I had the chance to shoot basketball player portraits for a local school the other day. These sessions are always a lot of work, and can be very hectic — in this case, about 24 players and 23 cheerleaders, plus four group shots — but it's also a lot of fun. Compounding the difficulty in this case was having to get all of the portraits taken quickly, in the half-hour window between the end of the school day and the start of the first game. I'd love to be able to take more time for each shot, but the time constraint meant taking them in assembly-line fashion rather quickly.
It's fun to see the differences in photographing boys versus girls on these shoots. For the most part, boys just want to get it done. They'll hop right into the shot, pose the way you told them to, and wait for the flash. Some will smile, but many like to try to look serious. Girls are much more concerned with appearance. As they wait in line for their turns they will adjust their jerseys just so, and mirrors will pop out as they fix makup and hair and make sure everything looks just right. I noticed a few of them managed to sneak on earrings and other jewelry for the photos, even though it has to come off before the game. Thank you, ladies, it was fun, and I hope you and your parents enjoy the photos.
I sometimes feel bad with these sessions because I can't take the time that I would with a studio session or senior portrait – for instance, the background wasn't great for these – but I really want to make every photo as nice as possible. As I shoot and edit each photo, I look at it as if I were the player's parent, trying to make each image a "wow" shot that's worthy of framing and hanging on a wall. I hope I succeed on occasion.
Tech info: Canon XTi with Canon 17-40 f/4.0L lens; the lighting was from two 550EX flash units off camera, bounced with umbrellas.
No comments:
Post a Comment