Wrestling poses for T&I?

[ChrisPerry]

I am not into sports - I might watch a football game now or then. I never played sports growing up.

So like any pro athlete, i'm in this for the money

Next week I've got about 70 wrestler (kids) to shoot T&I. Can anyone point me to examples of poses for the individual shots?

Thanks

[DougAxford]

Sorry Chris, I've never shot wrestling. I was forced to take it in high school and HATED EVERY SECOND OF IT. Something about guys grabbing each other while locked together and wearing tights

I do remember that there are 2 or 3 poses that are mandatory for starting the match, so if you want more of an action style, that would be a start. I'd just ask them. Simply standing there with their cup bulging out may not sell well.

I'll take martial arts or figure skating any day over wrestling but as you say, it's money and we gotta eat. Please post your shots so I can feel awful again.

[ChrisPerry]

The shoot was last night and here's an individual image. I don't like flat boring lighting so I came up with this. I like it.


And here is the team photo. The room we used was like a mini-gym and had a stage at one end with black drapes so I put a strobe in the wings to keep it from being a black hole. Overall I'm pretty satisfied. I like the sepia look - it reminds me of shots i've seen in trophy cases (which were probably B&W but oh well)


Everything was shot in RAW with custom WB and run thru LR 2 for straightening and cropping as well as the effects seen here and even resize and sharpen for web. One stop processing! (even if it did lock up part way thru the editing).

For those that want to know the average sale was $24.54 and the buy rate was 100% of those that showed (7 did not show). It was our first time at this location or this sport or any of that.

[DougAxford]

Nice shots Chris.

[ChrisPerry]

It was successful in my book. During the photo session last year one kid broke his arm and another had to go get stitches. And people ask if they need insurance to do this job!

I never thought I'd be getting into this market segment (T&I) but the feedback I'm getting from parents tells me there is a need (or demand) for nice people who can do an organized picture day. If the images and products are good so much the better.

To me being nice is easy, but I guess some folks find it diffucult to be patient and courteous for an hour!
Organization is just friggin common sense and makes one's job SOooO much easier. Kids are easy to shoot - they listen well, don't blink, etc. Getting good poses is a tad tougher but oh well (for now that is).

I tried to get more creative on the lighting without straying too far from what they expect (you know, dimensionless flat lighting ). I'm really happy with the results. One guy that helps me at times wants to do very creative, artistic (read time consuming, difficult and expensive) T&I stuff.

Another guy I know that does this hopes to clear an average of $11 / kid after product cost. Hell, I want $20! I'll be tracking this more closely this time but I'm happy with my average sale. Based on feedback from the two leagues I shot in teh spring my product is way above what the area has been seeing so I'm expecting higher averages on return engagements but that remains to be seen.