Childrens Sports Pictures and Lighting

[ernie.grimes]

I am a serious amateur and I am desiring to start a photography

business taking sports pictures of children (group and individual)

not action at this time I would like to have your feed back negative

or positive concerning this field. I have a D70, SB800, (lens) 18-70,

70-300, 50-1:1.8 I am planning on getting a backup D70 but I am not

sure on what lighting and any other equipmet I need.

I am planning on retiring in about a year and would like to work into

to this as a hobby and small business.

Thank you for your time.

Ernie

[verdellnazgul]

Do you want to shoot ambient light? If so you're almost there already. Get a tripod, a light stand with an adapter for your flash so you can use it as off camera fill, and a means to fire the flash such as a set of Pocket Wizards and you've got it. I assume you're shooting outside and using nature as a backdrop.

 

Steve

[ernie.grimes]

Thanks Steve for your quick response

I forgot to mention that I have a nice tripod... but I do not have a pocket wizzard (not sure what it is but I will check it out)

Please tell me a little about the function of the wizzard

I will be doing some things inside... for Children Basketball Leauges etc

With that in mind do you think I should obtain another SB800 or use the money toward some other type of lighting if so what lighting would you or someone suggest that would be suitable and hopefully in my budget range for this type of work.

 

Ernie

[verdellnazgul]

Ernie,

 

The problem is keeping it affordable. I don't know your budget. If I was going to shoot inside I'd look at a couple of monolights. Those are strobes that have their own power supply. A large umbrella or softbox, one reflector, and a stand will get you a good portrait of a single person or a small group but if you're shooting a whole team plus coaches you'll need more lights. Shooting inside you'll probably need a backdrop and stands for it unless the interior of the building lends itself to the shot. Advantages of shooting with available light are it's affordability and natural look. But if you have a bad weather day you have problems. Disadvantages of strobes are you have to learn how to use them effectively, cost, portability, finding a power source, and set up time. Also, the more equipment you rely on, the more back up equip you need for problems.

 

Pocket Wizards are transmitters/receivers that attach to your lights and camera to allow you to fire the flash remotely. There are cheaper alternatives that rely on a flash from the camera to fire a remote flash but then someone else can fire your off camera flash with theirs. It won't affect your shots but it can drain your flash batteries. Probably won't be a problem doing the shooting you desrcibe but I had a problem with it at weddings and switched to the Wizards.

 

Tis is very sketchy info but not knowing your experience level and your budget it's hard to get specific.

 

Steve

[lukas_jenkins]

Put the Gary Fong LightSphere Photo Journalist II flash diffuser on your SB-800 and you

will get the best darn pictures you ever got before with flash. Set your aperture to f/4 f/

5.6 and shutter speed to 1/60 maybe and about ISO 400 (you don't really even need the

tripod although its nice). If you use this set up I bet you will be more than delighted with

the results.

 

www.garyfong.com

 

Happy Shooting,

 

Lukas

[b_hall1]

The biggest question is what does your digital work look like ?

 

Digital result has no fundamental definition like film but is defined by each photographer or studio likely with post processing...and proving that digital photography functions is not necessarily achieving a studio signature result.

 

Well, this is continuation of other subjects where I say that the photographer can't replace film with digital until they have achieved a great digital result...

[mark newcombe www.mcnphoto]

Hi Ernie,

 

I take around 20 - 30,000 of these shots each year. The thing you may want to consider is a club with say 100 teams means 200-300 group shots and 2000 + individual shots just to cover the standard group and solo for each kid. (always take a couple of each, eyes closed etc).

 

If you are shooting inside forget about the sb800, useless in my books because of power output and recycling times. Get a cheap set of monos and use brollies to get a spread over the whole team.

 

I would also advise putting all the money you earn into equipment get a d2x when you can afford it and learn how to batch process.

 

This game can be really profitable but you need to get clubs to contract you, It took me a few years to get the formula right but I'll let you know my top 10:

 

1/ Trust your ability, knowing that every shoot will work out perfectly. (if you can't say this to yourself honestly stop now)

 

2/ Produce top quality work for a great price.

 

3/ Always be reliable, approachable and pro-active (I feal like I'm a part of each club I shoot for)

 

4/ DELIVER ON TIME EVERY TIME. Time management is crucial.

 

5/ Don't do the same churn and burn stuff everyone else does, be creative and professional not cheesy. A good website helps as well.

 

6/ Ensure your communication is spot on, never bullsh*t or promise what you can't deliver.

 

7/ To become really profitable increase your product line up and now days that means offering action shots aswell, not just 6x4 prints but full memorabilia peices are great earners. Be careful of rapid growth and be prepared to hire good shooters, I work on 150 teams per photographer per year (based on soccer or hockey). 100 or so shots a game X 150 games, get a d2x or two.

 

8/ Always have a contingency, meaning back up gear and shooters should, but more likey when something happens.

 

9/ Partner with a good lab, I would aim for service over price in this regard, but both is great. Also find a great printer for sleeves and a framer etc.

 

10/ Get your production systems spot on, this type of work always ends up being more than you thought, don't be surprised when you first start up to be sitting infront of a computor with a file list that never seems to end and looking down at your watch at 4am and thinking sleep has always been over rated.

 

Learn how to file as every kid needs to get the right photo's there are heaps of tricks to use here but you will pick them up over time. Twins are horrible.

 

DON'T START OFF TO BIG! find a small club and use them as a tester to get your workflow correct.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Regards

Mark

mcnphoto.com

[ernie.grimes]

Hi Mark

Thank you very much for taking the time and sharing with me some great information from your personal experiences and obvious success. I looked at your site and it was awesome.

I will print this information off and keep it for future reference.

Thanks again for your help

Ernie

[mark newcombe www.mcnphoto]

No problems. Email me if you need anything.

 

Regards

Mark

[mark newcombe www.mcnphoto]

That defuser look pretty nice especially for the price. Thanks lucas.

[Rick Waller]

Regarding Pocket Wizards - since the fellow is talking about static shots right now and he is probably on a tight budget, I might recommend a second SB-800 or even an SB-600 and let the SB-800 trip the 600. The CLS system works quite well unless the strobes are too far away from the commander (in this case the SB800).

 

Pocket Wizards are clearly the way to go if he is ever going to set remote flashes up in the catwalks of the gym or on lightstands far away from the commander, but I find that within 50 ft or so, the SB-800 will trigger remotes VERY well. Complete control of the light right from the camera.

 

Very neat. Not to mention that the second flash will probably be FAR more useful to the portrait work than the expensive remote PW's.

 

Just another idea.....