who does leagues?? team shots

[phatkid77]

im a bit baffled here... i dropped off some pics for my dad at my little brothers soccer game, and low and behold they were getting there pictures that wre included with entry (team and a single)...

now i like shooting the action... trying to get wicked shots.. but lets face it... this league has 2500 kids, at say $10 a kid.. you do the math.. id love to get in on that.., BUT at $10 even i wouldnt want to go lower than that!! (5x7" team, 4x6" single)

his/her single player photo was clear enough... but the team shot SUCKED ASS, even my step mom said that... 3 of 10 had eyes closed... not even close to in focus.... horrible !! almost looked like ISO a million to boot...lol

then i look at their "extra" add on list if u want to purchase these are the prices....
5x7.......$6.00
8x10......$10.00
magazine cover...... $10!!!!!! even i want $20 (but i guess they use the photo already taken, not action... so maybe i can see that....you dont NEED to get a shot...you already have it

ill end my little rant i guess... but does that sound close to right for you guys... if you are GUARANTEED, every kid that signs up you get XXX amount per kid in that league.... even if they dont want one.? obviously it would be priced different if you just set up PHOTO DAY took all the pics, then sit back and hope people ordered.... certainly more than $10 a kid??

unfortunately, the leagues are driven by money...so if i cant go under $10 PKG... they stick with the other guy....even if the work is suspect...

lets here some opinions on the above.... and
1. what do u guys charge the league per kid for pics?
2. general comments on the above post welcome..

cory

[Ray Schnoor]

2500 kids at minimum $10 a pop. I know half the parents on my kids team got trading cards or at least 1 additional item also. Sounds like a pretty good day's work. I dont think that they do much post processing, so there probably isn't much work afterwards. Just throwing the photos into templates.

On the other hand, if it is anything like my daughter's softball league, it takes a lot of people and equipment to do a job like this. We went for photo day this spring and they had 4 stations, each with dSLR's. 3 stations were taking solo shots of each player and 1 station was taking the group shots. They took 2-3 solo shots of each player and 2-3 group shots of each team. They then picked the best of each. I don't care how many shots you take of a group of 12-15 11 year olds, someone will probably always have their eyes closed or looking away. Ours turned out pretty good, though.

So for our softball photo day, they had at least 4 dSLR's(reflectors, flashes, etc...), 4 photographers, tents to take the photos in the rain if necessary and 4-5 people organizing and herding the kids to the correct area. Yes, it is a lot of money for 4-5 hours of work, but you also have to lay out a lot of money for equipment and manpower.

Ray.