Youth sports help

I've been shooting youth sports photos (team photos, individual for memory mates) for over a year. It's not high end. The most I will do with this league is approx. 90 individuals in T-ball. Other sports are a little less.
These photos are NOT pre paid in their initial cost for the sport.

They simply come on an appointed day for team/individual photos and buy packages or individuals.
Usually I will do a makeup day the Sat. after I do the first set.
My problem is this:
It's impossible to set a date that will be good for everyone.

I've had teams with 10 players on the team only have 4-5 show up on the original day. Some will come for the makeup day.
Some parents don't like it that only 4-5 will be in the team shot.

For basketball photos I stated that team photos would be taken ONLY on a specified date.

I fudged on one team and when they came today, there were only 4 players there. Three showed up the original day. Only one from that day was there today.
What would you recommend for this?

It's also a processing problem. I've just started using whcc, but the ones I did today, I'll print myself on my 2200.
Would you set only ONE team day, no exceptions?
Make exceptions if the team agreed on it?
I set up my studio lights today for the 6 who showed up for makeups.
Thanks in advance,
Don

i shoot about 1000 kids a year and i have run into some of the same problems you have described. to try to give you an idea of how i handle sports, i will give you an example of how i do my largest league (300+ kids). since the the league gets a portion of the sales (2.00 for each memory mate), i give the league director a list of dates and times that i can photograph. he then goes and askes the coaches of each team to fill in the what time slots they want. first come first serve. that puts it in their lap. that has seemed to work out better than me trying to make a schedule. i also bring order forms that the parents fill out and pay on the day of photographing. as for processing, i shoot every thing digital (portraits and weddings) except sports. i have found it easier to shoot it film and run a log sheet on what each child wants and let the lab to the rest. the lab i use for sports (www.baldwinprolab.com) processes the order assembles each memory mate, and puts each order in an envolope for me at a very reasonable price. i can not imagine sitting in front of the computer, processing each kids order and then packaging it. i do not know if i have answered any of your questions or not.

Don Christolear said:

I've been shooting youth sports photos (team photos, individual for
memory mates) for over a year. It's not high end. The most I will
do with this league is approx. 90 individuals in T-ball. Other
sports are a little less.
These photos are NOT pre paid in their initial cost for the sport.
They simply come on an appointed day for team/individual photos and
buy packages or individuals.
Usually I will do a makeup day the Sat. after I do the first set.
My problem is this:
It's impossible to set a date that will be good for everyone.
I've had teams with 10 players on the team only have 4-5 show up on
the original day. Some will come for the makeup day.
Some parents don't like it that only 4-5 will be in the team shot.
For basketball photos I stated that team photos would be taken ONLY
on a specified date.
I fudged on one team and when they came today, there were only 4
players there. Three showed up the original day. Only one from that
day was there today.
What would you recommend for this?
It's also a processing problem. I've just started using whcc, but
the ones I did today, I'll print myself on my 2200.
Would you set only ONE team day, no exceptions?
Make exceptions if the team agreed on it?
I set up my studio lights today for the 6 who showed up for makeups.
Thanks in advance,
Don

Click to expand...

I have 8 parks for baseball and basketball. The largest has 1000 kids.

NOTHING is shot in my studio because getting people to come there is impossible. All my parks have two options.

1) I will shoot them at the park or gym on the day they have games (every kid will show up) or

2) I will shoot them all on a Sunday after church at the park or gym. 95% show up for this.
I shoot everything digital. Burn the images to a CD. http://www.mvpcards.com

Don Christolear said:

