Some advice on team photos please

[BigBad]

Hi,

Im hoping for some help on taking team photos for my sons soccer team. The coach would like a team pic for the sponsor of the team and as I have an interest in photography. I have a Canon EOS100D and was hoping for some tips on what settings I should use. Are the preset settings suitable? Are there optimum settings I could use? The photos will be taken at about 9:30am and the weekend is expected to be overcast with showers so I guess I have to allow for lower light.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

[kiwi]

Use flash, iso400, 1/250s, f/8
Set wb to daylight

[Tommo224]

Use flash, iso400, 1/250s, f/8
Set wb to daylight

Impressive :) I still have trouble figuring out settings.

[kiwi]

oh, also:

backlit
take at least 10 photos, ;earn to cut & paste eyes from one photos to another to make sure there are no blinkers
size players so tallest in the middle
two rows, front row kneeling on one knee - but get symmetry either side of central player
all player must be able to see camera
use a tripod
choose smiling. no smiling
choose casual, formal
do a fun shot to start, serious one to finish

see - nothing to it :cool:

[camerasnoop]

You forgot to say "Make sure no-one else is standing with a camera within line-of-sight of the team." :D

[kiwi]

[QUOTE=camerasnoop;884100]You forgot to say "Make sure no-one else is standing with a camera within line-of-sight of the team." :D[/QUOTE

omg, tell me about it.

I just tell them straight out to wait until I have finished then they can have a go.

One team seriously isnt hard, I just finished doing 50 teams over two days, 10 minutes per team, now that was fun:p

[fillum]

What lens will you be using BigBad? Best not to go too wide if you can avoid it as you might get distortion at the edges of the image (unless of course that's the look you're going for :)). I'd suggest maybe somewhere in the 30-50mm range would be appropriate.


Cheers.

[kiwi]

Two examples using different focal lengths and approach, neither is right or wrong - just different

20mm on full frame

http://www.peakactionimages.com/gallery/main.php/d/223996-1/SOO_6033.jpg

70mm on DX crop sensor

http://www.peakactionimages.com/gallery/main.php/d/224006-1/D30_7363.jpg

[ameerat42]

What lens will you be using BigBad? Best not to go too wide if you can avoid it as you might get distortion at the edges of the image (unless of course that's the look you're going for :)). I'd suggest maybe somewhere in the 30-50mm range would be appropriate.


Cheers.

Fillum. You took the words....
Hear, hear!

[BigBad]

I have 2 lenses that came with the camera - both Canon, a 18-55mm and a 75-300mm lens.

[kiwi]

Use the 18-55 at 50 or 55

[BigBad]

Guys cant thank you enough. So let me see if I have this right;

Use flash,
iso400,
1/250s,
f/8
Set wb to daylight
backlit
take at least 10 photos, ;earn to cut & paste eyes from one photos to another to make sure there are no blinkers
size players so tallest in the middle
two rows, front row kneeling on one knee - but get symmetry either side of central player
all player must be able to see camera
use a tripod
choose smiling. no smiling
choose casual, formal
do a fun shot to start, serious one to finish
Use the 18-55 at 50 or 55

have i missed anything :D

[camerasnoop]

Yes, you did. I was serious when I said don't let other people with cameras stand in front of them whilst you were taking their photos. The players will all look at their loved ones with camera instead of looking at your camera. See if I'm not on the mark if you like.

[kiwi]

Use the net as a backdrop, include a ball.

WARNING My camera settings are a fair weather guide and you may need to alter based on lighting. Best to get a crash test dummy to help on the day getting your exposure right (use your LCD spot meter on the faces and check your histogram)

[sunny6teen]

this isn't for most but may be insightful for some.

re: flash....I used to get very fine results by using high speed sync which means you can flash at wide apertures.
high speed sync gives off a quick series of little bursts instead one big flash. this means that one flashgun isn't strong enough to overpower the midday sun (there's also a risk of cooking your flashgun).
what I used to do was face the person/people so they were backlit by the sun and then gang light 10-12 flash guns to overpower the sunlight. because my light source was stronger than the sun, the background would be underexposed and you essentially turn day into night ....isolating your subject from whatever is around the football pitch etc.

this way you can high speed sync f/2 at 1/6400 if you wanted to. you just need more light. it opens up a whole world of creative possibilites that are restricted by a normal sync flash.

[kiwi]

pretty cool tony - seen the smashing pumpkins shoot ? very similar

I see guys using big metz guns too

[sunny6teen]

pretty cool tony - seen the smashing pumpkins shoot ? very similar

I see guys using big metz guns too

no. the band? :confused013

[kiwi]

http://pixsylated.com/2008/12/smashing-pumpkins-with-high-speed-sync-gang-light-part-2/

[ricktas]

Hope we get to see some of the results of your shoot, up for critique in the forums

[sunny6teen]

http://pixsylated.com/2008/12/smashing-pumpkins-with-high-speed-sync-gang-light-part-2/

ah I see. I was wondering what this had to do with 90s alternative rock.
good example though...explains it much better than I can. it's also a better setup than I've ever used. my speedlites were rentals so I just gaffer taped them to the frame :)

there's a link on the same page that shows how you can turn day into night etc.
http://pixsylated.com/2008/12/i-shot-ben-willmore-in-broad-daylight-gang-light-part-1/

it's an odd series of posts for the 'new to photography' section. no one's going to have a dozen speedlites in their kit. I'm just saying that the perceived limitations of flash photography are not that limited if you throw enough light at the subject. create your own contrast.

[BigBad]

Hi, Thank you all so much for all the advice. I will post the results up this weekend as Im taking the team shots this Sat morning. Morning and its expected to be clear and sunny.

[luepit]

Thank you to everyone...I didn't ask the question, but take lots of team shots too.
I'll take your good advice and try to improve my shots. Thank you.