Welcome to Composite Team and Individual Photos!
A modern twist on posed sports team and individual photography
COVID-19 forced a change, but in the end, the change was good!
Composite Team photos are here to stay and will be the only method of team photos offered by S. Carter Action Images.
Click here for team photo schedule and order form links
Background:
Traditional T&I photos are what many are accustomed to seeing. Student athletes are posed on their home court or field, for the most part. Teams are posed all together for one photo. Traditional T&I photos look like this.
There are pros and cons of traditional team photos and composite team photos, but the pros of composite team photos won the day and thus the permanent change.
Here is how composite photos work:
All players and coaches on a given team will get their photo taken in front of a big white background. Each player or coach may be asked to pose one way for a “team” photo and another way for their individual photo. Through the magic of Photoshop and other resources, each player and coach will be “cut out” or extracted off that white background and placed on a designer template and assembled as a full team. The individual photo will be placed on a similar designer template. I will still offer personalized memory mates which will have a players image and name as well as the “team” image. All templates will provide a uniform look. The same template will be used for the full school year, although there may be minor alterations to the design dependent on the sport.
Using photos I have taken of past ZHS seniors for Senior Banners, I prepared these as examples of the what the Final Product would look like. (This was the 2020-2021 design. Keep reading to see this year's design!)
What should you expect as photo day nears - For those of you who have purchased traditional T&I photos from me in the past, the order process is basically the same. An order form will be provided to players through the coach prior to photo day. This form will also be available online here once team photos have been scheduled. There are slight modifications to the order form, but the basics remain the same.
But what about “Buddy” photos? – This year, you will be able to pre-pay for buddy photos. However, these too will be composite photos of up to 5 people. Each person will be photographed individually and through Photoshop, the buddies will be placed in a single template. The cost for buddy photos is $10 per person in the photo. For the number of people in the buddy photo, the order will receive that same number of 5x7 prints. For example, a 3-person buddy photo would cost $30, but the order would receive 3 5x7 prints of that buddy photo. There will be no exceptions to this based on the required post-processing work involved in buddy photos.
Note: For Mighty Leopards, all Buddies must be in the same class (have the same teacher).
If ordering a buddy photo, please write legibly the full names of the buddies to include in the buddy photo on the back of the order form!
What are "sibling" buttons? – Sibling buttons are 3.5'" buttons depicting "siblings" (max 3). These may be created through individual photos of each sibling Photoshopped together into one image or all 3 "siblings" posed together. It will be the photographers discretion to chose which method is used to achieve the best results. This will be limited to sibling's only if social distancing requirements are put back into place by the school. If no such restriction is in place, the people in the photo do not have to be siblings.
What if my student is not at school on photo day? If your student is unable to attend school on photo day, but will be available within 5 days and you would like them included in team photos, contact me no later than 3 days after the scheduled photo day at [email protected] or at 509-833-9145 to see what arrangements can be made. However, if you know in advance your student will miss photo day, contact me as soon as possible to make arrangements to get photos taken prior to photo day. Makeup photos may include being present at another team's photo session perhaps at another school or at another location all together. Unfortunately, I will not be able to include a student who did not attend photo day in team photos if they cannot get a photo taken within 5 days of the scheduled photo day.
What if I don’t order photos on photo day using the order form process? – I urge all to use the photo order form as a way to order photos. In years past, I would always hear, "I will just order them online." That is much more difficult now and is more costly. However, I understand that sometimes order forms don't get into the hands of those who want to order photos in time for photo day. Linked above is a method to prepay for photos without an order form prior to photo day or even the day of photos. Because the timing of ordering photos after the fact plays a role in picking the best method to get you photos after the fact, please contact me at 509-833-9145 (cell/text) or by email at [email protected] as soon as possible after photo day to discuss what will work best.
What will the designs be for this year? - My plan is to offer a new non-sport specific designs for schools each year. All school-related sports, regardless of school, will be offered the same design, with modifications to match uniforms if needed. Certain programs, such as Mighty Leopards, youth football (formally Gird Kids), youth wrestling, and Cal Ripken baseball will have sport-specific designs, but these designs will be reused from year to year.
The designs (subject to slight modifications) for 2022-2023 are as follows:
Schools (i.e. ZHS, ZMS)
Non School Football such as Jr. Leopards Football
Individual Photo Design
Memory Mate Design
Team Photo Design
ZIS Mighty Leopards
Individual Photo Design
Memory Mate Design
Team Photo Design
Non School Wrestling such as Zillah Youth Wrestling
Individual Photo Design
Memory Mate Design
Team Photo Design
Non School Baseball such as Zillah Cal Ripken Baseball
Individual Photo Design
I hope customers enjoy the Composite Team and Individual photos. If you have questions, I would be happy to try and answer them. Use this link to send an email with your question.