So where did we leave off ?
Right, 22:07PM, portraits done, time for some team shots.

The A-Team finished their friendly match (I never did check if they won or lost, shame on me) and some of the guys from the B-Team needed to go home because they had exams the next day. So again , not much time to play around.

Again I had carte-blanche and didn’t want to go for any ‘classic’ shots. I figured out the kind of group shot I wanted before arriving, something that would fit the portraits.

The setup:

2 bare, zoomed speedlights on stands behind the players. 2 flashes through translucent umbrellas at 45° to camera left & right. For the B team I used some pink foam diffusion material, I told them it was red.

22:21PM | The shots

Black & White conversion (my fav’s but less commercial?)

22:47PM | I could use a beer now.

Conclusion:
As happy as I am with the player portraits, on the team pictures I dropped the ball a couple of times.

On one of the setup shots you can see that I forgot to reset the zoom on one of the speedlights. The umbrella doesn’t get filled evenly … (less light on the left side)

I still need to work on my group directing skills. Facial expressions, eye direction, … Tips are welcome.

I need to do this thing on a tripod. Frame the shot, look at it, reframe if necessary. Doing this away from the tripod gave me greater maneuverability but no two shots were the same, and if I have one blinker I can reuse part of a previous shot and correct that in post. I’d also have more time directing the group.

But you know what they say, you learn from your mistakes.
And I probably shouldn’t be to hard on my self, I can just blame my interim assistant. (just kidding Nico)

So all there is left for me to do is thank the Bolas basketball team for a good learning experience and a very friendly cooperation. I hope I’ve lived up to the expectations. (if any) Another big thanks to coach Sven and to Nico for the beers afterward 😉