Welcome to Composite Team and Individual Photos!
A modern twist on posed sports team and individual photography
Composite Team photos are the only method of team photos offered by S. Carter Action Images.
Click here for team photo schedule, order form links, and the new pre-pay link option where in most cases, an order form does not need to be completed!
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.
While most are accustomed to this method of team photos, there are certainly drawback such as making sure everyone has their eyes open in the team photos, finding a suitable location in often busy and crowded locations, and battling the weather are just a few drawbacks. Composite team photos address these drawbacks and allows for very large team photos to be created with ease.
Here is how composite photos work:
All players and coaches on a given team or program 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.
Here are examples of composite team photos:
Composite team photos also allows for the creation of very large team photos such as a photo of an entire program without the need to poses everyone at once. Here are a couple of examples.
What should you expect as photo day nears - About a week prior to photo day, order forms will be delivered to the team via the school and/or coach or coordinator or a link to the prepay system will be provided to the coordinator. An order form will be provided to players through the coach prior to photo day or available on site on photo day. This form will also be available online here once team photos have been scheduled.
But what about “Buddy” photos? – Buddy photos are available for ordering only through the use of a paper form and not not available via prepay. In addition, buddy photos are limited to a total of 2 people in the photo in order to make the design work the best. The cost for buddy photos is $10 per 5x7 print. Buddy's will be posed together and will be posed in a manner which will work with the template for that sport.
Note: For Mighty Leopards, all Buddies must be in the same class (have the same teacher).
What are "sibling" buttons? – Sibling buttons are 3.5'" buttons depicting "siblings" (max 3). (These were first offered while Covid restrictions were still in place, thus they were limited to actual siblings. That no longer applies, even though I still call these sibling buttons.) These too are not available via the prepay option and must be ordered using a paper form.
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 4 days and you would like them included in team photos, contact me with 48 hours after the scheduled photo date and time 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 4 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 or pre-pay link as a way to order photos. In years past, I would always hear, "I will just order them online." Because of the vendor cost to print this "online" order, the cost for the prints is higher than prepay and as these are printed and shipped from a print lab in the mid-west, there are shipping costs involved. 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.
How will photos be delivered? All photos will be delivered to the school or team organizer who will then be responsible for disbursing the photos to the students. These photos will not be mailed by the photographer. If you have a relative out of the area who would like to order photos, advise them to wait to order until the photos are on the website as photos ordered on the website get mailed directly from the lab to the customer ordering the photos. My goal is to deliver photos within 2 weeks of the photo date. However, larger programs or teams may take a bit longer.
Can I order more photos later? Once the prepaid team photos are delivered, the team photos will be available for viewing and purchase online. When ordering photos online, there is a shipping charge as those prints get delivered directly to you from a lab in the mid-west. I never touch or even see these prints. The prepaid team photos are made by a different lab and delivered to me based on a bulk order. I have a minimum ordering requirement from the lab on these bulk orders so printing just a few prints through this method is not an option. This means I cannot print the photos you order online and have you pick them up from me to avoid the shipping charges, charges I have no control over. I would make sure you order everything thing you want using the prepaid method to avoid paying shipping charges later.
What will the designs be for this year? - My plan is to offer a new non-sport specific design 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/fastpitch will have sport-specific designs, but these designs will be reused from year to year.
The designs (subject to slight modifications) for 2024-2025 are as follows:
Schools (i.e. ZHS, ZMS)
Non School Football such as Jr. Football Programs
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
Sunnyside Sharks Rotary Swim Team
Individual and 2-Person Buddy Photo
Memory MateMemory Mate
Team Photo
Yakima Warriors Football
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.