Taking The Best Photo
Use Your Own Phone Or Camera To Take The Photo
You can use one of the latest smartphones, the cameras on them are pretty awesome these days.
Make sure you select the highest quality image possible.
If using an iPhone please select HDR mode.
A DLSR camera is a great option also.
The better quality image you provide to us the better your poster will be.
Where possible apply the following for portrait, group shots and staged shots. (see what we mean by a stage shot further down)
Daylight – Please take the picture outside in normal daylight.
Sunlight – Take the photo with the sun behind you. If the sun is behind you, the person/people in your photo will be illuminated from the front, ensuring that your subject is evenly and well lit.
Bad Light
The sun is to the right of the person taking the photo and half the team is in the shadows.
Good Light
Sun is behind the person taking the photo and everyone in the team is well lit with no shadows.
Too Bright? Rather than having people squinting in bright sunlight. A nice evenly shaded area will work fine. You are aiming to have even lighting across the whole team. Hats under bright sun will cast a shadow over faces
Background – If you can keep the background as clear as possible for portrait and staged shots. (no mesh fences, or goal nets) A wall (not the colour of their kit!) works great so does a nice open field.
The busier the picture (stuff going on in the background) the harder it becomes to create a great poster.
Remember the background will be "cut out" so it doesn't really matter. What matters is a nice high resolution clear shot with good light of the individual or team.
Before The Game Players and uniforms are fresh before the game, no red faces or dirty jerseys. This is the best time to take a photo in our opinion.
Posing For The Photo You are no longer bound by the traditional and boring line ups. Now you can get creative and have some fun at the same time!
Here is a great short video on posing and photo angles to get a great photo of your team to make the best team poster possible.
We Highly Recommend You Watch This Video!
Types of Photos
1 Portrait photos - As it sounds get your subject or subjects to pose for you. Get creative! You are no longer limited to a standard team line up photo of 2 or 3 rows. Stand in a V, stand with arms linked. Get individuals to stand in a variety of positions as a group. The options are limitless.
2 Action Shots (for personal posters) - Take lots of photos during a game. These photos are often the best posters we make. Subjects are natural and have their game face on! They can be tricky to get without the right camera equipment, but don't worry you can always stage a shot instead.
3 Staged Shots (for personal posters) - Finding it hard to get the perfect in game action shot? Create a staged shot instead. Set your camera phone or camera to burst shot (it takes lots of photos at once). Get your subject to run past you, swing the bat, kick the ball or whatever action your sport requires. Another option is to get the subject to hold an action pose. Either way have some fun and we are sure you can get a great shot that will make a great poster.