Graduation Photos

[dhaemion]

Hey all!
I got roped into taking all the photos of graduates as they are walking across the stage this Friday and wondered if anyone has any pearls of wisdom? I'm going to have a pre-set (and focused) camera (canon XS) on a tripod with a remote shutter, but I will be shooting up to the stage which is about 4 feet off the ground. I'm going to have about 400 students to shoot as they walk across the stage and get their diplomas. I already got an extra battery, but I'm a bit nervous about having it as a set focus or it taking too long to auto-focus, especially when I'm not looking through the lens all the time. Any feedback is appreciated and thanks in advance!

[jdepould]

How are you firing it? Pocket wizard? Have you thought about lighting? Large cards--you won't have time to swap cards.

Traffic control? Last thing you need is someone bumping the remote. Caution tape is decent for this, but you'll need a buffer zone.

[dhaemion]

I was just going to use a tethered remote shutter that I got a while ago. I'm not sure about the lighting, the light has been pretty decent there in the past, but it is all old bulbs so it does tend toward yellow. There will not be anyone walking behind me so bumping the camera should not be a problem (although I do plan on getting some weight to hang from the tripod to be sure). I should have plenty of room on the card, I actually got one of the new wi-fi cards and the hotel has wi-fi so I should be able to shoot with bottomless memory.

My plan is to mark the floor with electrical tape so students know where to stop, and I might just use the onboard flash even as a small fill so the people on the stage know when I've done it. It is going to be two graduations, so I should have time to swap cards between them.

Thanks for responding!

[Mike367]

You might want to put a CTO gel over the flash to approximate the color of the ambient light, and set a custom white balance.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by Mike367

You might want to put a CTO gel over the flash to approximate the color of the ambient light, and set a custom white balance.

+1

And make sure you get there in advance and get your settings straight. Be willing to bump up ISO as noise is a lot easier to "fix" than blurry images.

Shooting up a people is not typically considered flattering. Any chance you can get a better position? That sort of angle seems to be the same angle any mom/dad with a point and shoot will have. How will your images stand out?

If you do this sort of thing more in the future, you should really consider investing in some off-camera flash because your pop-up just won't give you much more than snap shot looking images in my opinion.

Good luck!

[UlpilotSC]

I pity you. About the only torture worse than having to attend a wedding is a graduation. They usually have plants and odds and ends set around the stage for ambiance. Any chance of getting your camera on stage between some plants or something? Shooting up at them from the floor is going to look odd, I agree. 400 doesn't sound like much but they'll be coming at you rapid fire style. Are you hoping they'll look down at the camera?
Usually there's a natural stopping point while they wait for the student in front of them to get their stuff, and they wait for their name to get called. Edge of the stage, top of a stair. I don't know if they would stop on some tape line unless that is the "waiting point" for the next student. They won't be thinking about pictures, just getting their stuff without screwing up at that point.

[SwissJon]

On Camera Flash??? Get some spare batteries!

[dhaemion]

Thanks for all the responses!

In terms of position, I think I might be able to get it up on the stage or at the very least go as high as my tripod can go so it is a bit less of an angle. Luckily, I'm one of the instructors at the school so I am comfortable with the people running it and can change the plan that day.

Great tip on the CTO gel, I'm planning on getting there about 1.5 hours before it starts and there happens to be a camera shop around the corner (yay!) that I can drop in and get whatever I need.

Is there a particular type of off camera flash that would work well? I've been meaning to invest in one but haven't done any research yet so I'm a bit clueless.

The fun part will be sorting these out to print since I don't know very many of the students. The plan right now is to give the students a raffle type ticket when they go off the stage and using that know what number they are. I'm also planning on having different colored cards to snap between departments so if a student looses their ticket I can at least narrow it down.

I do have an extra battery shipping from Amazon that should be here tomorrow, just enough time for me to charge it for Friday.

Thanks for all the input!

[dhaemion]

And now there is a new twist, which will make this a bit simpler. They have moved it so the students are going to be taking photos after they come down the stairs in front of a table with flowers so that should fix the angle issue.

Anyone have any creative ideas of hacked lighting for this? I don't have any flashes but I think a nice light to fill behind them and catch their hair would make the photos look presentable.

[dhaemion]

Well now that it is over I thought I would post the results. As a fundraiser it was a success but that building is a nightmare to shoot in. I had to end up using a 1/4 second exposure and hope and pray the students stood still that long and it was still just a touch underexposed. I had the ISO set at 800 because any higher then that I got some horrendous noise. I think next time I'm going to invest in some good lighting but after running a batch correct on them they look pretty good!