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My first time doing team shots & portraits

mattdan12mattdan12 Registered Users Posts: 43 Big grins
edited February 4, 2012 in People
Two of my daughters play for this volleyball club and I volunteered to do the team shots this year (last year the club never even did them). This was my first time doing team shots, and I guess I could make the argument that it was my first time doing portraits as well - as long as you don't count my kids and models in workshops....

It ended up being 8 full teams and a few from two other teams, about 85 girls total. Ages ranged from 11-18, wide variety of skin tones, creative make-up application and heights of players. I decided to rent a studio for the afternoon rather than trying to carve out a space in their practice facilities.

I think my individual portraits were more sucessful than the team shots. I still need to work on the small details like getting them to hold the ball naturally, some of them didn't know what the heck to do with it...

Post was done in Lightroom with individual tweaking done in Photoshop - thankfully not a lot was needed.

C&C is welcome - I still have 3 teams to do in about a week.

Here are the samples - I'll start with the individuals since I think they're better than the team.

1.
CA2012-001.jpg

2.
CA2012-002.jpg

3.
CA2012-003.jpg

4.
CA2012-004.jpg

5.
CA2012-005.jpg


6. Team shot - most look like this. I'll be honest that I played it safe for these, most of the others looks just like this.

CA2012-007.jpg

7. - Probably the best of the team shots, but only 7 girls on this team we could pose them all side-by-side. They didn't want to wear shoes....
CA2012-008.jpg

8. Did a few "buddy" shots.
CA2012-006.jpg

9. My favorite shot of the day
CA2012-009.jpg

Comments

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    MDalbyMDalby Registered Users Posts: 697 Major grins
    edited February 3, 2012
    Matt,

    I think you did great, especially for a first timer. At first I wasn't wild about the white background but I think it works fine.
    Nikon D4, 400 2.8 AF-I, 70-200mm 2.8 VR II, 24-70 2.8
    CBS Sports MaxPreps Shooter
    http://DalbyPhoto.com
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    PhotosbychuckPhotosbychuck Registered Users Posts: 1,239 Major grins
    edited February 3, 2012
    I think you did good for doing this for the first time.

    1) Nice light on the face but the right hand kinda looks weird.
    2) Nice pose but the face is dark. If the main flash was at camera right turning her a little more to camera right would help.
    3) fairly nice but I think turning her a little more to camera right would help.
    4) Great Photo
    5) Great Photo
    6) fairly nice a few hot spots on foreheads.
    7) Great Photo
    8) fairly nice a few hot spots on foreheads.
    9) Nice shot ( What made here do this pose?)



    Take Care,
    Chuck Cassidy,
    www.icurdigital.com
    D300S, 18-200mm VR, 70-300mm VR

    Aperture Focus Photography
    http://aperturefocus.com
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    mattdan12mattdan12 Registered Users Posts: 43 Big grins
    edited February 3, 2012
    I think you did good for doing this for the first time.

    1) Nice light on the face but the right hand kinda looks weird.
    2) Nice pose but the face is dark. If the main flash was at camera right turning her a little more to camera right would help.
    3) fairly nice but I think turning her a little more to camera right would help.
    4) Great Photo
    5) Great Photo
    6) fairly nice a few hot spots on foreheads.
    7) Great Photo
    8) fairly nice a few hot spots on foreheads.
    9) Nice shot ( What made here do this pose?)
    www.icurdigital.com

    Yeah, those right hands were tough. Looking through the photos some of the girls look like they have claws or flippers hanging off them. Something to watch out going forward... I was kind of thinking of ditching the ball all together, but not sure, it ties them to the sport they play.

    Speaking of hands, the other thing I noticed on a lot of photos was how pale the hands were in a lot of photos. In many shots I added saturation to the hands in so they wouldn't look so lifeless.

    #9 - the girl was the first of her group and the rest of the team was making her laugh and feel embarrassed. I spontaneously fired off a few shots while she in the middle of her laughing fit.
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    Quincy TQuincy T Registered Users Posts: 1,090 Major grins
    edited February 4, 2012
    Hey, I think you did a pretty good job, Matt.
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    Dooginfif20Dooginfif20 Registered Users Posts: 845 Major grins
    edited February 4, 2012
    I think they look good. For the team shots you need a lot more distance between the backdrop and the girls. Do that and shoot and a little bit more open f-stop and those wrinkles will just disappear. Great shots though
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