Shooting Conventions or Events Like Red Hat League

In about 6 weeks I will be setting up at a Red Hat League gathering. I'll have a background and freedom to attend all the gatherings for candids. My event experience is dance and sport competitions so I am trying to think about ways to maximize my investment in time on this one. Convention type shoots are not one of my strengths.

I am already planning to:

- provide a 5x7 for everyone so I know I will have great traffic. The event folks are paying a nominal fee for this service.
- other events they have attended use green screen technology. I have a green screen which I have yet to master. I'd appreciate some tips on that one.
- I plan to sell coupons on day one which allows them to pre-purchase photos at a discount during the weekend. The thought here is to get them to spend money with me early while they still have money and give them a reason to come back later on.
- candids will be shot with 8 or 9 computers setup as viewing stations.
- online will be offered with a 20% surcharge. My experience with online has not been good. They want it, but they don't visit it.
- onsite printing. 5x7 size only.


If you have shot a similar event what have you done that worked and didn't work.

Thanks

-

Is that The Red Hat Society?

Hi, Art,

Art Sprague said:

In about 6 weeks I will be setting up at a Red Hat League gathering.

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Are you by any chance speaking of the Red Hat Society?

If so, one good rule of covering any event is to know the name of the outfit!

If there really is a Red Hat League, then excuse the ring.

For more about the Red Hat Society:

http://www.redhatsociety.com

For a peek into an illustrative (there's no such thing as typical) chapter of the Society:

http://classicelegance.home.att.net

You are right. The official name is the Red Hat Society. I remember seeing league somewhere and made some inquiries to learn that Red Hat League is sometimes used by Red Hat Linux users and by companies that want to refer to the Red Hat Society but know that they can't reference the name directly. Specifically people selling spoof or novelty products that reference the society. One example of the latter is the CafePress folks who have a Red Hat League line of spoof products.

Good Catch Doug. From the website reference you gave I would say you have a lot more experience with the group than I presently do. Thanks

Hi, Art,

Art Sprague said:

You are right. The official name is the Red Hat Society. I remember seeing league somewhere and made some inquiries to learn that Red Hat League is sometimes used by Red Hat Linux users and by companies that want to refer to the Red Hat Society but know that they can't reference the name directly. Specifically people selling spoof or novelty products that reference the society. One example of the latter is the CafePress folks who have a Red Hat League line of spoof products.

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Indeed, all that. A good summary! And as you might well expect, the Society itself (the Hatquarters, as the administrative shop is called) is pretty careful about guarding the commercial use of its name, and of course has licensed any number of makers of various goods tagged with the Society's name.

From the website reference you gave I would say you have a lot more experience with the group than I presently do. Thanks.

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My bride, Carla is the founding Queen Mum of that chapter.

I have done a lot of shooting at Red Hat events, but never with any serious "commercial" program to go with it. I hope your program for the upcoming event goes well for you.

In the meantime, if you need any more insight into the Red Hat psyche (not that it is even close to a homogeneous bunch!), don't hesitate to PM me and I'll put you in touch with Carla.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Doug

Being Eligible...

I am eligible and I could wear a Red Hat, but, it messes up the hair (lol). That being said, I happened to be in San Francisco a year ago when they were having some kind of convention there. Most of the women I met had a lot of character to them. You might want to make sure you are using longer lenses and soft focus to make your sales. Even a bit of shooting from above...just my 2 cents worth. I am sure it would be a really fun gig!

Hi, Kathy,

Kathy Rappaport said:

I am eligible and I could wear a Red Hat, but, it messes up the hair (lol). That being said, I happened to be in San Francisco a year ago when they were having some kind of convention there. Most of the women I met had a lot of character to them.

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Here are some of them at large in Chicago:

http://classicelegance.home.att.net/Chicago2007.htm

Best regards,

Doug

Not too close on these ladies

Since I am of the age (you have to be 50 to join!) I can say don't shoot closeups if you want to sell photos to this population. When we were younger, we had to deal with skin blemishes. Now we have to deal with "character" - which is why the cosmetic industry is doing so well.

Hi, Kathy,

Kathy Rappaport said:

Since I am of the age (you have to be 50 to join!) I can say don't shoot closeups if you want to sell photos to this population.

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I don't take these to "sell" images.

However, you can't imagine how excited these ladies are to be able to get records of their fun. (We sometimes offer disks with collections of images from an event.)

Best regards,

Doug

Concerning the green screen, the real work is in post production, as you have to get rid of that absolutely horrid green background and replace it with something else, which should have somewhat similar lighting conditions.
Otherwise the green screen should have even lighting, no shadow from the subject or anything else should be visible in your viewfinder. It also helps if you keep the distance between the subject and the screen as large as possible. Some people recommend a magenta rimlight on the subject in order to increase colour contrast, which might not be necessary with red-hatted subjects.
And while on the subject of hat-wearing, you might want to consider a setup (reflector) to get light onto the face under the hat. I don't think this is the kind of event where you can ask your subjects to take them off.

Christoph