One popular capability Morton Visuals offers with its event photography is printing on-site. There are a number of ways to take advantage of on-location photo printing, and many benefits. Let’s take a look at some different types of events to see how this value-added benefit can contribute to your particular event’s engagement.
Types of Events
Formal Events
One of the most popular applications of event photo printing are the “prom photo” portraits. These are particularly valuable for more formal events, where everyone is dressed in their finest — and they want to remember that, and show off their best. We typically do this setup as people arrived, before an awards dinner or charity fundraiser banquet. We usually have their photo printed within a minute or two, placed in a folder, so that they can take the portrait with them. For those who are immediately distracted by other guests, we collect the images and then display them on a table to be picked up on their way out of the event.
Casual Events or Holiday Events
Another popular application is the quintessential photo booth, whether manned or unmanned. This allows couples and groups to create their own image and receive a print on the spot. Morton Visuals however adds the element of a professional photographer to help pose people and ensure that they look their best.
Sometimes these events may include a green screen setup, where any number of background images may be presented. This is a popular option with a themed party, such as a “50’s sock hop” theme or a “disco party.” The example at right was an “80s rock concert” photographed at the House of Blues in San Diego. The subjects can be photographed in another location, or another decade.
Holiday events are always great opportunities for on-site event photo printing. Many companies host holiday parties for their employees, and a photo is a great gift to show them some appreciation. Check out this blog article on Holiday Party Portraits On The Spot. Perhaps the most well-known event with photos printed on-site is Santa photos. Yes, Morton Visuals can photograph (and print) Santa photos!
Charity Events
Charity events, especially fund-raising events, have many options. Event photos can be anything from formal portraits or casual portraits to group photos and buddy photos. Paying for these can take a number of avenues as well, from having each portrait customer pay for their own to having a sponsor “gift” everyone a portrait. Other ideas are included below.
How Morton Visuals Does Printing On-Site
Morton Visuals brings in a photo studio, complete with studio lighting and backdrop. Our typical setup is to shoot with a high-end professional camera connected to a laptop. If we are shooting portraits we can shoot two (or three) images in case someone blinks. We can pick the best image and send it straight to a printer, or we can allow each person to pick their favorite image for printing (depending on time and how many people are waiting). Once we send our image to the printer it takes less than a minute to get the image printed and another minute or so to insert it in to an event photo folder. Then the guest can take it with them!
How Much Does Event Printing Cost?
There are a multitude of considerations to this seemingly simple question. A few of the major factors include:
- How long will we be on site?
- How many people do we expect to photograph during that time frame?
- What size prints are we producing? (i.e. 4×6″, 5×7″ or 6×8″ prints) We need to calculate the cost of the prints and the cost of the appropriately sized photo folder in to which they are inserted.
- Are we trying to sell prints to individual guests on-site (much like prom photos), or is the company/organization/sponsor providing up to a certain amount prepaid? This can have an effect on our personnel requirements, and thus our costs.
Essentially we add these factors together to generate a quote: time + (prints x size).
Often a sponsor will cover the cost of event photos printed on-site. We have the ability to print not only the event name on every photo, but we can also include a sponsor’s logo. This provides the sponsor with additional advertising exposure long after the event wraps up. The image at right is an example.
Are you interested in having us generate a quote for your event? Contact Morton Visuals with as many details about your event as possible. We’ll be happy to discuss options for you!