Individual and Team Portraits FAQ (T&I)

[pworm14]

Right on.... Be sure to let us know how it goes when you finally get it knocked out.

[NVcameraman]

Originally Posted by ChunkyDA

Here's the "before processing" image, used the 50/1.4 and stood way back:

Here is just an observation on what I think could have improved the image. Your players are all different heights in the back row so it looks not so uniform. If taking a "traditional" style pose line up the players tallest to shortest. Start with the tallest and place them in the center. The alternate left and right with others so you get a uniform looking slope. With soccer the goalies usually have way different uniform so I keep them out of the line up and place the goalie in the first row centered holding a ball.. You also have 22 people in the photo so it would have been better use of photo space to make 3 rows (7 sitting, 8 kneeling, and 7 standing) look at examples. What would you rather buy, yourself as a pin head or one that you can actually see who you are.

[tjaudet829]

Great tip Nv

[tjaudet829]

Well as it turns out we only had time to shoot the team photo and no individuals.
We tried to set it up for before the game and as usual there were many who showed up right before game time. This was shot after the game, thank god they won or else there would not have been too many smiles.
I shot this in raw,av f8, 430 flash forward, kit lens
cc welcome

[DD974]

Nice job! Something I like to do at times is to just get a couple feet off the ground (by standing on something like a bench or step ladder) and angle the shot downward slightly...just adds another dimension to the image.

I did this on some of these I did a couple years back, but would have liked to have gotten up a little higher than I did.

[tjaudet829]

Thanks DD
I really like your photos. I think I will try the ladder next time.
I also like the added graphics on your photos very nice touch.
Jeff

[In2Photos]

Originally Posted by tjaudet829

Well as it turns out we only had time to shoot the team photo and no individuals.
We tried to set it up for before the game and as usual there were many who showed up right before game time. This was shot after the game, thank god they won or else there would not have been too many smiles.
I shot this in raw,av f8, 430 flash forward, kit lens
cc welcome

Not bad!

As far as C&C goes, the kids in the back row should all have their hands behind them is the only thing that really stands out to me.

[tjaudet829]

Originally Posted by In2Photos

Not bad!

As far as C&C goes, the kids in the back row should all have their hands behind them is the only thing that really stands out to me.

Thanks in2 I will definately keep that in mind for next time.

The set up was kind of confusing as there were many parents adjusting and ordering the boys around.

I am a parent of one of the players as well and not a hired pro so I think the parents were more inclined to get involved.

This is something I will address next time as well.

I will probably keep on editing as I get tips, my co-worker here said to clone out the wires.

Thanks again,
Jeff

[In2Photos]

Originally Posted by tjaudet829

Thanks in2 I will definately keep that in mind for next time.

The set up was kind of confusing as there were many parents adjusting and ordering the boys around.

I am a parent of one of the players as well and not a hired pro so I think the parents were more inclined to get involved.

This is something I will address next time as well.

I will probably keep on editing as I get tips, my co-worker here said to clone out the wires.

Thanks again,
Jeff

The more shots you take the more things you will notice and be ready for. Luckily you started with older kids. Try getting 7, 5 year olds to pose at once.

The wires don't bother me much, but it likely won't take you long to get rid of them either so it might be a good move.

[NVcameraman]

Originally Posted by In2Photos

Not bad!

As far as C&C goes, the kids in the back row should all have their hands behind them is the only thing that really stands out to me.

Also have all the player in the front have their hands the same. You can also play around with having different legs up. From center the ones to the right of the goalie have right leg up (outside leg) and ones to left have left leg up (outside leg) For hand placement I tell the kids to put the outside hand on top of the inside hand on top of the thigh. If all the legs are same then have the arm that is same as leg that is up on top of other. When sitting people I also get them all the cross feet right over left so there is uniformity in they way the are set up.

[NVcameraman]

Originally Posted by tjaudet829

I shot this in raw,av f8, 430 flash forward, kit lens
cc welcome

Just a question? Why did you use AV? When doing static stuff go full M. That way you can control the exposure. Also the way it looks to me is that f8 outside you over exposed the sky (it is blown out white) unless the day you shot it was a gray over cast day. Lot of times I will take a meter reading off the sky first to make sure I still have blue sky in photos. This will usually give me f13-f16 (remember the old sunny 16 rule ) The flash is then set to manual full power. One of the reasons I showed example of getting the group in tighter is to get you a closer flash-subject distance. This makes it more effective to fill in shadows and light them up to equal the ambient exposure you set for good sky. This is reason I have seen people using monolights for group shots so they can over power the sun. I have actually used two 580EX on a bracket before to get more flash power.

[tjaudet829]

Originally Posted by NVcameraman

Just a question? Why did you use AV? When doing static stuff go full M. That way you can control the exposure. Also the way it looks to me is that f8 outside you over exposed the sky (it is blown out white) unless the day you shot it was a gray over cast day. Lot of times I will take a meter reading off the sky first to make sure I still have blue sky in photos. This will usually give me f13-f16 (remember the old sunny 16 rule ) The flash is then set to manual full power. One of the reasons I showed example of getting the group in tighter is to get you a closer flash-subject distance. This makes it more effective to fill in shadows and light them up to equal the ambient exposure you set for good sky. This is reason I have seen people using monolights for group shots so they can over power the sun. I have actually used two 580EX on a bracket before to get more flash power.

Nv,
The day was quite overcast and gray. I used av mode not to have to think about too much when I was taking the shot. I thought the quicker I was the better.
As just a parent on the team who has some camera skills I was asked to do this. I really did not mind doing it but there seemed to be a lot of pressure with 17 kids and 34 parents waiting on you.
Thanks for the comments,
Jeff

[NVcameraman]

Originally Posted by tjaudet829

Nv,
The day was quite overcast and gray. I used av mode not to have to think about too much when I was taking the shot. I thought the quicker I was the better.
As just a parent on the team who has some camera skills I was asked to do this. I really did not mind doing it but there seemed to be a lot of pressure with 17 kids and 34 parents waiting on you.
Thanks for the comments,
Jeff

I did some cutting, cloning and, pasting of your image to show you how 3 rows makes it tighter group. The front row would be sitting if real. This should give you a better look than my little graphic stick figures.

[tjaudet829]

Originally Posted by NVcameraman

I did some cutting, cloning and, pasting of your image to show you how 3 rows makes it tighter group. The front row would be sitting if real. This should give you a better look than my little graphic stick figures.

Ben,
Good job on the edit. I understand the concept.
I need to learn to use the editing software. that would have taken me all night.
Jeff

[NVcameraman]

Originally Posted by tjaudet829

Ben,
Good job on the edit. I understand the concept.
I need to learn to use the editing software. that would have taken me all night.
Jeff

LOL well the more you "play" the better you get. That was a really fast cut job to show the concept that took m about 30min. It was basically a few head swaps and masking out to cover ones I moved and some cloning to bring back ground in. When I seen the photo I thought it would be easy to show the 3 rows than my simple stick figures for some others to visually see the difference. You know us photographers are visual people