Hello everyone! My son is on a youth baseball team. During the games, I've been taking action shots, and sharing with the parents through Picasa web albums. They've all given me such great feedback and they're really enjoying having an unofficial team photographer; I'm enjoying the practice I've been getting.
Well, due to a scheduling conflict, our official photo session with the professional photographer for our team and individual photos will not be taking place.
The coach has volunteered me to take the team photos. PRESSURE!!
I would like your advice about how you would go about doing this type of shoot. Lighting? Tripod/no tripod? Reflectors? Backlit with fill flash? Time of day for best lighting? Any advice you can share would be appreciated.
The parents are not expecting professional quality shots, but it would certainly be nice to give them a great finished product.
You can go handheld, overcast day is optimal. Use a fill flash. Before the day of the shoot, go to the location with a volunteer and take various test shots with different settings to see what works the best for your setup.
When shooting the team picture, make sure to leave some frame space. If you shoot too tight, you may end up cropping someone out or having white space.
If it is sunny, be so careful of those baseball caps. They can cast some nasty shadows, so make sure the lighting is good. Good luck! I'm sure parents will be happy with what you come up with!
"When shooting the team picture, make sure to leave some frame space."
Best advice ever!
Definitely use fill flash! Careful not to make team lineup too wide. If parents want an 8x10, you want to be able to crop it as such without too much grass below or sky above. Be sure to take individuals of each player with his glove and/or swinging the bat...classic pose...
Also, for the team shot, have the players use the same arm positions, Seems a weird thing maybe, bit I took a group photo at work and it would''ve looked better if all the people in the front row either had their hands behind them or all had them at their sides.
@mikegl71@cfitzgerald@danmooredesigns@5unflow3r
Thank you so much for the feedback everyone and fantastic advice! I sincerely appreciate it. I've been watching some online tutorials and feel confident I can make it work. I'll take my son to the park and practice on him before the "big day".
Re: leaving frame space. Fantastic advice and great reminder. In fact, our professional photographer last year did not take this into consideration. When the team photo was placed in a frame, the two boys on the outside were cropped out as well as the to of the head of one particularly tall coach. Ouch!
@amonroy76 Hey! I'm just wondering how your bball photos came out and what you ended up using (lens, flash, etc.)? I got designated yesterday to take our t-ball team photos but I'm like a month into using my dslr and I'm really really nervous!! I don't feel my quality will be good enough. However, my husband said its just my "eye" and most people don't have it and I'm being picky.....
@arrayofblues
It was actually very fun. The day was perfect for taking pictures--overcast with soft clouds. I went hand-held and used fill flash. Definitely watch the shadows on the baseball caps. And one other thing I learned, watch the background! I had to redo a couple of the kids' pics because there was a man walking in the background that I did not see when I was taking the pics.
Here are a couple of the pictures I took:
@amonroy76 Super job! Those are perfect! Ok...fill flash....is that your on-camera flash or an external hot-shoe flash? Also I see you were at between like 14-16mm? I only have my 18-55 and 50mm and not sure which to use. I have a 75-300mm but its horrible. I'm going to go out there tonight and test on my kids (yea sure) but I'm sooo nervous. Sorry for the questions and thanks for your help!! I only wish they come out close to this!
@arrayofblues Hot shoe flash, purchased on Ebay for about $35. :P
Works perfect for what I do.
I think the 18-55mm lens would work fine.
Just have fun with it. Take your time... I can see now that the glove on the first boy is a tad high. Those little details that I guess you learn to see with time. You'll do great and the parents will appreciate all of your efforts. :)
@amonroy76 Ok. Yea actually I bought a cheap one off amazon that came in the mail yesterday...talk about timing. I will try it tonight...even though I can't figure out how to work it and use my camera in manual like before...my exposure bar went out the window ;) Oh and one more thing: Did you do any group shots?
@arrayofblues I am going to do the group shot on June 4th. We were trying to find a Saturday when all of the boys are there. June 4th is our last regular season game and all of the boys are expected to be there.
I'll post the group shot(s) once they are ready. :)
Post yours as well! I would love to see how it went for you. Good luck!
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When shooting the team picture, make sure to leave some frame space. If you shoot too tight, you may end up cropping someone out or having white space.
Best advice ever!
Definitely use fill flash! Careful not to make team lineup too wide. If parents want an 8x10, you want to be able to crop it as such without too much grass below or sky above. Be sure to take individuals of each player with his glove and/or swinging the bat...classic pose...
Thank you so much for the feedback everyone and fantastic advice! I sincerely appreciate it. I've been watching some online tutorials and feel confident I can make it work. I'll take my son to the park and practice on him before the "big day".
Re: leaving frame space. Fantastic advice and great reminder. In fact, our professional photographer last year did not take this into consideration. When the team photo was placed in a frame, the two boys on the outside were cropped out as well as the to of the head of one particularly tall coach. Ouch!
Thank again. Please keep the advice coming... :)
It was actually very fun. The day was perfect for taking pictures--overcast with soft clouds. I went hand-held and used fill flash. Definitely watch the shadows on the baseball caps. And one other thing I learned, watch the background! I had to redo a couple of the kids' pics because there was a man walking in the background that I did not see when I was taking the pics.
Here are a couple of the pictures I took:
Have fun!
Works perfect for what I do.
I think the 18-55mm lens would work fine.
Just have fun with it. Take your time... I can see now that the glove on the first boy is a tad high. Those little details that I guess you learn to see with time. You'll do great and the parents will appreciate all of your efforts. :)
I'll post the group shot(s) once they are ready. :)
Post yours as well! I would love to see how it went for you. Good luck!