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 p.1 #1 · NO MORE BLEACHERS! A Tutorial for Large Team Photos | |
I have been getting some inquires through Facebook and FM about large group team photos that I thought it would be of benefit to offer a quick write-up on how it's done along with all the do's and don'ts.
This is a follow-up to my 2009 tutorial on creating a reflection effect with indoor team shots:
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/844352
The need for speed and efficiency for large group shots made this method a necessity but honestly, it's not an entirely new idea. James Broome, a few years ago would do something like this with individual shots and Jeff Gump did the same with his large group shots. This is kind of a halfway point between individual head shots strung together in Photoshop and a whole team shot.
The advancement in technology has also made this a more viable option for those looking to do large groups. Large pixel cameras such as a D800 along with third party extraction companies that can extract the rows and extract them well WITHOUT a green screen at affordable prices have also made this method a more sensible route.
The other problem that standard field bleachers have besides the obvious metal bars all over the place is that they simply don't raise the kids up high enough at the upper levels to keep other heads from blocking faces. Since the photographer usually shoots from ground level, the level that the kids are raised as you ascend upwards isn't significant enough for the bleachers to have any benefit unless you are planning on shooting on a ladder. Plus as you build upward row to row, depending on the number of rows, the upper rows are farther away from the camera and heads can start to appear as "dots" compared to the lower rows.
This method eliminates all of that.
The following tutorial was designed with a football team of 78 middle school players. The tutorial also assumes a basic understanding of team arrangements... ie... height order, how to load, etc. A single set of typical middle school bleachers can support three additional rows for a total of six rows which can work if the bleachers are wide enough to stand as many as 14 kids. Many times it is not plus it can cause all the problems that I previously spoke of. If your intention is to fill your print with players with as little dead space as possible then Photoshop is the way to go. The team is lit with TWO Alien Bee lights with reflectors raised to about 8 feet. Camera used is a D800. No tripod. All shot in JPG LARGE FINE at a WB of 5600K, ISO 200, f/10, 1/160
STEP #1: Get a true headcount including all managers, coaches, and players. For this team, the total number was 78
STEP #2: Find an approximate mean average. For six rows, your mean is between 12 and 13 (total divided by rows).
STEP #3: Start adding on paper. Start with a number below your mean, and play around with pyramid arrangements to see if it gets you in the ballpark. 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 = 81 gets us in the ballpark. When pyramid counting, always air on the side of going over the total number because inevitably, kids that sit criss-cross on the ground are wider than those are standing. Remember that it many not pyramid absolutely perfectly, and it rarely does due to too many variables. The bottom row of sitters, what I called the leftover row, needs to be close enough to match the row above them.
STEP #4: Once you have your numbers, it's time to start the "load in" and shoot. As you would normally do, arrange all 78 players in one row from tall to short and then start loading in normally for a row of 11. Tallest kid is your midline center, player 2 goes to the left of player 1, player 3 to the right, player 4 to the left of player 2, player 5 to the right, until all 11 players are loaded in.
http://www.lispn.com/2014_Team_Photo_Tutorial/PVC_0359_ROW_1.jpg
Instruct your athletes to stand up straight with ankles together, hands behind their backs, and looking straight. You want everyone posing the same. It also helps when kids are all around the same height for this row. As you can see, we got lucky with this row. :-)
Remember that everything from the waist down will be hidden behind the subsequent rows. Also, the bench behind the group was used to establish a straight focal line for the camera and offer a baseline where the kids should stand. It's also there for a seventh row if I needed it. As it turns out, it wasn't needed nor does it make sense to move it after the kids are lined up since the kids are being extracted from the BG anyway. Snap at least 4 shots to ensure open eyes, proper posture, etc. It's also important to note here that you want all your focal lengths to be the same. Preferably 50 mm or more to eliminate any perspective distortion. You also are going to need to stand in the same spot for all rows. When shooting your top row, keep in mind that this is your shortest row, so shoot it at 50 mm but with enough room on the sides since your longest row will be longer and since you really shouldn't zoom out to a wider focal length or change the spot your are standing, you'll need to think ahead. Also, note whether the sun is in or out. You'll need to remember that for the subsequent shots.
When that row is done with their shot, it's important to instruct them to sit them far away from the players that still need to be shot. They cannot co-mingle with the players that are still remaining or it can be mass confusion. Get them shot, get them out!
STEP #5: Load in your next row of 12 starting with the first TWO. Alternate the load as you normally do. Instruct your players to pose like the first row did. If your first shot was taken in sun, it's important to match those same exposure settings. Shooting in shade like you see here, helps alleviate the need to shoot all rows in sun or clouds, but it still affects white balance regardless of shade, so try to made sure that all exposures are consistent. If that means waiting for the sun to come out from behind the clouds, then do so within reasonable wait time.
Take several shots and when done, tell them to sit with the other players that are done.
http://www.lispn.com/2014_Team_Photo_Tutorial/PVC_0363_ROW_2.jpg
STEP #6: Follow the same procedure for your third and final standalone row.
http://www.lispn.com/2014_Team_Photo_Tutorial/PVC_0372_ROW_3.jpg
We have now completed the three standalone rows of 11,12,13. Before finishing with the final three rows in group, let's talk about the importance of your pyramid scheme because of all the mistakes you DON'T want to make, your pyramid count would rank at the top. You NEVER want your top row count numbers to be larger than your bottom group numbers. The feet of the standalone rows must be hidden behind the cutout row in front of them or they will appear to be levitating in space and that is not good. It will pretty much kill your shot and you'll have to do everything over again. To ensure that no players are floating, you ALWAYS pyramid from low to high as you ascend down, at least until we get to the group shot, where some flexibility can be afforded.
