Middle School Girls Soccer Team Portraits

Got her done!

This was my very first paid gig.

I was hired to do the yearly team portraits for a local middle school girls soccer team.

I have made some proof prints (drug store machines) and they look very good. That is likely what the parents are going to do anyway is get drug store prints even though they will be on my Zenfolio page and they could have professional prints.

I also showed the proof prints to a lady, a stranger actually ,who was a mother with children. I asked her if she would purchase these shots if these were her children's pics. She said they looked perfect!


Here is a group photo and a few single portraits of the different poses they did. If they look like they need cropping it is because I left them large so they will crop to multiple sizes if ordered on my website.

Nice shots. Not sure of I like the netting in the background but if I were a parent I would be joyed. What lighting did you use if any?

Yes if you wouldn't mind telling us about the lighting. I know you were worried about how it would turn out. Just curious how you handled it. They look good.

Mike d90 said:

Got her done!

This was my very first paid gig.

I was hired to do the yearly team portraits for a local middle school girls soccer team.

I have made some proof prints (drug store machines) and they look very good. That is likely what the parents are going to do anyway is get drug store prints even though they will be on my Zenfolio page and they could have professional prints.

I also showed the proof prints to a lady, a stranger actually ,who was a mother with children. I asked her if she would purchase these shots if these were her children's pics. She said they looked perfect!


Here is a group photo and a few single portraits of the different poses they did. If they look like they need cropping it is because I left them large so they will crop to multiple sizes if ordered on my website.


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They look pretty ok to me. Well done, How will you spend the cash?

What lighting and camera exif.

You did a great job.

Looks good, if I had to pick at anything it would be the green ball in background of the team picture.

All great. I had to go back at look at the green ball and yes would have been better without it but I really don't think anyone other that us will even notice it. And about the net....This is a soccer team and I think the net is a perfect backdrop for their photos.

You are exactly right Don, I doubt anyone of the parents would even notice.

Don Kuykendall said:

All great. I had to go back at look at the green ball and yes would have been better without it but I really don't think anyone other that us will even notice it.

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Just clone out the ball. If you need help let me know.

But good pictures, job well done.

FastGlass said:

Nice shots. Not sure of I like the netting in the background but if I were a parent I would be joyed. What lighting did you use if any?

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They wanted the netting. That is their usual backdrop so I went with it.

Jeff_J said:

Yes if you wouldn't mind telling us about the lighting. I know you were worried about how it would turn out. Just curious how you handled it. They look good.

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When I first got set up and getting the group shots first, the sun was behind clouds and very diffuse and bright sky. So I set up a Vivitar 283 flash on each side of the group at 45* to camera. Radio slaves to trigger flash. It was actually too much light with the flash at first. I got several subsequent shots at different flash power and got some that were correctly exposed.

Once we started the individual portraits the sun was in and out of the clouds constantly. I would get times of full sun, partial sun and then times of over cast.

I tried to use times when the sun was peeking out. If so, I placed the large light reflector panel I made close to the subject and bounced light back onto the shadow side. I also made some use of the gold reflector disc when I had some full sun.

When I had nothing but clouds I used the white reflector to get as much fill as I could. No flash as it was just too difficult to get set for each girl separately with the different skin tones I had to deal with.

Most of the shots were done just using the white reflector panel as there was a lot of light available, it was just very diffuse and large. I got a lot of flat shadowing in the photos and just have to deal with it.

Moab Man said:

What lighting and camera exif.

You did a great job.

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Lighting explained above.

I shot manual mode with auto ISO so that aperture and shutter speed stayed where I put it. ISO stayed at 200 to 400 though. I shot at f/6.7 and f/8 mostly. I used the 50mm f/1.8 for all shots except the group team photos where I used the 18-70mm f/3.5. Shutter speeds had to be changed occasionally but was usually up around 1/350th second. I did use the exposure comp when needed. I did a custom white balance pre-set when I got on location and just used it throughout. I adjusted as needed in Lightroom.

Krs_2007 said:

Looks good, if I had to pick at anything it would be the green ball in background of the team picture.

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It should crop out. As I said in the original post I left these mostly uncropped so they will crop to different aspect ratios when the customer chooses their size.

aced19 said:

Just clone out the ball. If you need help let me know.

But good pictures, job well done.

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I don't need help cloning.

Since the group portrait will probably be the most popular photo I made aspect ratio crops for 8x10, 8x12, 5x7 and 4x6 so that they fit the sizes correctly. I also added some school graphics to the group portraits to make them more "school like". I made this an option photo though as not all of the girls on the team attend this school.

Well done! Logos really set it off.

Great shots.

I just noticed this but it ticks me off that they didn't follow the posing chart I gave them. I gave the coach a printed chart showing exactly where to place the girls and how to line them up. He was doing that as I got my gear set up and ready.

First row is seated on grass, six girls across. Second row is kneeling, five girls across and filling the spaces between the first row girls. So and and so on to the back row.

Well, I see that the second row starting at the (viewed left) did not perfectly fill the space and her jersey number is hidden.

Third row was supposed to be slightly bent at knees and filling the spaces between second row. I see the third row girl on the far right is standing straight and she was one of the tallest girls there. The assistant coach should have been more aligned with the coach on the flank.

This group should have been lined up like bowling pins. I was trying to get started and over looked this detail.

The finished team shot is great, the logos and the crop finish it off. Great job Mike

Mike - you did a great job on these, I can only hope to do so well when I have the chance

carguy said:

Mike - you did a great job on these, I can only hope to do so well when I have the chance

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You will. If I did anyone can. I have only tried something like this once before and it didn't go as well. I did better this time because of this forum and all the great resources it offers.

I am not trying to brag or be immodest but I was not at all worried or concerned once I got there. I saw the light I had and what I was working with and I knew mostly what had to be done. Wasn't perfect but I felt confident I could get it done. Also, there was a good bit of post processing done to get the end result I wanted out of these and I got fairly close to what I envisioned. Better light would have made it easier but I will accept the outcome.

I do want to add, for those other flash/strobists out there, that some think that those old hot shoe flash units don't do well for strobes. Let me tell you, the first group shot I did with the two Vivitar 283's, on full power, blew the shot completely out. I had to turn them way down to get the fill effect I needed and even then the shot was a little too bright. I actually think I ended up using the shots that used no flash and I added fill light in Lightroom.

And another sort of tip I will add. . . . I used a lot more of the tools in Lightroom than I have ever used. I used the Graduated ND Filter tool on almost every shot and the Brush tool on some of the faces that were not so well lit with even light or that had flat shadow to them.

Lightroom is just a tremendous help.

If you can, I would love to see a before and after of one of the shots. Lightroom is more powerful than what I use it for, so its always nice to see the process to learn from.

Krs_2007 said:

If you can, I would love to see a before and after of one of the shots. Lightroom is more powerful than what I use it for, so its always nice to see the process to learn from.

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I will do that tonight!