Make plans now to attend the 2007
CCS Winter Seminar in Miami Beach, Florida. The dates
are Monday and Tuesday, February 26th and 27th, with optional
training sessions on the afternoon of Sunday, February
25th. The setting
for the event is the Eden
Roc Hotel. Perfectly situated
on the sugary, white sand beaches of the Sunshine State,
the Eden Roc offers all the amenities you would expect
from a first-rate beachfront hotel including an oceanfront
spa, two oceanfront pools (an oxymoron, perhaps?), and
oversized guest rooms and suites with ocean views.
Room rates for this Floridian adventure are $169 per night;
a reasonable rate considering we’ll be in Miami Beach
at the height of the winter season. The deadline to reserve
a room at the Eden Roc is January 25th.
A preliminary agenda is now available (click
here) for the seminar. Candid Color Systems customers
and associates will gather to hear the latest sales and
marketing success stories; discover what CCS has rising
on the horizon relating to technology and equipment; and
absorb the culture that is exclusively Miami Beach. We
will also be continuing our Table Topics lunch on the second
day, which has traditionally been a valuable networking
and idea-gathering opportunity.
If you have some suggestions
or would like to present your success stories on any of
the topics, please contact Brian
Speers or Dana Hill.
We look forward to a great turnout and a lot of FUN! Please
Complete the CCS Survey
If you have not done so already, we invite you to click
on the link below and complete the CCS survey. We are conducting
this customer survey in an effort to solicit some ongoing
customer feedback on CCS across a wide range of company
operations. The survey should not take you more than about 10 minutes to complete. Your
feedback is very important to us! The feedback you give will be examined
and dispersed to the appropriate CCS personnel so that it can be considered for
future enhancements and help us improve our customer service to you.
Thank you for your honest input and to the 86 customer who have already completed
the survey! Take
the survey! 2
New Sports Products
Click to enlarge
The Photo
Mug (lab price - $8.66) is something
Mom or Dad would be happy to have at home or on their desk
at work featuring their star athlete. The
Photo Mug is available in 2 versions: the single
image mug and the mug with sports logo and image. The sports
logo for this product would be submitted and sized as you
would a logo for a memory mate. Mugs are packaged
separately and ship separately from the rest of the customer’s
order.
Sport
Photo Buttons pictured
above (click to enlarge) allow you to choose a
CCS sports modifier and personalize the product
for your athletes. These
enhanced buttons are the same lab price ($1.55) as the image
only photo buttons.
Digital recorder prices have finally dropped enough
to make them an affordable
option
for recording names at your graduation ceremonies.
The key to purchasing
the correct model is to get one with a USB port. This port enables you
to connect the recorder to your computer and then copy the appropriate files
which are in WAV format.
We tested the Olympus VN 3100 and it performed well. With a 71 hour recording
capacity, there was no worry about running out of recording time. Powered
by two AAA batteries, the recorder created WAV recordings that were clearer than
any tape recorder we had previously used and this was without any external microphones. The
recorder was simply placed on the podium. You can find the best selection of
recorders at Office Depot starting at $40.
Nikon D40 SLR This past weekend, we tested the new 6MP Nikon D40 camera. ($599 with
lens). Smaller than the Nikon D70, the Norman Party Pics staff commented that
it looked cute. Despite its smaller size, it was easy to hold when mounted
to a SunPak 544 strobe and it performed well during the two graduation ceremonies
we photographed. It was very responsive in auto-focus mode and with a significantly
larger LCD Playback Monitor, evaluating images while shooting was a breeze.
Currently, the camera is only sold with a light duty 18-55 ED lens that does
not have any distance references making zone focusing impossible. This
lens would work for Party Pics and sports applications, but for grads, our recommendation
is to purchase the body (when available) and pair it with a Nikon 18-70 ED lens.
($310)
All
primary settings such as Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO, White
Balance, Resolution, Compression, Images Remaining, Battery
life, etc. are displayed on the LCD Playback Monitor instead
the LCD Settings Screen found on the top of most cameras. The
shutter speed is controlled with the rear control dial just as the D70. To
change the aperture, you must depress a button near the trigger release while
moving the rear control dial and take a little practice.
The D40 uses SD memory cards instead of Compact Flash memory cards and has a
different type of battery than the D70 and D200. Be careful to send out
the correct memory type and batteries with this camera!
We will continue testing this camera and will post additional updates on its
battery life and performance with the Nikon SB800. This camera can be purchased
from B&H Photo as
well as other online retailers. Web-hosted
CORE Software will be free starting January 1, 2007
If you are not currently using CORE for grads, sports, races,
groups, proms or Quicpics and would like a demonstration,
please contact Customer Support at 800-750-0494. We
will begin weekly Online Webex CORE Training again early in January. Give
us a call also if you would like to switch from Server based CORE ($40 per month
for Support),
In the Party Pic business,
setting goals is a great way to motivate your photographers
to get more pictures. Goals can be broken down in several
different ways. Here are some suggestions to get started.
