Team portraits

More great tips thanks

DAMphyne wrote in post #5682984
Man, somebody got up on the wrong side today.
"You can criticize my photos any time you want, I don't have to listen!"
My suggestion is "Bring a ladder and shoot from a higher position", that will help eliminate background clutter.
By the way, this is good advice for all group photos.

I always get up on the wrong side of the bed. The ladder is a good idea. Especially if you have a large group. You can get a way without using on for 10 or so people, but if you're shooting an entire high school football team with 60 kids, coaches and cheerleaders, a ladder is a great idea.

Mum2J&M wrote in post #5685280
If you can't take constructive criticism, don't ask for it here.

Exactly!

I personally do things a little differently. This is shooting youth sports from 4-5 year olds to U16 and groups from 5 players to 16 plus coaches.

I shoot my team portraits using my 17-70, somewhere in the 28-40mm range on my 40D. But I leave extra room around my shot for various crops (5x7, 8x10, and some odd sizes on things like magnets, game tickets, magazine covers, etc.)

I position the tallest players in front, down on one knee. The shorter players line up standing in back. This helps to keep smaller groups stay wide, rather than tall (so your landscape image looks like it should be printed landscape). The coaches flank the back row, usually kneeling for younger teams to keep height similar and standing next to the back row in older teams.

I shoot from the ground, usually kneeling so that my lens height is around the same height as the players in the front row. I shoot from between f/5.6-f/8 and use my flash for fill on a bracket.

I like the idea of having the tall "guys" kneel in the front, it's a change of the way things normally get done, and does even out the height.
I suggest the ladder not only to help control the back-ground, but also to get the plane of focus at an angle to get good sharpness from front to back.

This simple diagram may help describe what I mean.

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