Covering all the teams at a tournament

Hi Guys. I have a pretty large softball tournament coming up. I was wondering what wisdom you could share on how you try and cover all teams? I will have a copy of the final bracket a couple days before. I was just wondering what approach most take, trying to get as many fields (teams) covered. Any input or comments will be appreciated. Thanks.

No input at all? Certainly there is someone out there who is covering multi field sporting events. Anyone? Anyone?

Just shoot as much as you can as long as you can. I just finished a softball tournament that was played by eight teams on two fields and did most of my shooting at the better of the two fields. If a game was over on one field but game on the other field was still going, I walked over there and shot some of that game. I ended up with 240 pictures or so to upload for sale.

Thanks Ralpho.

The tournament I have coming up is a 3 day, 40 team, 184 game tournament. There will be 3 photographers, and 3 table techs. I am just trying to see what has worked best for others when trying to cover this large of an event.

Do the organisers have a plan of which teams play at certain times?

Darren

DarrenL wrote in post #5514240
Do the organisers have a plan of which teams play at certain times?

Darren

Yes, thankfully I will have a copy of the bracket for Friday night and Saturday, with part of Sunday before it goes into playoff games. I am not sure if I should try and cover a few inning of each game, knowing I will end up overlapping on teams, or should I try to shoot it per team. Im know there are different approaches but I dont want to re-create the wheel. If there are obvious pitfalls that people have experienced here, I would love to avoid that. Oh, and they are spread across 8 fields.

I just finished shooting a regional gymnastics meet with 24 teams on a 4 apparatus rotation. I had two other photogs with me and one person at the booth that handled the orders and the portrait work. It went really well, it certainly helps when the event is all in the same room! It's just a lot of shooting. I've done softball tournaments in the past and it was a different scenario.

My advice is to not try and shoot the whole game for every game, you're not going to be able to. You have 3 photogs covering 40 teams so that puts it at ~13 teams per photog to cover and at an average of 30-50 shots per team/per game you are going to be busy! I definitely would shoot it per team until the first two rounds are complete. Then you can move to a per game setting as the semis and finals come in. Sounds like it's going to be a great time. Good luck!

I covered a 36 team tournament last summer and will again this summer. I do this with 2 photographers.

Tips I have learned

- ask who the strongest/ weakest teams are - sometimes you can find out sometimes not. Obviously plan to cover the weak teams first
- pay attention to the elimination games and records of teams
- I always cover the complete game... thats just me
- when you have a choice pick the field that offers you shade to stand in...maybe thats just Texas
-we use walkie-talkies with ear buds to communicate - makes a big differece especially if you are the "boss"
- get to know the umps and the tournament leaders- they will take care of you
- give your cards to players, they will look at the pictures first and show their parents! (8yr and older)

Use as many photographers as it takes to cover all the action. You will sell just as many prints to the weakest team that made it to the tourney for the first and possibly last time, so make sure you get them done on the first couple days.

I also send out a package in the 'coaches package' with cards etc.

What I have done in the past is:

Cover just a few inning of each game. You should be able to, in that time, get every player at bat and in their field positions as well as action.

I second what a previous post advised and find your weakest teams first.

I am still learning this business so I have a few questions. Do you have a deal setup with the league or organizer of the tournament before you show up? What are you setting up at your table? How do you take orders and where do you print them out?

I just started baseball games and am taking orders in a archaic way until I can figure out hwo to setup a website. I give people a printed out instruction sheet with my card attached to it and it has a password for the particular game. When they login they can see the pictures and email me the filename of the ones they want. THen I take check or give them my paypal account and they get the pictures mailed to me once they pay. I need help in setting up a regular process by which they can view the pictures without a password as its real time consuming and confusing for they to use the login process. As well as a way for them to pay without sending me a check or paypal. I do not want to use the services which you setup and they handle the printing and billing as that would cut out a large portion of my income. I'd rather do a bit more work and take home a lot mroe money.


My website is currently a template just like focused on fun photography has.

YES! very important IMO

The easier you make it to order the more orders you will get... I use photobiz. Also Paypal sucks from my experience. Too many orders were lost when I was using it in the begining.

My table has products, sample prints, information on how to order, and a slideshow of images from the tournamnet itself . I do not take any payments/orders on site. All my ordering is done online. This is different than a lot of people but it is my way and it works for me.

Show us your website and Im sure you will ge tfeedback!

The only thing I've done as far as a tournament was 20 teams playing at one field in one day... Jamboree style.... The field is sectioned off into 3 and there are 2 teams playing on each section all day long... It was really easy for me to shoot that way, I would just start at one end of the field and walk to field getting photos of all the teams playing.... I think that I took 350 photos that day??

I really like the idea of have a table with sample prints and such on it... Never thought of that before.. And order off the net so sooooo much easier, I just started to do that with some of my work and it's great!!!

CanonXtiDude wrote in post #5547749
I am still learning this business so I have a few questions. Do you have a deal setup with the league or organizer of the tournament before you show up?

As stated by others, yes. This is the best way to go. IF you are wanting to make a go of it, make a list of the various sports organizations in your area. Do some research, find out if they have websites. If they do, find out if they have tournaments listed. Contact them and find out if they already have a contracted event photographer. Go from there.

As far as the work flow goes, you will find dozens of greatly written threads that talk about this very topic. You will also learn that everyone has a slightly different approach, adapt to whatever works for you. There is a ton of great resources and threads here. Just take it all in, and create your own. It will take some trial an error.

I use ExposureManager.com for my online sales. As far as my software on site, I am currently using Photo Parata. Sam Carelton is a sports photographer who wrote this software for photogs like us. He has a demo on his site if your interested (www.miltonstreet.com)

Kiddo wrote in post #5548767
The only thing I've done as far as a tournament was 20 teams playing at one field in one day... Jamboree style.... The field is sectioned off into 3 and there are 2 teams playing on each section all day long... It was really easy for me to shoot that way, I would just start at one end of the field and walk to field getting photos of all the teams playing.... I think that I took 350 photos that day??

I really like the idea of have a table with sample prints and such on it... Never thought of that before.. And order off the net so sooooo much easier, I just started to do that with some of my work and it's great!!!

My first tournament will have several teams on several fields. That is what is going to make it tricky. I have to admit, I never thought about trying to knock out the weak teams first. I was going to approach it by field, time, and teams. That is how I was going to sort it in the software. I thought it would be the easiest for folks to find their teams photos. Also, these are highly competitive teams, traveling from out of state. The tournament directors I dont think will know the strongest to the weakest. If it was just a local league tournament I would agree. But with out of town teams I think that will be harder.

After talking with some folks here, I have wondered if it would not just be easier to have samples, slide show, etc, but NOT take orders on site, just point them to the website. I am worried about losing a large population of sales that way, the impulse buyers.