Previous
Goals: It is helpful to use the event’s numbers
from last year to determine this years goals, how ever it
is also important to judge the number of pictures based on
the strength or lack there of last years photographer(s).
At least 200 pictures should be shot no matter the party
size and larger party’s goals should increase by 10%-25%.
Parties at which 200 shots can not be taken should probably
not even be booked.
Attendance: Judging the attendance of
an event is also a great way to set your goals. At Norman
when an organization books an event they have a space on
their forms for expected attendance. Even if this number
is not completely accurate it should be a good estimate.
Try to shoot at least 4 pictures per couple at a date party
and 4 pictures of each member at an all girl function.
Milestones: This
method should be used in conjunction with both Previous Goals
and Attendance. Milestones should be set in increments of
15 minutes. If a party lasts 2 hours and the goal is 600
images, every 15 minutes your photographers should be shooting
about 38 images each. Make sure you tell your photographers
exactly what is expected of them and don’t
leave them to figure it out these numbers for themselves.
Finally,
it is important that the photographer is concerned about
quality. Just because they are able to take 100s of images
doesn’t mean the images will sell. If the exposure
isn’t correct, the images are out of focus, or are
repetitious it will affect sales and your reputation will
suffer.
These are only a few examples,
if you have anymore please email me.
Attention: CCS Customers using your own website to link
to QP2 events. by Demetri
Barges
If you are currently linking
to QP2 events using one of the three links below you need
to change your link. The reason for the change is the old
link is currently running an old and outdated application
that is no longer supported. Customers using QEMS to link
to their events may disregard this message.
Follow
up to Group Photography! Last time we spoke about the WHY of
group photography and discovered that nothing is more profitable
than standing in front of a group of people selling multiple
prints of a single image.
Now let’s work on the HOW. Three considerations
for good group photos are subject placement, lighting and
selling your picture. Let’s
start with the best scenario; placing your subjects on bleachers or stairs. When
constructing groups of any size, ideally, you want your back rows to have a few
more people than the middle and even less on your front row. To build a
group this way, take the number of people in your group and divide by the number
of rows you have to work with and multiply by 16 inches. This total equals
the distance of your middle row in inches. Then, tape off the edges for
the size print you will be selling. For an 8x10 print,
which is a short, wide print, you will need extra rows than,
say, a 10 x 24 print which, as a long narrow print, uses
less rows.
Click to enlarge
Working from back to front, place the next row of individuals
so as not to hide any person. If your subjects are standing place the tallest people towards
the back and the smaller people to the front. From the camera’s
perspective, by progressively placing fewer people on the rows as you make your
way towards the front, it appears your edges are straight and avoids giving a
funnel look to your group. The proper trapezoid shape can be achieved by
taping off the edges of the group relative to what you see through the camera’s
viewfinder. Have the tape on the bleachers parallel to the edge of the
camera’s view finder.
Artificial Light - Use tall light stands and keep lights
as high as your back row. Use a light meter to balance your exposure from the top back
corners to your front row corners. Try to get it within a half stop or better
at all metered locations in the group. Example:
Back row meters F-11; front row meters F-11.5.
1) Single
light source- center of the group, high enough that the shadows fall downward
and not on faces of the subjects behind each other. Light angled up slightly
towards (area B) see diagram
2) Two
light source- See diagram Lights 2 and 3 angled up and towards (area A and C)
3) Four
light source- See diagram
When lighting a large group pay special attention lighting
areas A and C as they are normally dark, Area B is
normally a hot spot. You can minimize this
by angling A and C lights slightly outwards and using a light meter testing all
four corners and the top and bottom of the middle of the group. Light stands
1 and 4 can be closer to the group as long they are out of camera’s
viewfinder.
Selling the group:
1) The
best way is to contract with the group’s organizers
to buy one picture for everyone in the group.
2) Send
pre-pay envelopes to everyone in the group one
week prior to the shoot, reminding them to bring
their money the day of the shoot. Bring extra envelopes for
those who forget to bring a completed envelope, and small change for those that
need to crack large denomination bills. Collect
envelopes after you make your sales pitch to your
group, explaining the importance of the event and
the significance of the group photo.
3) Sell
on the spot, handing out cards or envelopes and
collecting and making change as you go. Have
a responsible person collect orders and money for
you after the group date. Turn in at a predetermined
date.
4) Hand
out web password cards to go online and see the group and order. You can sell
additional images by collecting and sending an e-mail link to your group.
CCS Service
Timesfor
the week of 12/10
by Bo Lewis
Problems
with, or suggestions about The Developments Newsletter? Email
us to see if we can help.
