GridSlate

Guides

Event portraits at scale: sorting attendees without spreadsheets

How to photograph graduations, proms and corporate days so every attendee’s portraits arrive sorted by name: a guest list, QR cards at the door, and sheets ready to deliver.

At a graduation or a corporate day, hundreds of people pass in front of your camera in a few hours and each expects their own photos afterwards. The usual answer is a spreadsheet and a lot of squinting. A QR card per attendee turns the guest list into the sort order.

  1. Start from the guest list

    Export the attendee list as a CSV file with a name column and, if you have them, a group (a table, a department, a course) and a number. Import it, and GridSlate holds one person per line.

  2. Print a card per attendee

    Make the name cards and print them at actual size, eight to an A4 sheet. Cut them apart and hand them out at the door, or keep a pile at the camera.

  3. Card first at the camera

    Each person holds their card up, you photograph it, then photograph them. People can come in any order: every card says whose photos follow it.

  4. Read the cards and sort

    Read name cards runs in the background and hands every photo to the person on the card before it. The cards are marked and left out of exports.

  5. Cull and place

    Flag dark, soft and burst frames, then place every face in your print mask or portrait frame. GridSlate shows the handful it is unsure of for you to check.

  6. Deliver by name

    Export with file names built from the roster, such as {name}_{n}, in a folder per group. Send JPEGs to the client, or a PDF per group to the printer.

Your originals are never changed, so you can re-export for a different client or format any time.