Photographing Cheerleaders

Does anyone have any suggestions for shooting cheerleaders? I have the jump

shots, basket tosses, pyramids, etc., but does anyone have any interesting

angles to use? Especially with the tumbling, I just can't seem to make it look

interesting.

That doesn't look awful, except the girls aren't all looking out like they should.

 

Try getting really low, even laying down and shooting upside down, so you can get more

separation.

Here's an idea that I've used w/ success...you'll have to be pretty determined to put it all together and have the cooperation of your cheer squad. It involves shooting from (high!) above, and off to one side, the air-borne flyer during a basket-toss such that you also include the bases, arms outstretched, eyes fixed on the flyer.

 

But how to get up there? Many schools have a four-wheel, hydraulic lift that is used to hang banners and change / adjust lights in the gymnasiums and auditoriums that they might make available if the liability issue can be addressed. Absent that, if the terrain next to the bleacher permits and the bleacher is sufficiently tall, the solution is simple. Offer the school or team images for the yearbook or what-have-you. No simple feat to pull this off but great and unique images! Careful w/ flash in their eyes.

My suggestion with the tumbling (which I assume to mean flips and cartwheels and the like)- get really low down, so that the background is sky, rather than the ground or bleachers. Perhaps with a fisheye. Assuming this is a set-up shot, not a grab shot at a game.

I like the idea of getting low to the ground with a wide angle for tumbling, another option could be to shoot multiple exposures in the sequence and put them together so you can see what is happening. Unlike the photo above, tumbling doens't have a spectacular 'moment', it is the fact that they can put all these flips together that is amazing.

Here is one I tried of the tumbling putting together the multiple exposures.

I like the mulit-exposure but it does seem a little lacking in the "WOW" factor although the last flip (layout?) is pretty impressive. I'm certainly not a pro and haven't done anything like this but I'll throw out some ideas which are really just guesses.

 

The light isn't very flattering and it is creating strong shadows that make it harder to see what she is doing. There is also a lot of clutter in the background but that is harder to change, maybe a tighter crop or wider apeture. It looks like there is one more exposure than is needed in the last flip which kinda crowds it and makes it hard to see what is happening although it could just be an arm or a leg I havne't accounted for :)

 

The image is also rather two dimensional as she is tumbling parallel/perpendicular to the sensor/camera, maybe if you set it up so she was tumbling away (or towards) from the camera at an angle. Of course you then have other issues with the exposures being in front of each other but it might be worth a try.

 

I do still like the idea of getting low, close and wide to make it look more dramatic too.

 

Anyway, I hope that is useful and I look forward to seeing how it goes.

Diana,

 

I think the multi-exposure shot is a great idea, but I think it would have more of a "WOW" factor if you would pick and choose only certain shots to include.

 

The shots tend to overlap or run together which takes away from the shot. If you remove a few shots so you can actually see the cheerleader in full twist without overlapping body parts from the next exposure I think it will improve the overall look.

 

Cheers.