Examples of Team Photos

<p>I need to take a group photo of our high school baseball team. I generally stay away from staged photos and only take action shots, but need to submit a photo in preparation for our state's championship booklet that will be sold during the final games. I'm hoping there are some experienced photographers out there who do this for a living and can give me some pointers on how to organize and relax the players, what lens and settings to use, and some fresh ideas. Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>My idea - have team form slight semi-circle between pitcher's mound and 2nd base. You would be shooting from mound or a little more towards home plate. Using an appropriate aperture setting will allow the distant background to be out of focus. Best if you can use a field with trees beyound the outfield, or atleast as plain as possible.<br>

use a wide angle lens, 24 or 35 to shoot with. Set the aperture(aperture priorit) to give you the DOF you need to get them in focus while blurring the background. The shutter speed will set itself. Shoot in morning or late afternoon for the decent light. If you have to shoot with them backlit, use your flash for some fill in. Might even use a tripod to get camera set up and then get the players all in good positions without having to hold camera and recompose several times.<br>

Take a few shots while changing aperture, check histogram, and maybe change flash compensation so image does not look like too much flash.<br>

Steve<br>

Remember, this is just for a game brochure, not fine art! A nice simple,clean background would be a high priority of mine.</p>

<p>You mean like this? LOL</p>

<p>Seriously though, I like Steve's idea of the semi-circle on that part of the field. There's also the step ladder idea where you get up a step ladder and the team looks up to the camera, could still do the semi-circle idea with that.</p><div></div>

<p>These are some team photos that have worked for me. I try to get people relaxed but paing some attention. <br /><a title="The British Army Ladies Polo Team by Peter Meade, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2633180051_130cd1f744_o.jpg" alt="The British Army Ladies Polo Team" width="800" height="533" /></a> <br /><a title="Highbury Finance Helvetica Team by Peter Meade, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3236/2740493417_c49be68067_o.jpg" alt="Highbury Finance Helvetica Team" width="800" height="533" /></a> <br /><a title="Sandhurst polo by Peter Meade, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/2494618807_6243278114_o.jpg" alt="Sandhurst polo" width="800" height="533" /></a> <br /><a title="IMG_0017_F by Peter Meade, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1331/879285502_41392dc0c5.jpg" alt="IMG_0017_F" width="500" height="333" /></a></p>

<p>Thanks for your ideas. Steve, I'm kind of leaning toward the semi-circle, but around homeplate. We have an emblem painted on the grass by the backstop, so I want to try to get that in the photo. I might also try the setup between the mound and second. Brian, great picture! That is the type of group photo that I generally get--kids laughing and carrying on (my favorite)--but since this is for the championship program, I need something a bit more formal. Peter, as always, I love your photos. You always remind me that teams are large and small and play on many types of fields. I'm taking the photos Tuesday, so I'll try to share the final choice. Thanks again everyone.</p>

<p>Team shots dont have to be boring. Every year a local schools basketball team poses with different stuff. Somethings they have done in the past was Harleys in the gym, F15 on tarmac at Nellis AF base, and Desert Baja race cars. This was this years pose with SWAT officers and thier amour vehicles.<a title="SWAT shot by NVcameraman, on Flickr" href=" title="SWAT shot by NVcameraman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3261/3162324822_21366b70a1.jpg" alt="SWAT shot" width="500" height="250" /> </a></p>

<p>Correct exposure is key. Shoot raw. Use off-camera fill flash outdoors (taking it off-axis prevents reflections and specular highlights). Indoors, set up several flash units for principal lighting. Use a flash meter if you have one, and manual flash mode. Check your histogram. Set up the players in a balanced way. Make certain you can see everyone. Tell them to look right at you. Give them a ball to hold. Take extra frames, because people <em><strong>will</strong></em> blink.</p>

<p>Good luck. It's not actually that hard once you do it. Thinking about it is harder than actually doing it.</p>