It's an interesting comp, definitely better than the typical sports group shot, IMHO. It looks like the banners on the wall have some reflective properties, maybe tone those down a bit?
Exposure on the kids is very good, but the posing is distracting. The gaps next to the Center invite the eye to the back wall, which is hot, due to the placement of your light(s) and the reflectivity of the wall. By moving the kids together, this problem would have been minimized, if not completely avoided.
I'm also ambivalent about the overall lighting of the scene. On the one hand, by focusing the lighting on the subjects, they are drawn out and the eye focuses on them (which is good). On the other hand, the darkness of the background, in the setting of what is usually seen as a bright gym, once again distracts my eye. You might try exposing for the ambient (including a custom white balance), and popping some flash to fill the subjects.
One other comment: I do like the posing of each athlete, as well as their expressions. The posing is much better than the average team photo, except for those two gaps.
I don't mean to discount the opinion stated above, since it is just as valid an opinion as mine is...but I do disagree. The gaps make it unique IMHO.
Maybe a tighter crop? If you keep the aspect ratio and crop it down, you lose the doors on the left and right and the hoop (does the hoop add that much anyway?) and some of those pesky banners.
All this is my humble, individual, subjective opinion.
Steve Wylie wrote:
You might try exposing for the ambient (including a custom white balance), and popping some flash to fill the subjects.
not to pick on steve, but do consider that if you exposed for the ambient and used your strobes as fill only, you'd need to gel your lights...just wanted to add that note
Looks fine. Consider burning or desaturating the shine on the background items that picked up the strobe...a little distracting and hard to control. Also they are sitting on the mascot, not sure if that matters or not. Agree with the gaps comments too. My personal preference for girls sitting is keep thier legs closed or crossed a bit more...sorry, just my feeling about it...most of them are doing this anyway, something to look for in the future. FYI, I shoot a lot of women/girls' teams for what it is worth. But good shot regardless. Just nits and/or misc items to consider for next time.
Yes... separating the center girl from the others in the back row is what makes it unique to me also.... deviates from the norm. Who says there are any rules?
The reflection on the back wall is nice and soft... as if I had placed a background light there... I got it for free! Again it separates the subject nicely from the wall in my opinion.... filling up the gaps on each side of her.
As for the hoop? It shows that it's a basketball team for anyone in doubt
The banners were an after thought... bringing them up and lightening them in post.
I like the way it turned out and will use the technique again in the future
I want my groups to LOOK flashed... giving the subjects a distinct separation from the rest of the room... especially in gyms... gyms are ugly
But I use a large diffused beauty dish or umbrella/softbox to make the light as soft as possible.
Start shooting at 400iso and above and now you've introduced color balance problems (as one poster mentioned) from the mercury vapor lights from above and then yes... you need to CC your flash.
