Portrait Photography - Advice Needed!

[ddt0725]

Thank you very, very much for the detailed and extremely helpful information!! I didn't come to any closer of a decision over the weekend but am still waiting to hear from them also regarding what they paid the last photographers they used and get details on whether that person provided the photos or thumb drive, props, background, etc. (new manager waiting to talk to old manager that used to handle it).

If I use my 17-50 mm, I would have to use my 7d II for it doesn't work on the 6d. I did ask if I would be able to set up and test lighting the day before and they were okay with that. The photos would be taken in the waiting room which would only provide for about 3 feet from backdrop to subjects. There is a long, high rectangle window at the ceiling from wall to wall but that would catch afternoon sunlight and this will be in the morning.

So, still waiting to hear back from them on price. My daughter (who would be my assistant once again) is swaying toward that we should leave this to the professional portrait photographers. Me, I'm still undecided since this is such a dream job!

[peety3]

What do you have that's wide for your 6D?

If by chance you decide to tether, keep in mind that I did ZERO editing. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I used Capture One (my preferred tethering tool), but I minimized it and simply used the Mac Finder to control-click up to 7 images and drag them to the thumb drive. I shot in JPEG (kills me to say that, but it's true) that day, so that my work was ready to deliver as soon as it was shot; no conversion necessary.

Figure out what your "headcount" (client count) will be. We did 88 families and if I remember correctly about 132 pets altogether. We had a slow start at 10:00am, but by 10:30am we either had a line or a walk-up right when the prior customer was done, and that lasted until 2:15. We had a brief break, and then slammed again until 5:00. Oddly enough, it seemed to die off like a rock at 5:10, and we tried to get "the nod" from management, and finally decided we're done. We could have worked a few more people through with a third person (one positioning the animals, one person scanning eyeballs and shooting, one driving the laptop to copy images and hand off the thumb drive), and a fourth person even for a little while would have been a relief. Meanwhile, the pet food store we use does Santa photos using a schedule of 15-minute blocks and only two families per block (so 8 families per hour). That seems a lot more tame and manageable, although that photographer would eject his memory card and hand it to his assistant to read it, then burn a CD (or DVD). Yuck - at least tether, and I'd much rather a flash device so I can add one extra photo at the last minute if I need.

[ddt0725]

Sorry, I have not responded to this and your advice. A number of things have come up and due to painful health issues, I will not be able to take on this gig and photography has to become an very occasional pass time for me but I appreciate your responses very much.