STEP #7: The last cutout is the group shot, and yes, it does have to be cutout as I will explain later. Load in the last three rows like a normal team shot. You'll notice that I have put my coaching staff in this row. In hindsight, I might have opted to put them one row higher in the last standalone row for better height balance, but at the middle school level, most of the players are shorter than the coaches, so unless I opt to put them in the top row, which I really don't want to do, I have to deal with the height differential. Head coach(es) typically are dead center, but if there is a color mismatch, opt for symmetry over protocol. That's a personal decision and head coaches at the middle school carry a little less prestige as they do at the varsity level where you almost ALWAYS should put in the middle. Notice also that the sitting row breaks the pyramid scheme. That's okay. It's almost impossible for everything to pyramid down perfectly. There is no way to predict how that bottom row will pan out because all kids sit differently predicated upon the length of their legs, flexibility, and overall athleticism. It's okay for this row to be shorter than the rest since they are sitting on the ground anyway and we don't have to worry about any cutout levitation issues.
Of most importance here when shooting this, is you have to remember that there will be three rows Photoshopped in over this group. When you frame your shot, make sure you leave room above the top row in the group shot to allow those three standalone shots to be brought in without issue.
http://www.lispn.com/2014_Team_Photo_Tutorial/PVC_0382_GROUP.jpg
STEP #8: Finally before packing up, take a few "safety shots" of the area without any players. Remove the bench and any other background elements like helmets, gear etc, and take a few clean shots of the background at the same exposure, focal length and framing as you did for the team shots. If you made any mistakes, the clean background can come in handy.
STEP #9: Cull through all the shots and pick the best one for each set to send out for extraction. Photosolutions Market is one of your go-to spots for cutouts. There are several others. I have no vested interested in PSM, but they have done great work for me and it's worth offering up their link. They will extract your groups for 3 bucks each and get it back to you in any format you wish within 24 hours. I choose .PNG output, but any format is fine. They are at: http://photosolutionsmarket.com/pages.php?pageid=13
STEP #10: After all cutouts have been received, it's time to put everything together. Open up the original group shot... as is.
http://www.lispn.com/2014_Team_Photo_Tutorial/PVC_0382_GROUP.jpg
Remember how I told you that you needed to cutout this group as well? Here's why. You can't slot the standalone rows behind this group unless it is also cutout. So, what you'll need to do is open up the cutout of the group and overlay it directly over the original.
http://www.lispn.com/2014_Team_Photo_Tutorial/PVC_0382_OVERLAY_GROUP.jpg
The cutout appears below the original in this example. Bring it up and overlay exactly over the original, so it appears as one single group. TRICK: One way to ensure that the cutout matches exactly over the original is turn the layer on and off repeatedly while looking at the photo carefully. Zoom in, if necessary. If you see any "jiggle" left, right, up, down, you'll have to nudge the cutout. Keep doing that until there is no jiggle whatsoever. Now you know that the cutout is exactly over the original.
STEP #11: Bring in the row that will need to go behind the top row of the group shot. Make sure that it's layered behind the group cutout shot in Photoshop and slot them in. If you need to resize a bit, then do so. If you have done the pyramid properly, then you'll resize this cutout so that each head is the approximate same size as the top row of the group shot and when you slot them in, the jersey number should fall nicely between the heads of the top row in the group shot.
BEFORE RESIZE and SLOT:
http://www.lispn.com/2014_Team_Photo_Tutorial/PVC_0382_OVERLAY_ROW_3.jpg
AFTER RESIZE and SLOT:
http://www.lispn.com/2014_Team_Photo_Tutorial/PVC_0382_OVERLAY_ROW_3_AFTER_SLOT.jpg
STEP #12: Follow the same procedure with the remaining standalone rows building your way up. I should also mention here that there is some discussion that exists whether you should resize your standalone rows so they appear farther away than the front bottom rows. The rationale being that if you were to shoot this in realtime using bleachers, the top row could be as much as 8 feet further away from the bottom row depending on the spread of the bleachers. In camera, this would make the kids in the back row significantly smaller than the front row. Photoshop inevitably has the potential to change 3D into 2D. The debate is whether to stay true to 3D and diminish the size of the players as you build up and back or keep everyone the same. In some instances, I stay true to the 3D by adding shadows to a graphical background for indoor teams. But, when it comes to outdoors, I have a different take... I keep my players the same size. Parents want to see their kids' faces and technology now affords us the opportunity to do that, so why not take advantage? A team of this size is so big to begin with, I don't want heads to appear even smaller, so I opt not to "choke" the benefits of Photoshop and keep heads and bodies all the same size. It really doesn't make a difference visually to the average parent anyway. But, I let you be the judge...
STEP #13: Before merging all the layers, insure consistent exposure and color for all the cutouts. Make any necessary corrections. Once everything is ready for print, be sure to save the PSD before merging layers because the final steps are really preparing for JPG and print.
Merge all the layers, crop, adjust color, sharpen, add graphical elements, save as JPG and viola... ready for print. This was the 16 x 20 that hangs in the school....
http://www.lispn.com/2014_Team_Photo_Tutorial/16x20_Football.jpg
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Outstanding stuff... 