots divided up by instrument.

The parents were hesitant to pay up front due to the photographer "not me" who did their senior portraits giving them hideous pictures. I heard they threatened to sue the dude they were so bad.

I agreed to shoot all 70 of them, and load them unedited, water marked, and right click protected to a view only gallery.

I did have 29 pre paid package orders. I was going nuts trying to figure out how to tell which kid purchased their shots so I'd know which to edit. Then I came up with a most brilliant idea. I bought a 8x10 dry erase board. When I shot a kid that pre paid, I had them print their name on the board, and hold it for a mug shot, then I did their real shots.

They thought it was pretty cool, some of the other kids were pissed because they didn't get a mug shot.

After the band director checked out the shots, he said to expect a lot more orders. With just the 29 orders after printing, shipping, and kicking back 25% to the school I'll profit $710.

[DogHeadGod]

Nice work Wood!

[kgb224]

Outstanding work.

[harvey3]

sorry but I dont believe in "Friday the 13th" thing.
I am sure you're just busy and maybe excited to miss that small details.

anyway it turned to be a great job!

[Quo Fan]

I had good luck on Friday the 13th.


I earned my 5th degree black belt.

[m.c.adams]

Outstanding Wood! Quick thinking on the battery and the dry erase board. I think the board would come in handy for a lot of things on a shoot. I recently picked up some V4 triggers, could you direct me to any articles on metering for strobes?
Mark

[WooD]

Originally Posted by m.c.adams

Outstanding Wood! Quick thinking on the battery and the dry erase board. I think the board would come in handy for a lot of things on a shoot. I recently picked up some V4 triggers, could you direct me to any articles on metering for strobes?
Mark

Google will be your friend on metering questions.

I just set my lights up, and carry my transmitter around to each light to fire it for meter readings. I'd say 98% of the time I meter my main light around f/11, my fill light between f/5 to f/8, and I had my hair light at f/9 for this shoot.

I put an X on the floor with tape and had my wife stand on it. Then I positioned all my lights. When each kid came up for their shots, I just had them stand on the X. I never moved a light until I went to the group shots, which I shot last.

The entire band group shot I did first on the stands at the football field. I don't have enough light for 70 people.