We included these photos because the required depth of focus, and the necessary hard/soft lighting relationship to make each player ‘stand out’ was unique.

First of all, in order to get a non-distored ‘flatter’ image, we stopped the camera’s aperture down to @ f8 and used a longer lens.  Had we used a shorter/wider angle lens, then the players on the outer edges would be distorted and ‘curved’.

Using a longer lens (@180mm) meant we had to position the camera about 40 feet away before we could fit everyone in the photo.

Now because of the longer lens and small aperture settings we had to use a LOT of light.

1) Very bright lights were positioned up in the stands on either side ‘riming’ the players, 2) very bright ‘hard’ lights in front on either side at a distance, 3) a very bright light on a boom arm about 12 feet up in the air (otherwise there would be no ‘jaw-line’ or ‘nose’ shape), and 4) large soft lights as close as we could place them to eliminate excessively hard shadows.

The result . . . Now they had photos that were ‘tac’ sharp and suitable for large promotional posters.