First team shoot any advice?

[lalvidrez]

I have been asked to do the team photography for the upcoming little league football. I had been offering 8x10 collages but really no formal posing. So I have a few questions.

Of cours pics will be done outside before noon. Do you use any type of lighting other than sunlight? I was looking at purchasing the alien bees. What do you use?

Printing, I usually print my own photos but with this job I will be sending them off to a print shop. Do you use anyone online or do you do local? What type of photo paper do you request. Does anyone use metalic paper? I guess that's what it's called.

When posing athletes do you try to do the individuals as an action shot or just a standard pose?

Packaging, where do you get your envelopes? Do you use the kind that have the plastic on the front?

Memory Matte, can you recommend someone to order from? When you put these together do you do everything yourself then send the files to whatever print shop you use? What I mean is, the memory matte has a 4x6 and a 5x7 slot on a 8x10 picture. Do you put the pictures in yourself then save for each individual?

Also, what is the ideal lens for this type of photography? I have the kit lens, an 85mm f1.8 and sigma 70-200mm.

Sorry for sounding so much like a newb but I just want to cover all aspects of this job so I can leave a good impression. Maybe they'll ask me to do it again next year. ;)

[bcap]

Hello,

I recently got into the sports photography business and have been doing league photos for my business for about a year now. What we do is have 9 x 12 envelopes that we print our order forms onto. The players bring this envelope with payment inside the day of the photo shoot. When the photos are ready to be delivered, we put them back into their envelopes. This allows us to double check names and spelling, and eliminates the need for extra material.

We actually don't use memory mattes, we have a nice little design with the team photo and individual photo all on one 8"x10". We print local, at COSTCO actually, and use matte kodak paper with borders.

As for posing, usually a casual and natural pose works the best, and it shows in the portrait. Make sure to get the kids smiling.

Lighting - for indoors, we use lights, but for outdoors, we are (in the process of) building a 72" x 36" reflector to properly light the subject.

Other than that, make sure you have a good time. If you are enjoying yourself, smiling and laughing, the kids will do the same. Your attitude really does show in the portraits you take of the kids.

If you have any more questions, I am more than willing to answer them.

[bcap]

I just noticed you asked about lenses. Sorry. I, personally LOVE using my 85 1.8 for the individual portrait, as it lets me go far enough away as to not have my fill flash act as a main light, and it also delivers unbelievable brokeh.

For the team portrait, I use my 24 - 70 2.8, set at about F7.1, depending on how many rows (usually 3).

[lalvidrez]

thanks for the reply, you say you print with borders. Does that mean that you select a border at Costco when your getting ready to print your pictures? How do you keep track of which player is which? Do you take a picture with their name on a dry/erase board first or do you go by jersey number?

So for now your outdoor lighting is basically the sun. Do you mainly set up your shots during the morning hours?

How much time do you spend putting a picture together in pp?

Thanks for you time and sorry for these questions I could probably guess on but really want to get a feel for everything. Want to make sure I cover all basis.

[bcap]

On the order form, the player puts their jersey number and after each sequence of indivudual photos (3 shots), I take a photo of their jersey number.

Yes, I select the "border" feature with Costco.

I spend a total of about 10 minutes per team pp - this takes care of all editing, organizing and putting together the packages for each player.

Time of day - sure, morning is best, but you can't rely on this as teams practice all day. So long as you have a good reflector to cover up shadows and a flash for the remaining fill you will be ok.

[MJPhotos24]

Lighting - I use a 580EX speedlight and that's it. I use the sun to my advantage and almost shoot into it a bit depending on where I can set up and what I want my background to be.

Printing - I do all my printing through Exposure Manager, they are an event photographers dream! You can buy at cost and it's cheaper than any local place, other companies online (Shutterfly, EZPrints, etc) use automated printers and DO NOT check it. If you use a place online make sure it's not automated and that a real person looks over the photo before printing. If it is automated you'll find yourself sending a lot of prints back.

Finishing - Matte only as I have to repackage them and some parents don't like the "gloss" look along with my fingerprints wont be on the matte ones. I thought of making it an option glossy or matte (leaving metalic out) but matte is easier and appeals to everyone. Go with matte or make it an option they choose, at least that's what I would do.

Posing - choice!! That's a key word, don't force them to do something they don't want to do. When shooting youth leagues I have four or so poses printed out on a piece of paper and then on a clipboard. As they are waiting in line they look at it and pick one, when they get next in line they tell my hired assistant who relays it to me or I just ask them as I bring them over....football there's not much, the standard kneel down pose, the standing up with the ball tucked and other hand on hip, or you have the fake action ones (personally I hate them) but the getting ready to throw for the QB, the linebackers stance, then linemans stance, the heisman pose even.

www.bagsunlimited.com (http://www.bagsunlimited.com) - for the clear plastic sleeves to put them in. then use reliable/office max for the envelopes. Though I probably wouldn't mind the ones with the clear plastic fronts - I'm actually debating that right now for this upcoming season. Last year i had to mail them out so needed the hard envelopes, this year wont need to...hmmmm....

Memory Matte - ask around, I did and didn't find ONE parent that liked the things!! Every one of the 20 or so I asked said they just tossed them or gave them to the kid to destroy/use, whatever. So I didn't give any as I wasn't wasted any profit on them. Didn't have one parent ask for them out of about 500 or so kids!!

Lens - I LOVE the 50mm 1.4 for portraits. The 85 might be to long depending on the light, heck the 50mm is to long for me at times, especially the team photo. It works still but seems a bit long for the room I'm given to shoot in.

