Is there a ticket system available for photographing the general public?

Question

This is something I have been looking to do for quite some time. When the royal wedding happened last year(2011) we went into the centre of town where there was a big street party.

I started taking a few photos and in amongst the crowd a chap saw my DSLR round my neck and said "hey mate can you take a photo of us?" I replied with sure I can.

I took the photo and the guy said what's my number? I was like what number? he said you know the number, so we can find the shot on your website.

I got what he meant, but I explained I was just a guy with a cam to which he called me a pervert and left. Charming!

Anyway it got me thinking if there was a system I could use for photographing people and giving them a number to find themselves on my website. This could be used at any public event - maybe even at fun runs etc.? or using peoples running numbers as locators?

Answer 1

You are looking for a software package that handles photography known as Event Photography. There is an awful lot out there, some is probably great, some crap. So read the reviews, blogs, look for free trials.

Here's some to start you off, but I just googled and got them:

• http://eventphotosystems.com/
• http://www.chiizu.com/

and some other sites

• http://shutterdown.com/how-to/photography-tips/photo-post/getting-into-event-photography/
• http://www.ephotozine.com/forums/topic/event-photography-software-48949

Answer 2

What works for you depends very much on what you want to achieve. The commercial event software may well be best if you want to use this to make money.

I have a system that works well enough for me without too much work. My "day job" is as an electrical design engineer, but I photograph various private and public events and functions where people want to access the photos afterwards. Weddings, birthdays, galas, graduation dinners ... - events where people want to see their own photos subsequently and maybe where they do not have any link to anyone else present - such as at a public festival.

In such situations volume may be very high with multiple photos per person or group taken rapidly and then I move on. this gives them a range of possible photos rather than 1 or 2 carefully posed ones, bu makes it necessary to have a system that minimises my overhead. So ...

I print out slips with a website address, brief introduction and contact details. This also serves as a casual business card and if people like the photos I may get referrals. I hand out slips generally to anyone who may be interested but if I take personal photo I note a "frame number" and write it on the slip in a location reserved for this and brief instructions on use. I load photos in folder groups in time sequence and provide a number range on photos in the folders. People can then go to the website and access the photos by frame number. Those who cannot handle even this low level of complexity can email me and quote a reference number and I can choose to either return photos by email or to send a URL relating. Using Fotki's "roll mode" allows me to centre a reference on a photo number and to send an email that allows them to drop into the album centered on their photo(s).

The above works well. I previously used to take email addresses and this was slow, much too much work for me, placed the onus on me, people may have been reluctant to give addresses, it took time to get address and it was not always reliably readable.

eg
You were frame number 5183
You were frame number 5442 )
5445
5377
5402 ... And proud ! ...
And proud !!! {and thisone is real}
6055
...................................... ... .. .