Team Photo Help

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Steelmagnet

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Name
Steve
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Hi all.

I've got to take a football team photo or two this afternoon. We're looking at about 20 people including players and officials.

I'll be using my D700, 50mm f1.4G and a bit of fill from my SB400.

I intend to just set ISO to 200 and chuck the camera on 'P' and let it sort itself out. I did a test shot or two of the wife just now and that seems fine.

However, I'd be interested in any further pointers and also whether I ought to bounce the flash off of a bit of card. That will cost me a bit of flash power and I'm worried that might be a problem as I'll be standing a bit of a distance to fill the frame with 20 people. (I'll have them close together in 3 rows).

Also, I'll be shooting a few individual player portraits on my newly acquired 85mm. I can't rotate the SB400 so I'll stick to landscape and crop. The question once again though is whether to bounce the flash in what will be fairly bright conditions.

Thanks for any advice, it will be much appreciated.

Steve
 
no, that'll be fine. Set the flash EV to -1.0 and go for it. Heads in spaces, ask everyone to check that they can see 'the end of your lens'.
 
^ Yes, thanks for that. I got the heights sorted pretty well. Took loads of shots so I wouldn't have to photoshop heads between pics.

I had the sun behind though I had no option for where I took the shots. Went for Goalie in the middle and I think that was right..

Here's one of the shots. It's looser than I would have chosen to have taken, but the clubhouse and clock were important to include.

Still needs a little PP but I know the team will be more than happy.

I've also added a goalmouth action shot which I thought was quite fun. Clearly nobody knew where the ball was :-)

7cf3ab7d.jpg


8cf47b12.jpg
 
I know it's all done and dusted now but your plan was exactly how I would have tackled the job. I'm a huge believer in P mode but would take a test shot of the team and have a look at a few areas zoomed right in in review mode just to check the exposure is right. You could always set up a 1/2 stop autobracket and delete the wrong 'uns.

I used to use a 6x4 piece of photo paper and an elastic band to bounce flash, have a play.

2 slight issues with the team photo posted - the lady in the blue t-shirt inside the building and the reflections in the glass. Might have been worth setting the clock to 10 to 2 and taking the battery out - timepiece faces look better at that time IMO. Again, being picky, centre them on the doors - they're about 9" off.
 
Thanks for that. I did find that wherever I stood there was a reflection of someone (there were no curtains to draw), but I should have got the centering better. I also had the tallest player out of place too.

Then I could have got them all to have their legs in exactly the same position, but at some point you cross the line of obsession when a bunch of lads just want a photo.

On the subject of the clock, I considered it but kept my thoughts to myself. I think that the hands being vertical was good enough.
 
I was thinking more of a polariser for avoiding reflections. The D700 can cope with an extra stop of ISO no problem, after all.
The hands aen't vertical though, they stand at 5 past 2.


As you say though, how far do you go?
 
Reflections are easy to loose. Just shoot a little lower so a head of centre back row dude is is the way.

Few things- nothing major.

Back row third from left. should be centre of the back row. He is the tallest.

Hands in fists on knees makes the players look uniform. ( Rugby arms folded.)

And lastly. Feet. I go along the front row and put my foot between theirs and ask them to close their feet next to mine. That makes all the front row players feet the same gap. all looks neat and uniform.

Other than that, looks really nice shot.
 
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