Neil Danton

…the Shoot.

So, you’ve figured out what you need publicity for, and you’ve booked the photographer, but take a step back for a moment and just review whether you actually need your own photographer.

There is another way to get your event/launch/whatever covered, and that’s to organise a photo-call where you invite media publications to send their own journalist and/or photographer.

The advantage: Costs you nothing in terms of outlay.
The disadvantages: 1) Nobody turns-up. Publications will rarely give a commitment, let alone a guarantee, that they will send someone along. Even if you get a grunt of commitment, whoever has been assigned to come along could well be diverted. 2) The images are only going to the publications that send someone, not distributed to wherever you would like. 3) You might not get the type of image used that you would really like. In the event of someone tripping over, pulling a stupid face or any other slightly embarrassing incident, that could be the image that’s used. 4) You will have no usage of images for your own purposes.

If you decide to commission your own photographer, then BEFORE you actually arrange the shoot you should really be discussing the best time of day/week/month with your photographer, because they should be able to advise you on that. It can make a huge difference in getting images used. Your photographer should also know the best time of day/week/month to actually release (distribute) the images for best effect too.

If you go with your own photographer then there is no need to invite publications to send their own person as well. One thing guaranteed to wind them up is if they send someone and then find out they would have received images anyway, when their own person could have been doing something else useful. If you do send notification of an event, then also inform them that images will be supplied. They do appreciate that information.

Also, unless it’s the red carpet at the Oscars which wouldn’t be the same without a battery of cameras, more than one camera is going to distract the subject(s). There is little worse than seeing 2 or more people in an image and they are looking in different directions.

In addition to the timing, your photographer should also be able to help with advising who to put into the images, and who not to! It’s a subtle art.

Lastly, have a discussion with your photographer about ideas for the shoot well in advance of the actual time. It may be that other factors need to be organised in advance. It’s somewhat surprising the amount of time and effort goes into organising an event/launch/whatever, but the thought process regarding the photography, the one thing that will probably be remembered, is reduced to making a booking and commissioning the photographer and expecting something miraculous to happen.

Personally I start thinking up ideas the moment I receive a commission, some work out, some don’t, but a little interaction and ideas from the client works wonders too. Modern camera equipment is fantastic but doesn’t yet come equipped with a magic wand that gets the images used front-page.

If both the client and the photographer are trying to think up something interesting in advance, then there is a far greater chance of a successful outcome.

Previously: PR Photography 101 pt 03 The Photographer
Next up: PR Photography 101 pt 05 The Caption

TTFN

…metaphorically and literally.

When on a commission I normally try and get the “safe” shots first, and then go for something more interesting. In this instance though, because of the timing being rapidly approaching dusk, I went the other way around.

This commission was to create some images for the launch of the Ashbourne & Purcell cup-finals week-end. These are competitions for 3rd level institutions (University age) in the sport of Camogie. Camogie is the ladies form of the men’s game of hurling with a few subtle rule changes. It looks a bit vicious with lumps of wood being flailed around, but has less injuries caused than Gaelic Football.

As always I was trying to think up something that would be a little bit different and when they sky started turning nice I knew I had the shot in mind.

So in reverse order of timing, the standard shot:

Two-light, no modifiers.

The slightly more interesting shot:

One light, white shoot through.

The nice sky (and the “oops missed shot”):

and the, well you decide:

Two-light, no modifiers.

TTFN

…Angel. This follows on from three-light basketball player, and actually, although I had four lights set-up in readiness, I didn’t use them all at the same time, so in the end the maximum was 2 at a time. So there you go – the run has come to an end . Sorry then if you came here under false pretences. I’ll do a four-light for you sometime in the not too distant future, promise.

Maybe it’s just as well though. After 4 comes 5 (always was brilliant at maths), and after that I run out of Speedlites.

This was a commission for the Irish Wheelchair Association, to publicise their National Angel Day. Angel Day is a “Pin Day” where pins are sold to support the association, a registered charity.

In the spirit of being charitable, I decided to keep and show the whole out-take from the shoot, as opposed to my normal routine where the last thing I want you to see are all the cock-ups, bloopers, out-of-focus shots, flash no-fire shots, etc. All the images are taken straight from the camera, with just a straight RAW to jpeg conversion. No post-processing whatsoever, nothing. Somewhere in amongst all the dross, more by luck than judgement due to my fantastic ability, are some keepers.

