A school picture day is hundreds of children and thousands of photos that all have to end up on the right sheet. The slow part used to be after the shoot: working out whose photo is whose. With QR name cards you settle that at the camera, and everything after is the same steps for every class.
Get the class lists as a CSV file
Ask the school for each class list, or export it from their registration system or Excel. One person per line, with a name, the class or group, and a number if they have one. GridSlate reads comma, semicolon or tab separated files, and accented names come through either way.
Import the roster
In GridSlate, open People and import the roster. Import it for the whole project and the group column puts each child in the folder named after their class, so 5A goes to the folder called 5A. A preview shows the first lines before anything changes, and Undo puts the earlier roster back.
Print the name cards
Make the name cards for the whole project or one class. Each card holds a QR code, the child’s name, and the class and number. They print eight to an A4 sheet with cut marks. Print at 100 % (actual size), never fit to page: the code is 46 mm so it stays readable from across the room.
Shoot the card first, then the child
At the camera, each child holds up their card and you photograph it. Then photograph the child as many times as you like. Next child: card, then photos. The order you shoot in is the order GridSlate uses, so nothing needs writing down.
Read the name cards
Back at your PC, add the folders and run Read name cards. Every photo after a card goes to the person on it, class by class, in the background. The cards themselves are marked and kept out of the export.
Cull the shoot
Let GridSlate flag the dark, soft and burst photos across the whole shoot, then go through the flagged ones. You keep the final say on every photo; nothing is deleted from your originals.
Place every face in your mask
Pick the mask for each class: your own PNG, a frame the school asked for, or the same for everyone. GridSlate finds each face and puts it on the mask’s face target, the same size every time, sideways shots stood upright. You check the few it flags: several faces, a face at the edge, no face found.
Export for the lab
Choose the format the lab wants: JPEG, TIFF or one PDF per class, with bleed and crop marks. The file names can carry the child’s name, class and number. The lab gets one PDF per class and you get your evening back.
The whole job also runs as one: scan, read name cards, cull, place faces and export, while you pack the lights.