Sports Poses- looking for help

anwmn1 · March 27, 2007

**Mods** I am thinking it okay to post a question since it is sports related- if not please move-

Okay looking for some advice from some of you experienced sports team shooters. I have been asked to shoot the team and individual photos for a club soccer team here in Phoenix.

Can anyone provide some example poses for individual shots. I have some fun ideas but think I should have some more basic shots too.

They are wanting to shoot this Sunday so any help would be appreciated!

Aaron

spider-t · March 29, 2007

anwmn1 wrote:

**Mods** I am thinking it okay to post a question since it is sports related- if not please move-

Okay looking for some advice from some of you experienced sports team shooters. I have been asked to shoot the team and individual photos for a club soccer team here in Phoenix.

Can anyone provide some example poses for individual shots. I have some fun ideas but think I should have some more basic shots too.

They are wanting to shoot this Sunday so any help would be appreciated!

Aaron

I haven't done soccer, so I can't offer you posing advice for the individuals. But I've done martial arts and baseball, so I can offer a few general tips:

- trading cards - everyone loves them
- take orders that day, have a few packages, keep it simple
- get the order forms to the parents before you show up
- have an assistant to collect the money
- you can use your smugmug account for secondary sales
- get emails on the order forms so you can mail them a link to the gallery
- have your assistant write a jpg number down on all the orders
- check for closed eyes on your shots
- for a tidy group shots get the front kids down on the 'same' knee
- remind them to sit up tall right before you shoot
- bring snacks, there's never a good time for a break on photo day!

Have fun!
Trish

Ann McRae · March 29, 2007

Aaron
Trish has given some great pointers (I need to remember those!)

Depending on the age/size and gender of the kids

One thing I've found for bigger kids is to put the tall ones in the front row - boys like to 'squat like the pros'. Goalies like the front and center position.

If you have bleachers or benches available, you can have more, shorter rows.

Sample individuals:

I would guess you get to be outside - watch out for shadows and/or squinting. Pay attention to details like:
jerseys tucked in, which knee is up, what they are doing with their hands, etc.

Let me know if you need more ideas, and if by chance you have similar experience with basketball I'd like to hear about it.

ann

winger · March 30, 2007

You can go with some of the poses ann gave, dont be afraid to experiment.

I find girls are generally more willing to do this than boys.

So I posted the last one because of the socks, it drives me insane. In this particular situation there was nothing I could do about it because they were seniors but noticing things like that, hand position foot position can keep from distracting parts of the image

see what I am saying about girls being more fun.

So for individual poses I am not so good at, I dont really get a chance to do those. But again to echo earlier comments, makes sure jerseys are tucked in and stuff is neat and presentable. Findind a friend that can be on that task is nice too cause then you have an extra set of eyes.

I would thing soccer, one knee ball down in front of the knee they are leaning on, possibly soccer net in background, you get on your knees and shoot as well from that position. Male sure the background is clear. No playground equipment (Unless you intentially want to include it part of the postion)

I would search around the internet see what some of these sports photograhpy sites are selling for poses. If you had two kids that wanted to get posed together, do a back to back, cross you arms and look at the camera thing.

Have fun with it, because the more fun you have with it the better the photos will be!

Oh here is one posed!

New basketball coach, I was trying to tie it into the banners of a successful program of the past.

Tying objects to the subject always make the photos more interesting.

Turning hte subject generally makes the photo more interesting. No straight on shots.

Like if you opt for the take a knee shot, think of having their left knee down ball in front of that knee, right knee out but in the direction past your left shoulder but then have the player face you.

That might not make sense, but try not to shoot be straight on, have them turn a little to one direction or another and have them face you.

I wish I had some images handy to explain that better.

anwmn1 · April 1, 2007

spider-t wrote:

I haven't done soccer, so I can't offer you posing advice for the individuals. But I've done martial arts and baseball, so I can offer a few general tips:

- trading cards - everyone loves them
- take orders that day, have a few packages, keep it simple
- get the order forms to the parents before you show up
- have an assistant to collect the money
- you can use your smugmug account for secondary sales
- get emails on the order forms so you can mail them a link to the gallery
- have your assistant write a jpg number down on all the orders
- check for closed eyes on your shots
- for a tidy group shots get the front kids down on the 'same' knee
- remind them to sit up tall right before you shoot
- bring snacks, there's never a good time for a break on photo day!

Have fun!
Trish

Trish- thanks a lot! Looks like I was on the right track afterall.
Created an order form- it is already in the hands of the parents with 3 package options and a couple add possibilities. Already included e-mail and jersey number and allowed a place to document start and stop frames.

No PS skills so trading cards are out for now. I know there are company's that do it but not worried about it right now. They are a HS age club team so buddy pictures was a request.

They ended up cancelling for tomorrow but will reschedule sometime this week.

Thanks for the advice!

anwmn1 · April 1, 2007

Ann McRae wrote:

Aaron
Trish has given some great pointers (I need to remember those!)

Depending on the age/size and gender of the kids

One thing I've found for bigger kids is to put the tall ones in the front row - boys like to 'squat like the pros'. Goalies like the front and center position.

