White Balance Blog

I don't think I've ever done a job where the subjects were having so much fun! The kids came up with the idea to make a photobooth, which created a lot of energy and, well, silly faces. The kids had a great time and the project was pretty simple. We also shot candids, and made a slideshow during the event for a backdrop - they kept us busy!

We got a new radio flash trigger, umbrella diffuser, and flash stand for $160 at Pro Photo Supply in Portland – perfect for this project. Our shooting style is very lightweight and mobile. Next time I plan on using an externally powered flash for something like this – the cycle time was like 10 seconds which was too long for the photobooth concept. That, and the kids’ silly faces started to cramp after 5 seconds… it was amusing catching them unexpectedly, just like a real photobooth! Great concept the kids had, I think it really worked.

Another thing I tried to come up with was an automated way to kick out the photos in a strip (Lightroom can do this with proof sheets) and import those into a template of sorts in Photoshop. I couldn’t quite get it to work automatically, but the result looks great:

We also provided the images in color through Smugmug. I checked it out a year ago when we were starting WBI, but wow – as a pro who needs to sell his work, I couldn’t ask for anything more than what Smugmug provides. It completely removes the hassle of photo fulfillment and lets us focus on shooting and editing. It’s $160/year, and I think will be completely worth it.

Posted by Allan White in Portfolio, Kids