I've been shooting youth sports photos (team photos, individual for
memory mates) for over a year. It's not high end. The most I will
do with this league is approx. 90 individuals in T-ball. Other
sports are a little less.
These photos are NOT pre paid in their initial cost for the sport.
They simply come on an appointed day for team/individual photos and
buy packages or individuals.
Usually I will do a makeup day the Sat. after I do the first set.
My problem is this:
It's impossible to set a date that will be good for everyone.
I've had teams with 10 players on the team only have 4-5 show up on
the original day. Some will come for the makeup day.
Some parents don't like it that only 4-5 will be in the team shot.
For basketball photos I stated that team photos would be taken ONLY
on a specified date.
I fudged on one team and when they came today, there were only 4
players there. Three showed up the original day. Only one from that
day was there today.
What would you recommend for this?
It's also a processing problem. I've just started using whcc, but
the ones I did today, I'll print myself on my 2200.
Would you set only ONE team day, no exceptions?
Make exceptions if the team agreed on it?
I set up my studio lights today for the 6 who showed up for makeups.
Thanks in advance,
Don

Click to expand...

--
http://www.mikegoebel.com
http://www.belmontstudio.photoreflect.com

Mike,

when you shoot everything digital, do you send one file per child and the lab makes the card, mates etc., much like a neg.? i have heard of mvp. infact, i think my lab offers products from them.

Mike Goebel said:

Don Christolear said:

I've been shooting youth sports photos (team photos, individual for
memory mates) for over a year. It's not high end. The most I will
do with this league is approx. 90 individuals in T-ball. Other
sports are a little less.
These photos are NOT pre paid in their initial cost for the sport.
They simply come on an appointed day for team/individual photos and
buy packages or individuals.
Usually I will do a makeup day the Sat. after I do the first set.
My problem is this:
It's impossible to set a date that will be good for everyone.
I've had teams with 10 players on the team only have 4-5 show up on
the original day. Some will come for the makeup day.
Some parents don't like it that only 4-5 will be in the team shot.
For basketball photos I stated that team photos would be taken ONLY
on a specified date.
I fudged on one team and when they came today, there were only 4
players there. Three showed up the original day. Only one from that
day was there today.
What would you recommend for this?
It's also a processing problem. I've just started using whcc, but
the ones I did today, I'll print myself on my 2200.
Would you set only ONE team day, no exceptions?
Make exceptions if the team agreed on it?
I set up my studio lights today for the 6 who showed up for makeups.
Thanks in advance,
Don

Click to expand...

--
http://www.mikegoebel.com
http://www.belmontstudio.photoreflect.com

Click to expand...

On the order envelopes, there are 3 spaces the photographer fills in for up to 3 shots per child. (in case they blink or not smile). We write the images numbers of all the shots. Every image we shoot is burned onto the CD with instructions for them to pick the best shot and print. Since we set our digital cameras to "renew", our first shot is #1 and so on. Each image on our CD will coincide with the number on the order envelope.

Because it's so easy and inexpensive to burn a CD, if I have 2 or 3 photographers on one job, I burn a cd for each one instead of trying to get them all on one CD.

rally said:

Mike Goebel said:

Don Christolear said:

I've been shooting youth sports photos (team photos, individual for
memory mates) for over a year. It's not high end. The most I will
do with this league is approx. 90 individuals in T-ball. Other
sports are a little less.
These photos are NOT pre paid in their initial cost for the sport.
They simply come on an appointed day for team/individual photos and
buy packages or individuals.
Usually I will do a makeup day the Sat. after I do the first set.
My problem is this:
It's impossible to set a date that will be good for everyone.
I've had teams with 10 players on the team only have 4-5 show up on
the original day. Some will come for the makeup day.
Some parents don't like it that only 4-5 will be in the team shot.
For basketball photos I stated that team photos would be taken ONLY
on a specified date.
I fudged on one team and when they came today, there were only 4
players there. Three showed up the original day. Only one from that
day was there today.
What would you recommend for this?
It's also a processing problem. I've just started using whcc, but
the ones I did today, I'll print myself on my 2200.
Would you set only ONE team day, no exceptions?
Make exceptions if the team agreed on it?
I set up my studio lights today for the 6 who showed up for makeups.
Thanks in advance,
Don

Click to expand...

