Sometimes a client may prefer to have a roaming photographer, as opposed to a stationary photo booth. Photo Party Upload has got you covered! We call these activations "The Nomad." Follow along below to learn more about this type of activation, what hardware is used, and step by step instructions on how to configure your equipment for roaming events!
The Nomad
The basic set up of the roaming photographer consists of a photographer with a DSLR that is tethered to a tablet via USB. The tablet runs a camera utility software like EOS Utility, along with PPU Helper. The photographer carries the tablet in a laptop bag with a shoulder strap, and also carries a WiFi hotspot. Our most common setup is to have one person with the camera and tethered unit, and an assistant to carry around a second tablet running Kiosk. This can all easily be done by one person, however. You can add an overlay to your photos in your PPU event settings.
If you don't wish to shoot tethered, you have the option to use a wireless transfer device, or insert a memory card into the computer. However we prefer shooting tethered as it is easiest and most reliable method. We will be covering the tethered method in this tutorial.
Required Hardware
Windows Laptop or Tablet PC
DSLR
USB cable to connect DSLR to Windows
Hotspot for WiFi (We recommend the Verizon MiFi)
Optional Hardware
External battery for Hotspot / Laptop
Backpack or laptop side bag
Extra batteries for DSLR
Required Software
Camera Utility Software (Such as EOS Utility as described in this tutorial)
PPU Helper
Setting up a Roaming Activation
Please Note: Prior to beginning this tutorial, you should have an event created in Event Manager. If you need assistance in creating an event, please refer to our tutorial HERE. Furthermore, if you wish to apply any overlays to your photos, you can add those in your event settings under Overlays.
1.
Turn on your hotspot and connect the PC to your WiFi network.
2.
Once the PC is online, launch Photo Party Upload Helper. Navigate to the system tray in the bottom right corner of your computer and double click on the Helper icon. The icon will appear like so:
3.
After double clicking the icon, sign into your Photo Party Upload account (if you have not already done so), the Configure window will appear. Make sure the Selected event is correct from the event drop down list. If you need to change the watched folder, click Changed Watched Folder and choose a new folder. Remember where this watched folder is located as you'll need to refer to it later.
4.
With PPU Helper configured, plug in the DSLR camera to the PC using the USB cable. Generally Windows will notify you when a new device has been successfully connected.
5.
Now launch your camera utility software. For this example, we'll will be referring to Canon's EOS Utility. Click Preferences from the bottom of the EOS Utility window:
6.
After clicking Preferences, navigate to the Destination Folder tab. At the top of the tab you can choose a Destination Folder by clicking Browse. This is the folder where all your photos will appear when being taken from EOS Utility. Choose the destination folder to match the watched folder we chose earlier.
7.
Once the Destination Folder in EOS Uitility is the same as the Watched Folder from PPU Helper, click OK.
8.
Back in the main EOS Utility window, click Camera settings/Remote shooting:
After the camera settings window appears, you can start shooting! If your camera is set to Manual mode, you can adjust shutter speed and aperture directly on the camera.
9.
Retrieve the sharing tablet and connect the device to the same network as the PPU Helper PC. Once it has connected, launch Photo Party Upload Kiosk and make sure it is detecting Helper. If you need assistance with setting this up, please refer to our PPU Kiosk tutorial HERE.
10.
Once PPU Kiosk is successfully connected to Helper, begin taking some test photos and test shares to make sure everything is working properly. Now, get ready roam!
Examples
Here are some examples of photographs taken using The Nomad activation:
