[Fat Buff Guy]

let me know what you think

[khfoto.no]

Great work, the first one is perfect. (The power cord and buttons on the wall is a little disturbing)

[Fat Buff Guy]

good eye. thanks

[UdubBadger]

This is what I used to do professionally for like 2-3 years.

it's not bad at all but there are some details that are easily overlooked (for example, you stood at the top of the free throw line, why didn't you center yourself? It now creates an imbalnce of colors/lines with the green and yellow floor.)

I'm assuming you had not bleachers to work with? I think your spacing could have been a bit better and personally with about 50 kids I would have shot in 5-6 rows if I had the equipment (or you can always do 2 rows of standing + 1 row standing on a chair in back) to build the shot vertically and thus be able to zoom in a bit more on their faces.

If you plan on shooting this kind of stuff more in the near future let me know and we'll have a little chat and I can send you some stuff to that will make it VERY easy for you.

[Fat Buff Guy]

good eye. there were two of us there. i was the second guy with the less expensive camera; so for the first one i was on the bottom of the bleachers and he was on top. and for the second one, he was centered. so i didnt have time to grab a centered shot. any tips would still be awesome. i have an edited one with all the **** edited out of the right side and the green moved over so it looks more centered, but i just never posted it.

[UdubBadger]

ok well then I'll go nuts on this one...


1. I personally think it was shot too low. Should be eye level to the middle row.
2. Like I said before, I woulda gone 4-5 rows instead of 3. building upwards is a lot more benefical for zooming reason. Even if you don't have bleechers or even just some chairs for the last row to stand on you can make due.
-go from shortest to tallest, do the 1st row 1st. then do the next row standing. then take the next row and make them kneel between the standing/sitting rows. then make the next row stand beind the last row. Its not fool proof and sometimes it needs to be modified but you get the idea. another trick you can use is have the 1st row sit, 2nd row sit but on their feet (like knees on the floor and legs going back, butt on their feet) then 3rd row kneel straight up then 4th row stands.
3. spacing is ok but looks like it might need help. you should have a head in each "slot" and not 2 in 1 slot or 1 in 2 slots. Also the 2 morons on the right not sitting up straight kinda ruins it, they look squeezed in... not very professional looking.
4. posing also looks sloppy. last thing I always said was. "front row, take your right hand, and grab your left wrist, everyone else hands behind your back". when everyone looks the same it much better. Also the bottom row should be sitting cross legs/indian style.
5. high lining looks kinda f'd up. I always do center tallest then go right-left-right-left and build out from the center... pretty obvious.

thats all I have at the moment.

let me see if I have my stuff lying around handy and I'll scan some charts and shiat like that for you.

[UdubBadger]

BTW a lot of this wouldn't be directed at you since you were 2nd shooter and didn't set this up. Just take it all FWIW for when you do it yourself. If you want some examples of what I've done go here (site to where I used to shoot for):

High School Photography : VIP : Wisconsin : Illinois : Visual Image Photography

most importantly just don't forget even in big group shots the details make the difference.