--
http://www.mikegoebel.com
http://www.belmontstudio.photoreflect.com

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
http://www.mikegoebel.com
http://www.belmontstudio.photoreflect.com

Thanks for the replies.
It gives me some good ideas.

I , until this last project, printed all of my own photos on an Epson 2200 and put everything together myself.
I'm giving whcc a go at printing.

With the holidays, adding a 20x24 poster and not sending them correctly the first time, I'm behind on the delivery date. It's OK though. I still have 2 weeks left of basketball. Prints should be here next week.

The other problem I had was having to size 55 3x5's in PS as well as the individual 5x7 orders and also the 5x7 team order. That wasn't quite as bad since I used a quantity printing option. Only about 10 teams.
I tried doing make ups for soccer last year at their game and it was terrible.

Lighting was bad. As I walked through the fields, parents wanted little Johnnies individual done. I wasn't prepared for that. They were filling out order forms on the fly and then I had to find a place to shoot them (the players, not the parents I did want to......never mind.
I don't have a film option.
I use 2 D100's.

I am going to check out the web site and see if they have a digital option for putting everything together.
My base charge is $10 for 5x7, 3 1/2 x 5 and memory mate.
Would this leave enough for a profit, or would I need to raise the prices.
BTW, I don't make my living doing this.....yet.
Thanks,
Don

Don Christolear said:

I've been shooting youth sports photos (team photos, individual for
memory mates) for over a year. It's not high end. The most I will
do with this league is approx. 90 individuals in T-ball. Other
sports are a little less.
These photos are NOT pre paid in their initial cost for the sport.
They simply come on an appointed day for team/individual photos and
buy packages or individuals.
Usually I will do a makeup day the Sat. after I do the first set.
My problem is this:
It's impossible to set a date that will be good for everyone.
I've had teams with 10 players on the team only have 4-5 show up on
the original day. Some will come for the makeup day.
Some parents don't like it that only 4-5 will be in the team shot.
For basketball photos I stated that team photos would be taken ONLY
on a specified date.
I fudged on one team and when they came today, there were only 4
players there. Three showed up the original day. Only one from that
day was there today.
What would you recommend for this?
It's also a processing problem. I've just started using whcc, but
the ones I did today, I'll print myself on my 2200.
Would you set only ONE team day, no exceptions?
Make exceptions if the team agreed on it?
I set up my studio lights today for the 6 who showed up for makeups.
Thanks in advance,
Don

Click to expand...

Set a time with the league and do it. Pre-set one makeup day. If they know in advance of the start date, then people have to make an effort. Do they expect to play with only 5 or 6 coming? Our soccer league has over 3000 kids. They had 6 photo stations running in 3 sets of two stations: the teams are staged by times, then shot for individuals, the child is shot, then passes to another waiting area then the team shot. It takes all day. There is one make up day, individual only. If a team wants a reshoot because kids weren't there? Arrange and charge separately.

Craig Gillette said:

Don Christolear said:

These photos are NOT pre paid in their initial cost for the sport.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

People are a lot more responsive when they have already paid, not when they are wasting your time.

Craig Gillette said:

Craig Gillette said:

Craig Gillette said:

These photos are NOT pre paid in their initial cost for the sport.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

People are a lot more responsive when they have already paid, not
when they are wasting your time.

Click to expand...

Thanks for both of your replies, Craig.

I think that parents are already complaining about the cost of just putting their child into a sports program.
I haven't approached the director about including a photo price in their fee.

This is a league run by our Church. The ages are, I believe, 5-7 or 8. It's all they can handle right now. The biggest league is baseball with approx. 120-140 players.
I give them 10% of my profits. They didn't ask for it. I just do it.

I agree with the one day for all. It worked pretty well for basketball, even though the day was Dec. 20th with makeups 2 weeks later, because of the holidays. I usually do makeups 1 week later.

Because of my "part time 9-10 hour" UPS job , I can't make it to many games. Sometimes I schedule a vacation to go to take action shots, for the director (a good friend of mine).
Thanks again for your time.
Don