What it all goes to prove I guess, is one or more of the following:

a) When you are working with the small version of humans, you don’t get many chances to “nail” the image you want.

b) 90% of a shoot is testing the lights and the positioning of the subjects.

c) You don’t need to shoot 5,000 images to get something worthwhile.

d) Angel wings keep falling over.

e) It’s always raining when you have to carry a ton of gear back to your vehicle.

OK, so e) doesn’t actually have anything to do with the shoot.

I threw the whole lot together in iMovie, from an original concept called “Frames” by the legendary Chase Jarvis. I’ve decided that for me at least, cock-ups might be more appropriate than Frames, but if I use this idea again it might be called TWNY (The Whole Nine Yards).

First up though, the keepers:

All lighting was over-under using an Ezybox 60cm softbox (over) and a mini LumiQuest softbox (under), except for #4 which was a mini beauty dish on “Angel”, and a mini LumiQuest softbox on Alanna, held by my wonderful lighting assistant Ciara.

And now here comes the vid:

Do not adjust your set, it starts with a blank frame, that’s to test I had the ambient light killed-off sufficiently. There are more throughout the show too, where the lights can’t recycle quickly enough to keep up. Unusually there isn’t a shot of my foot. The first frame on the card is usually testing that the Pocket Wizards are hooked up correctly and firing the Speedlites, and I always seem to have the camera pointing at my foot. It finishes with the keepers that you see above.

Click to play – WATCH OUT – there’s music if you are faffing around wasting time doing research on the Internet at work. Music is Angels by Mettatron.

Acknowledgements:

The Everyman Palace Theatre and especially their Press Officer Sarah Dee.

My client Thos for all the organising, and commissioning the shoot with enough advanced notice that we could plan it properly. Not the “Come along in an hour’s time and create award-winning images” that I often get. Pulling the rabbit out of the hat as I often have to gets monotonous, for me, and the rabbit.

My Angel, Cork Ladies Footballer Nollaig Cleary for being a gem.

My “models”, Alanna and Cathal for their patience and putting up with my growling.

My lighting assistant Ciara (talkalot) O’Neill, sister of Cathal – I’m sure you’re going to be a big star one day, and when you’re a famous performing-arts star, don’t forget me. I’m available for a photo-shoot in Hollywood anytime you call.

I had so much fun putting the video together that it might just become a regular feature.

You have been warned. Persons of a nervous disposition would be well-advised to look away now…

TTFN

…academics.

Sometimes PR photography can seem a little mundane. Images need to be shot that the client needs, but they don’t exactly inspire the creative juices. This is where one needs to go “the extra mile”. The client may well be satisfied with “standard” images, but, well frankly, I’m not.

The first image is one that needs to be shot. It’s for record purposes. Signing of some important piece of paper or something. One-light (yes, there’s a clue on the post-title). In this case, due to the usual time constraints on these occasions, I cheated and used a shoe-mounted flash with a Stofen. A wonderful creation, loved by press photographers. It’s just a shame most of them don’t know how to use them properly.

Next up, simple close-up portrait for website use. Again one-light, in this case a ringflash.

Lastly, and here’s where the push to get the “real” picture comes in, a one-light, off-camera flash, mounted on a lightweight stand.

Additional time taken to get the 3rd image, 5 minutes. Additional “value” to the client – not quantifiable, but I would bet on it that neither of the first 2 images would be suitable for anything other than internal use, whereas the 3rd one would.

Next up – a two-light assignment. Fortunately, I did one the very same day.

TTFN

…again.

See the previous Monkeying around here at On Safari

This time it was a newly born lion-tailed Macaque that I needed to capture for a press-release.

It took ages to find it though. Firstly it was pretty small, and a long way away as the Macaque community live on an island in the wildlife park. Plus, the mother was being pretty protective.

Finally though I got a glimpse of it (I say it, as the sex is as yet undetermined).

Fairly sure it was the mother at left, and the father at right, although it was a little hard to tell, as in a way that’s typical of a lot of primates, the whole clan seemed to get involved in baby-sitting.

The peek-a-boo moment below though was definitely with the mother.

TTFN