How do you shoot the WHOLE team together?

[JRT]

I'm stuck in a rut and am trying to come up with creative poses for the WHOLE team together. High School Basketball in this case.

Any ideas?

[Big Hands]

So long as you have a gymnasium, a few basketballs and adequate lighting, the most limiting factor should be the patience of the whole team to keep trying different setups and poses.

Take a little time a couple days before the shoot to visit the gym by yourself. Sit back, take a deep breath and let the ideas flow...

Pic four or five and then narrow it down to three. Take the most serious, classic pose first (paying attention to the smallest of details) and end with the most creative.

At the end of the last pose, set the camera to burst and then tell them to do something fun at the count of three......

[MJPhotos24]

Definately try to visit the gym if you haven't and see what ideas you can come up with (backgrounds to use, if there's a cool design at half court, etc), but a little bit of advice from a coaches standpoint. If you're taking away practice time do NOT try to re-create the wheel! When I do team photos they are done in 5 mins, add in individual shots and they are done in 15. The guy who did one of the teams I coach this year took about 35-40 mins trying to get too creative without ever having been to the gym, and he didn't come prepared with what he wanted to do. Not only did he waste our practice time (which btw we lost the next day with only half a practice under our belts because he took so long), he annoyed the living heck out of the players and myself trying to get us to do poses they & I didn't want to do. Then when they and I requested he NOT use the photos we thought were "stupid" (kids term, but hey I kinda agree) he used them anyways which made parents and the players more upset.

Also, again for the coaches - DO NOT PUT THEM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BACK ROW!!! The school photogs always say they want symmetry, but it just doesn't look right and most coaches do not want to be there. They want to be on the side, especially if they are taller/bigger than there players because being in the middle just makes them look bigger and focuses the attention of the photo on them when it should be on the kids. Of course he made me take one photo in the middle, after I refused repeatedly, and of course he used that one. Now I had to take a new one, cuz I didn't want it and half the parents requested for me to take another. That may depend on the size of the team as well, I coach 11 girls in two of my sports and 12 boys in another and am the only coach. Now if I coached 20 guys, taller and had 3 assistants, then I could SIT in the middle surrounded by the team with my other coaches and staff (pros/college), but not when it's a small team with one or two coaches. Put them on the side.

[dshootist]

And don't forget Photoshop! Sometimes you can get the results you evision (or hadn't) by setting up a montage of shots from a game or practice or even straight posed portraits. A lot of people I've seen and talked to get stuck trying to fit everyone in a single frame or lighting configuration. Work with the coaches to see what it is they're looking for. If they give you the "I'm not creative, you're the photographer" line, try to work in a dialogue with the players to see what they might be after. Visit this link to see some of my older shots:
http://usera.imagecave.com/dshootist/Sports%5FPosters/