Photography Assistant Here: would knowledge am i expected to have??

[Phtoo]

Hi i do photography assisting and digi op work. ive only been assisting one photographer for the past year. looking at assisting other photographers but just wondering, i have good experience with elinchrom lights and elinchrom soft box set ups because thats what we have used for the past year.
I know a lot of professionals use profoto and broncolor, and i dont want to look like an idiot on set, when i have no idea how to work with this equipment, or set up whatever brand of softbox they are using.
any thoughts on how i can experience across the board with different brands. are there any resources online that might help. my thoughts are they most flash packs and heads would be very similar.
also any ideas/tips for assisting?? or little things that might make me stand out on the day.
Thanks for your help

 

[Sw1tchFX]

I assume you have a good relationship with whomever does the pro dept at the local camera store? Ask if you can borrow gear to familiarize yourself.

Also, become phase certified and buy yourself a baller MPBr with too much RAM and get some really fast external SSD's for on-set backups and file delivery at the end of the shoot. I don't know where you're from, but i'd say 90% of the pro's in my town who hire tech's are shooting into Capture One.

I know that's vauge, but that's how it's done on the west coast.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

If you don't have any relationship with anyone aside from who you've been assisting for currently, and you want to play in the game, than do this:



1. Go to whatever Pro photography shop is in town. introduce yourself to the guy who mans the Pro Desk and tell him your gameplan. He's on the pulse of what's going in your area. If he's not, than good luck. He knows who the players are, and the scores of the game.

2. After a while and after you've made a few visits and can talk the talk a bit more, try to borrow some gear out of their Rental dept to familiarize yourself with different equipment.

3. Buy yourself an iPad mini and a baller MBPr capable of handling files piping in from an IQ180.

4. Get Phase Certified and learn Capture One better than you know how to drive.

5. Make sure you have a car that can fit a 9' roll of seamless in it. Nobody cares how old or beat up it is, but when gear needs to move, space matters.

6. Don't be a condescending dick to anyone, nobody likes to work with that.

7. Get comfortable around power tools.

8. Keep crap like tether cables, electrical socket meters, memory cards, gaffers tape, screwdrivers, batteries, knives, clamps, first aid kits etc on you, or at least in your car at all times. You don't want to blow a breaker by running too much through a socket that's double hot, or be dead in the water becuase someone tripped over a tether cable, or not be able to undo a rig you built because you can't cut it with a knife. Simple crap like that people often forget, that's part of your job.

7. Work hard. If you're not sweating, you're doing it wrong.

Enjoy what you do, and learn a ton about music, cars, and something really off beat..like hang gliding or w/e, people like quirky.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Assisting is hard work, but it's fun. I like doing it alot.

 

[SCraig]

You could also just be honest. Tell other photographers that you have experience with other equipment but possibly not theirs. If they will show you what the differences are you'll be able to work with it.

 

[Steve5D]

You could also just be honest. Tell other photographers that you have experience with other equipment but possibly not theirs. If they will show you what the differences are you'll be able to work with it.

That was my first thought, as well.

Under no circumstances should you not let someone know that you don't know how to use a specific piece of gear...

 

[Phtoo]

im actually dealing with the agent at this point, have no had direct contact with the photographer. its actually a very high profile job, he is flying from new york into australia for 3 days. was just hoping to improve knowledge for as much equipment as possible to avoid any hick ups on the day. im assuming it'll be broncolor or profoto but who knows. im usually a digi op, but have been employed as more of a general assistant for this job.

any advice would be great, thanks guys. or any general assisting advice would be great!

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Don't rush anything, wrap cords around the c-stand bases, sand bag everything, don't rush anything, read up and watch youtube videos on broncolor and profoto. Profoto's are idiot-proof, it's pretty hard to screw them up, Bron's are a bit more complicated, especially when you get into daisy-chaining 3 or 4 scoro packs.