SPAA sports photo spectacular, from PMA magazine

Just imagine, for a moment, being surrounded by people willing to assist you with your shooting and business, and to offer advice, tips, tricks, and insights. That’s what SPAA 2010 was – 4 days packed with information. Also, it was cheek-by-jowl with the PMA 2010 trade show at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif., offering a wealth of new and proven products and services. Following is an excerpt from coverage in PMA Magazine – Connecting the Imaging Communities.

SPAA 2010 attendees view the winners of the 2009 photo competition, displayed at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The conference began on the green playing fields of San Clemente High School, where veteran sports photographer Randy Brister, RSBphoto, Laguna Niguel, Calif., demonstrated his techniques. Brister has been shooting the Southern California youth sports market for 20 years; and he talked cameras, lenses, exposures, and backgrounds, plus posing and paperwork.

Brister spoke with session attendees while he was setting up, and then allowed them to observe what he was doing while handling an actual shoot.

Will Crockett is a shooter, a commercial photographer by trade, and a consultant, helping manufacturers develop products. To that end, he tests gear. Visit Crockett’s Montgomery, Ill.-based ShootSmarter.com, to see what he has to say about those products. He says he’s a “zero baloney” guy when it comes to “tools that will make life easier and help generate profits.”

During his SPAA 2010 session, he talked about the tools he uses in a no holds barred presentation describing the pros and cons of various photographic tools, from light and flash meters, to electronic flash units and prime lenses.

Crockett told his audience they should be shooting JPEGs properly, because “you don’t want massive amounts of file correction.” To get those JPEGs to work requires a good exposure meter and a good flash meter, controlling file color using the custom white balance function in the camera. He gave the audience specific and precise information on how to get proper white balance, and said if they have to use camera exposure compensation, they’re doing something wrong, and that may include using a nonprime lens.

Will Crockett, ShootSmarter.com, Montgomery, Ill., talks turkey about products for sports photographers

A major part of his presentation focused on his top five money-making tools: battery power for flash (he’s a big fan of specific Quantum and Elinchrom products); fast prime glass (this aids in faster autofocusing, the need for less flash power, constant f/stop, and better through-the-lens flash mastery); noiseless cameras shooting faster than ISO 400 (the technology inside cur-rent cameras is outstanding); shooting tethered to a hard drive (don’t forget to change out the flash media cards every year, and format them after every use); and smart wireless triggering systems (they’re here, and we’d better start learning how to use them properly). He made no bones about being a big proponent of TTL flash control.

Eric Miller, Miller Foto, Kenner, La., is all about organization. He offered a detailed examination of how he “makes things easier on photo day.” It’s a “process that works,” he said.

He showed how to plan, organize, and coordinate everything, to “execute an awesome photo day.” A smoothly operating photo day usually means good revenues and profits.

Miller begins with information and a computer database program, entering everything from game schedules to rosters, because having that will not only get him to the right place at the right time, but also help determine how many photographers will be needed. He works closely with league coordinators and coaches to get that information, and he works with them to get photo times put into the schedule. Parents get this information ahead of time, “and they love us for it.” That means increased attendance which, in turn, means increased sales, which deliver more commission to the league. So it’s in the best interest of the league.

Miller said he can handle four to six teams an hour. To assist with that, he keeps the parents back, cordons off the shooting area, and has an assistant pose the children.

“If you want to sell it, show it,” says Miller. The parents have no imagination. Everything on the order form is on display at the shoot. “You’re not going to sell it if they can’t touch them.”

Oh, a little suggestion: Keep reading glasses handy, along with pens, near the order forms. It is surprising how many people forget their glasses and can’t read the order form.

Dennis Berry, Classic Image Photography, Spotsylvania, Va., has been photo-graphing gymnasts for about a dozen years, filling his fall and winter schedule, produc-ing what often ends up being Christmas gifts, as well as records of youthful athletes.

In his presentation, Berry explored the art, science, and business of shooting gymnas-tics, noting he shoots only posed setups. He averages about $73 per order, and doesn’t do internet selling. He packs what amounts to a portable studio for his gym setups.

The subject for Tom Hayes, Visual Image Photography Inc., Cedarburg, Wis., was team and group posing.

Berry was pointed in his presentation: Photographers have to understand the sport to be successful at photographing it; they have to know their clients; they have to use the right equipment; and they must have successful marketing. He noted par-ents will need to spend hundreds of dollars a year for each one of their children to par-ticipate in gymnastics, so it’s not a cheap sport for them to be involved in, which is why “we don’t sell an 8-by-10 for $5.”

As would be expected, parents are the biggest market for the pictures; but interestingly, the gym owners aren’t far behind. These owners talk to each other, and will pass along a photographer’s name to others if he is doing a good (or bad) job.

He offered session attendees a series of pointers on how he has developed his successful business, including the creation of a poster announcing picture day; the flyers he gives to the gymnasts to take home; his arrangement with gym owners, who need to supply the space in which he can take the pictures; setting up appointments to take the pictures; the portable studio he takes to the gym, including lights and backdrops; and the need to know both the proper poses and their terms, so the gym won’t have to supply a coach to help with the posing.

Tom Hayes, Visual Image Photography, Cedarburg, Wis., loves order in his posing of teams and groups. With more than 40 years in the business, the last 32 years of which have been spent shooting teams and groups, Hayes said the industry as a whole needs to be better at what it does to ensure the teams get the quality pictures they deserve.

He said he’s shooting team portraits – with heavy emphasis on the word portraits – and quality brings loyalty.

Part of his success, he said, is arriving early to scout locations, allowing extra time for the groups he knows will have some creative idea in mind, and noting the shooting schedule will dictate his staffing needs. He also emphasized the coach’s time is valuable. “We have to treat the coach with respect.”

Be on time, be precise, take charge, have a plan, and know what you’re doing, he said.

Hayes showed several of his shots, pointing with delight at the precision with which he had arranged the team members, with almost ruler-straight head lines and perfect symmetry.

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Will Crockett, ShootSmarter.com, Montgomery, Ill., talks turkey about products for sports photographers.