Okay.. Answer If you dare...

David Evertsen · October 18, 2008

We have all asked how do your get tighter / sharper/ better in your pictures. I have learned way more than I could ever imagine on the dgrin.com boards/forums/incrediblehelpsystem.

With that said, how do you those of you that take Football/Soccer/Lacrosse/Field sports balance
getting every kid that plays with following the play??

JohnG and others have presented us with incredible insight on how to take those awesome shots for everyone and remove deadspace and such. I am looking for insight on how to maximize my time and talent
and take pictures/individual/group/sideline pictures of everyone so that the kids that rarely get in the game or only special teams get their picture taken. As well as get those everyone liked my pictures on the dgrin/sports board set.

I am not trying to get rich doing this but, there is an oppourtunity with every picture taken and I want to be able to make sure I am aware of everything possible I can do..

Honestly if it is too much to ask please let me know. I know there are folks that work pop warner and such and really do awesomes job getting everyone. Just looking for the how...

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
David Evertsen

www.phabulousphotos.com

davidweaver · October 18, 2008

A very interesting question. I shoot a lot of events and don't worry about covering everyone. That said, I do run into events where getting some core shots is important.

Places to get all the folks:
Kickoffs
Pre game rally
halftime
bench shots (remember that even the best players sit there too)
Posed group pics, both before and after the game.

Not everyone is a good player and the parents will know this even if they will never admit it.

Shoot what you can and make available what you will. Don't be concerned about equal-opportunity in shots. Just shoot good stuff and you will sell good stuff. Getting some group/team stuff is fine too and you can sell that too.

Cheers,
David

David Evertsen wrote:

We have all asked how do your get tighter / sharper/ better in your pictures. I have learned way more than I could ever imagine on the dgrin.com boards/forums/incrediblehelpsystem.

With that said, how do you those of you that take Football/Soccer/Lacrosse/Field sports balance
getting every kid that plays with following the play??

JohnG and others have presented us with incredible insight on how to take those awesome shots for everyone and remove deadspace and such. I am looking for insight on how to maximize my time and talent
and take pictures/individual/group/sideline pictures of everyone so that the kids that rarely get in the game or only special teams get their picture taken. As well as get those everyone liked my pictures on the dgrin/sports board set.

I am not trying to get rich doing this but, there is an oppourtunity with every picture taken and I want to be able to make sure I am aware of everything possible I can do..

Honestly if it is too much to ask please let me know. I know there are folks that work pop warner and such and really do awesomes job getting everyone. Just looking for the how...

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
David Evertsen

www.phabulousphotos.com

wmstumme · October 18, 2008

David Evertsen wrote:

... how do you those of you that take Football/Soccer/Lacrosse/Field sports balance
getting every kid that plays with following the play??

David:

I've run into that question a lot as well. Over the past few weeks, my daughter was asking me to get photo's of a couple of seniors on her HS team. The team is putting together little farewell gifts to all the seniors and wants to include a collage of photos. However, a couple of the seniors rarely play, and I had few photos of them. I turn to warm-ups to try and get "action" shots. Since the team is used to me being around, they'll even let me wander out on the field a little bit and I can really try and set-up the shot more than you would be able to with a game--even without having them change anything they are doing. It still can be tough to get the shot without other people or things in the way that would show it was just warmups and not during a game.

Here's a link to a thread a started a while back which has some examples of shots taken during warmups: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=90800

And a couple from this past weekend:

johng · October 18, 2008

David,

I will suggest the answer depends on whether you are shooting the same team multiple times or only once. If you're shooting multiple times then your job is much easier. The key there is to group your shots by player, compare to roster and note who you need shots of. Every game you cover, get shots of warm-ups as suggested. Shoot the scout team offense and defense for football, warm-up drills for soccer - that's where everyone gets in.
During games, select linemen and special teams players as your subject for a couple plays. In soccer, pay attention to substitutions and get those shots.

If you're only covering a team once it's not a lot different other than spend MORE time covering the entire warm-up. Get shots of everyone. During the games get sportrait shots of players - rather than 20 action shots of the best player get several of every player (easier in soccer and lax than football). Your goal isn't to cover the action it's to get shots of every player. THEN cover the action. If the 2 best players dont have parents that buy photos you waste your time otherwise. In my experience those parents are rarely the best customers anyway. They're great for action shots but if your goal is sales you're much better off getting more.

Of course, always pay special attention to any athlete whose parent shows an interest in your work.

Ann McRae · October 18, 2008

These are all really great answers.
My only additional information will be the technique I use when I shoot action shots for a (soccer) team ( a service I provide:$200 gets you game coverage of print ready images on a cd - and that price needs to increase).
My usual clients for this are 9 - 13 yr old teams or adult rec league teams.

Before I go out, I communicate with the manager, asking for a team list with jersey numbers and positions typically played. I ask them to arrange for me to come out on a day when they know all players will be there.

I spend the early part of the game focusing on position. Start w/ defenders, and move forward. I am pretty good at remembering faces so this exercise is just to become familiar with the faces. As play goes on, I follow play. I pay special attention to substitutions to makes sure I watch (hopefully get a shot of) that new player.

At the end of it all, I post shots and ask the manager to go through. This year I would say I get at least a shot of each player 95% of the time. However, sometimes there are two kids on the team that look so similar that I cannot tell them apart. If I do miss someone, then I go out a second time and focus just on the missed kid. Invariably there will be someone who was away the first time, so I get him too.

When teams have numbers on the front of their jersey, it is so much easier!!!

ann

Ann McRae · October 18, 2008

johng wrote:

Of course, always pay special attention to any athlete whose parent shows an interest in your work.

This is GOLDEN - I have several regulars, and their kids are not the stars! But they buy like they are!

ann

David Evertsen · October 18, 2008

Wow... Thanks so much for all of the help. Funny thing is what I do without out thinking for Dance I am slowly starting to do for Football. Get everyone involved just doing what they do. The kids are starting to ignore me which makes it perfect to get the candids instead of me being the odditie on the sidelines. Funny thing is I asked to take football to practice my Dance pictures. The girls at Dance just ignore me and I can take whatever I want. Except of course for my oldest Daughter who always knows and doesn't like it.

Then again I realize that the stars that always begging you to take their photos don't buy nearly as much
as the middle of the road. Just like Dance...

Just ordered a 50D after seeing a 40D on the sidelines last night.. Can't wait....

This forum is awesome!! Thanks so much..

David Evertsen

Okay.. Answer If you dare...

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