This weekend was the first real test of my project idea, “Coffee Shop Portraits”.  The idea is simple, set up in a local shop and take photos of patrons.  They end up with a nice photo, and I get some experience shooting portraits.  I was pretty nervous going into it, but the reception was pretty good and I think it went pretty well.  It wasn’t the huge influx of people wanting their photo taken that I had feared, since most folks just wanted to come in from the cold, get their drink, and get back out to the parade.  While there was a good sized line though, there were enough people interested that I had a good time.

The setup was very simple.  I shot using my [amazon_link id=”B00FOTF8M2″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]D600 [/amazon_link]connected to my [amazon_link id=”B0042X9L6A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]SB600[/amazon_link] speedlight for external flash.  Inside the camera was an [amazon_link id=”B002UT42UI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Eye-Fi Pro 8GB[/amazon_link] card that was set to transfer the RAW file to the computer. I had my [amazon_link id=”B00FG7MVJU” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Surface Pro 2[/amazon_link] connected to a large LCD monitor so that people could watch the processing and provide input.  I processed in [amazon_link id=”B00CH6ATMO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Lightroom 5[/amazon_link] which was set to watch the import folder and automagicly bring up the last imported files.  So within a few seconds, I could take a shot and then start editing it.

People seemed to love the process just as much as the photo.  Watching the editing and providing a little extra input was great, and at the end of the day, I didn’t have to go home and work on a bunch of photos, they were all done!

I think for future versions of this project, I may have some templates set up so that I can just upload the files to my site and e-mail out a link to it.  Overall I was very happy with the results and the owner of the Coffee Shop (Grounds Central Station) was very pleased with the extra attention and uniqueness of the project.

You can see all the photos here: https://www.wizzersworld.com/gallery/index.php/Gig-s/Coffee-Shop-Portraits