Next year - last year I went through hell with printers, went through three of them just to get the prints I wanted. Everything was late and some parents asked what was going on, but when they got them and saw the quality I was invited back fast. ......good luck!

[MJPhotos24]

Oh, as for keeping track - I have a corner of the envelope blank to write a code in (picture code on the camera). When I rename the files I keep that code in the file just in case along with the coaches name in there as well. Each team is seperated in its own folder, each player in there own folder.


My assistant does that when I take the first pic of the kid I look at it quick and give it to her. I tried the number thing but it was just so much easier to use the camera code instead - there's only one of those, but ten kids wearing #23 for example depending on the league and how many uni's they got.

[bcap]

MJphotos, are you saying that you only take 1 picture of each kid?

How do you keep track of the order of the kids in the team photo?

[MJPhotos24]

MJphotos, are you saying that you only take 1 picture of each kid?

How do you keep track of the order of the kids in the team photo?

No, I take 3-4 usually to make sure I got it right...however I only need to know the # of the first pic taken cuz it will be easy to tell which are that kid from there on. So #2920 is Jimme, #2924 is Timmy, etc. etc. So I take 2920-2923 and drag them into a folder with the number thats on the envelope (2920 in this example). Something like that, hopefully makes sense.

Taking only one photo and not enough time to zoom in and check out you never know what could have gone wrong like slightly missing focus or something along those lines.

As for who's who in the team photo, I don't do that but then again don't do names or anything on it so it don't matter to me. If I needed to, I could just go through each kids picture and match him/her up. I've done that before and it's not that bad, just takes about 10-20 mins to do so depending on how fast the comps moving.

[bcap]

Yeah that's what I figured you did. Mind if I ask why you separate the kids into folders on your computer?

For the team photo, I take a pic of the kids with thier numbers on their shirts in the order they are in (if I am alone) or I have my assistant write it down on a sheet of paper.

I use Photo Mechanic for my organizing. I embed the athlete's name and order into the exif and export the file path into a text file, 1 good photo of each kid plus the team photo. I then run my Photoshop Script that reads that text file and does all the work for me.

Takes a total of about 15 minutes per team (including all adjustments to images). Was thinking this was a long time, am always looking for ways to improve our workflow.

Any suggestions?

[MJPhotos24]

Yeah that's what I figured you did. Mind if I ask why you separate the kids into folders on your computer?

For the team photo, I take a pic of the kids with thier numbers on their shirts in the order they are in (if I am alone) or I have my assistant write it down on a sheet of paper.

I use Photo Mechanic for my organizing. I embed the athlete's name and order into the exif and export the file path into a text file, 1 good photo of each kid plus the team photo. I then run my Photoshop Script that reads that text file and does all the work for me.

Takes a total of about 15 minutes per team (including all adjustments to images). Was thinking this was a long time, am always looking for ways to improve our workflow.

Any suggestions?

I just find it easier I guess to seperate them into folders, I have to do that for pro baseball pics to so just used to it more than anything. I probably am not doing it the easiest way, but it works. I just find it simple to use the renaming tool that way, as I don't have photomechanic or anything like that.

That's just for filing, when I print I pull one good for each kid and then do it team by team. After that when ordering I upload them as one big group instead of by team, however since they are numbered and have team name in the file they stay organized by team so nice and simple.

I'm not sure how long it takes per team, I'd say 15 or more really, sometimes more sometimes less. I'm to much of a perfectionalist at times and have it take 10x longer than it should :)

[lalvidrez]

MJPHOTOs24, Is there a reason you don't use metalic or do most people not really care for it? You said that no one really cares for the memory mate? Your not refering to the cardboard ones that you slip the pictures in are you? The one I'm talking about is an 8x10 background and has 2 sections for the team and individual pics. So do you just do a
5x7 team photo and individuals? When keeping track of the pic number on the camera does it flash that number or show it when you preview it? I have the 20d and I guess I've never payed attention to it if it does. When I do collages or highlight dvds I do like bcap and take a picture of the kids jersey number.

bcap care to elaborate a bit more on the photoshop actions? I've been using paintshop pro and have recently made the switch to ps so any tips to make my workflow go a bit smoother would be greatly appreciated.

Thats a good idea to have a sheet with 3 or 4 different poses on them so each kid can select which one he/she wants.

Appreciate all the info.

[MJPhotos24]

All the companies out there use matte because it's the most widely selected format and easiest to use. It's just safer to use than glossy or metalic because several parents dont want that "glare".

I am refering to the memory mate where you slip your pics in. I asked 20+ parents and all of them said they could care less about those things and use frames for there pics, not the memory mates. All of them said they usually end up in the trash or in the kids room w/ no photos, ha. So I wasn't about to waste the money! Other areas might want them so just ask around. They get just the photos, no mates or anything like that. It COULD be an option if you wanted it, just put a box on the order form saying "Do you want a memory mate - yes - no." I won't offer them though, waste of money IMHO as they seem to use frames anyways.

When take a pic in the preview the number comes up in he upper right hand corner I believe. I just read it off and go again. I use the 20D for portraits so it's there for sure.

When I do pro baseball I get a pic of there jersey number usually, since it dont change from that days roster I got. Youth though no need, it's easier with the file name written on the envelope and then in the file - absolutely no way to screw that up.

Sorry if this sounds rushed, but it was...I'm runnin out the door :)