If you have bleachers or benches available, you can have more, shorter rows.

I would guess you get to be outside - watch out for shadows and/or squinting. Pay attention to details like:
jerseys tucked in, which knee is up, what they are doing with their hands, etc.

Let me know if you need more ideas, and if by chance you have similar experience with basketball I'd like to hear about it.

ann

Ann- thank you for he tips and examples. I am totally new to any team shots- atleast for being behind the lens (I played 3 sports).

I like the tip about taller in front squating and the goalie.

Thanks again

anwmn1 · April 1, 2007

winger wrote:

You can go with some of the poses ann gave, dont be afraid to experiment.

I find girls are generally more willing to do this than boys.

Winger thanks for the suggestions- luckily for me this is a girls team and they like having their pictures taken.

Once we reschedule I will post for some feedback.

Thanks-
Aaron

anwmn1 · April 9, 2007

Soccer Shots
After some help from you, here are some of the shots and poses I came up with on my shoot last Thursday.

The Goalie

They also wanted to do buddy shots.. = More $$

I know there are some missing feet and legs but I think there is enough going on to keep the attention in the top half of the photo.

I did run into some issues with lighting and shadows but feel I did pretty good for the first time doing a shoot like this.

So far 14 of the 16 have purchased a package

I am going to send out a free luggage tag to the mom that hooked me up with the team and see if that may drive some incremental sales.

winger · April 10, 2007

Aren't girls fun to shoot. They really are much more willing to work with you than boys. Boys its a challenge just to make sure their feet are all the same!!!

But seriously I think you did a fanstatic job on these.

It looks like it is later in the day, so did you use a reflector or a flash to fill in the faces?

Either way the skin tones are plesant, the girls are in flattering poses (the 2nd one i dont like just out my own personal prefernce but i may be projecting my own ungirlness on it, techically its a great photo and the girl with the pink hair does make a typically girly pose not so girl so i love that particular one for that reason)

Anyways nice job! I really cant think of much to say to improve on them, dont worry about the feet missing on the last one, I dont think it would of really made a difference (since your attention is drawn to the faces and the sunglasses). I like the ones that were taken when the sun was still up, just better light to work with, but there are ways to warm up the skin tones on the other ones, and seriously at that oint I am getting nit picky.

I hope you had fun with the shoot cause it looks like they did and I bet you have some very happy clients!!!

wxwax · April 10, 2007

Very nice job indeed!

Thanks for coming back to this thread with your results, it's very informative. I agree with the Wingmeister, the poses look great and so does the skin.

Ann McRae · April 11, 2007

Hi Aaron

Well done. You have some very good poses and really nice shots.

It looks like the team gave you time to shoot. My latest teams have all ran a practice while I was on the field shooting the individual shots!

The girls look nice and relaxed. Very good stuff.

ann

anwmn1 · April 11, 2007

winger wrote:

Aren't girls fun to shoot. They really are much more willing to work with you than boys. Boys its a challenge just to make sure their feet are all the same!!!

But seriously I think you did a fanstatic job on these.

It looks like it is later in the day, so did you use a reflector or a flash to fill in the faces?

Either way the skin tones are plesant, the girls are in flattering poses (the 2nd one i dont like just out my own personal prefernce but i may be projecting my own ungirlness on it, techically its a great photo and the girl with the pink hair does make a typically girly pose not so girl so i love that particular one for that reason)

Anyways nice job! I really cant think of much to say to improve on them, dont worry about the feet missing on the last one, I dont think it would of really made a difference (since your attention is drawn to the faces and the sunglasses). I like the ones that were taken when the sun was still up, just better light to work with, but there are ways to warm up the skin tones on the other ones, and seriously at that oint I am getting nit picky.

I hope you had fun with the shoot cause it looks like they did and I bet you have some very happy clients!!!

Thanks for the help and the coments. I had an hour drive to get out to this field and ended up still waiting around for the girls to show up and get ready. We didn't even get started until about 5:45 pm with some small clouds the lighting fluctuated from really good and soft to slightly harsh (AZ can be a pain in the Arsh!!) As the sun started to go down I did use a fill flash which worked really well until the team shots. 18 people is a pretty big crowd to light at 6:40pm!
The girls were fun but also pretty shy at first. I am hoping this will lead to shooting the whole club.

Thanks again!

anwmn1 · April 11, 2007

wxwax wrote:

Very nice job indeed!

Thanks for coming back to this thread with your results, it's very informative. I agree with the Wingmeister, the poses look great and so does the skin.

Thanks sid!

anwmn1 · April 11, 2007

Ann McRae wrote:

Hi Aaron

Well done. You have some very good poses and really nice shots.

It looks like the team gave you time to shoot. My latest teams have all ran a practice while I was on the field shooting the individual shots!

The girls look nice and relaxed. Very good stuff.

ann

Thanks Ann- I shot for about an hour or so and with 16 girls that seemed pretty quick. I gave them the option for multiple poses but most were one and done.

The team ran a practice after the photos which did help with them being relaxed.

Nikolai · April 11, 2007

Aaron,
Looks like you got it! :-)

Sports Poses- looking for help

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