Outdooor Soccer Team Pic with Canon Rebel XT, 8 meg

[albanomagic]

Can I have your suggestion.

 

I am planning to take outdoor soccer team pictures. I plan to use

studio strobes (500 watts), and have a few choices of Canon lense

(50mm, 28-135mm, 85mm). The subject could be about 20' away,

sunlight etc. What can you suggest<div></div>

[james_castagno]

The practice shot looks pretty good exposure wise although I would crop it tighter. Is

there something about the practice shot you do not like? If not why change anything?

[ben conover]

The shot looks fine, but I agree with a tighter crop and perhaps a less busy bacground. You could try in different light, golden sunset? just a thought. I would go for the 85mm lens.

 

cheers.

[Ken Katz]

On a DRebel, 50MM seems fine. With respect to how tight to crop, consider the aspect ratio of the prints you anticipate to make (like 8" x 10"), and crop with that in mind.

[KenPapai]

Also you must have your camera's sensor in the same plane as the posed team -- you are at a slight oblique angle here which is why the go out of focus to the right. Studio strobes will help a little with shadows under the eyes if you are shooting anywhere within a couple hours of midday sun.

[bens]

suggest you put the sun behind them without anything in the background noticeable, shoot at 24-50mm, with your articificial lighting creating even lighting on the faces. no matter what, if they face the sun you will have shadows.

 

consider where on the vertical plane you are shooting. i have had success standing on a ladder for an unusual team photo and shooting from about 3.5-4 feet up. shooting from your full height demeans the players on the bottom row.

 

make sure everyone gets in tight. put taller in the back. put some balls strategically in the shot as well.

[ky2]

Ric, don't you have greener grass over there?

[chrisjb]

Hi, I agree with Ben try to get the sun slightly behind, It reduces facial shadows an fill flash is more even, Your background in the pic is to close in line with the back row, a little more height would fix that.Centre the camera and set your teams evenly to keep focus consistant, we find 28-70mm lenses suitable usually around f8. Just throw in a couple of thumbnails with sun behind to show, but these were in bushy areas.Fill flash was one Metz 60 Also. we find if sun behind and we make our living from this work. the little P&S`s that shoot from back of you can`t compete.

 

have fun

[test11664875106]

It's wise to put goalkeeper in the middle of the group for visual balance.

[mark_shipperlee]

Hi Ric

 

Are you just taking team posed pics or action stuff. I photograph the Homeless World Cup each year and this year used EOS 20D (last year was 10D) and it has been a great success. (www.streetsoccer.org - check media section then 2005 downloads)

 

If you are just doing team shots then a portrait length lens (80mm+) would be best and usually a ball is placed in the middle of front row.

 

If you are doing action shots, then from your photo you have good sunlight - which gives you the advantage of being able to use faster speeds. I have just done Edinburgh Scotland and used fill in flash a lot - but am limited to 1/250 on EOS 20D. If you have good light I would select an appropriate speed to freeze even the fastest travelling ball and kicking boot - whilst allowing for some depth of field - so 1/500 sec minimum and ideally f8.

 

In regards light - the bright sun makes people squint, but you need some direct sunlight - so ideally put the team so the sun falls on them from behind you and slightly off to one side.

 

Please feel free to email me if you need more info. You can check out the website to see how the pics turn out at Homeless World Cup - next year we are in Cape Town! (www.streetsoccer.org)