We want you to keep this as simple and straight forward as you can while still capturing the best picture. To that end, we would like to put forward a few helpful hints about taking pictures.

LIGHTING - Basically, what you¹re trying to do is gather light bouncing off a subject and capture an image, either on film or a digital sensor. Most cameras don't see as well as a person does, so consider what¹s happening as you look at your target.

OUTSIDE - Taking good pictures of people outside can be tough if the sun is not in the right position. Bright, cloudless days are harder to work with than days with slight overcast. A good rule of thumb is to look at the faces and notice the light and the shadows. A large group of people with the sun behind them means that all the faces will be in shadow to some extent with the top row getting more light than the bottom row. If the sun is to either side, all the faces will be half in shadow. People with dark skin will be much harder to see than people with light skin, and sometimes their faces get ³lost² in shadow. Nobody wants their kid to be unrecognizable, so pay attention to the way light falls on your subjects, and if possible, adjust the grouping in relation to the sun¹s position so light will fall equally on the faces in your resulting photo.

INSIDE - It¹s obvious that taking pictures indoors will involve your camera¹s flash attachment. But, if you are taking a large group shot that requires you to back way up to include everybody, the camera¹s flash might be beyond it¹s effective range. Which would give you a picture with people in the front getting much more light than people in back, and a dark image overall. Just be aware of this problem as you set up your shot and turn every light on to your subjects that you can.

SET UP - We have a few requests to make of you concerning how you compose your subjects.

HEAD SHOTS - Please mark a position with tape on the floor for the camera, and take every photo from the same place. Also, mark a position on the floor with tape where the individual subject of each photo should stand, and take
all the pictures with each individual standing in the same place. Try to position the camera in order to give the individuals in all the photos the same position within the frame of the view finder. So, all the heads are the same distance from the top of the frame. These things should allow all the photos to have the same characteristics (lighting, background, position, etc.). If you don¹t have a tripod for your camera, use a broom stick (or whatever is handy) in your off hand to steady the camera. Kind of like aiming a rifle with your off hand on a fence post to steady the sight picture. Take all the photos in one session, in the same place.

DIGITAL CAMERA - Check the manual and set your digital camera to it¹s highest possible photo quality setting before taking your pictures. Yes, that means high memory use and big files, but it¹s necessary for acceptable results.

COMPOSITION - Many coaches feel that they MUST use either team photos or individual photos to adequately represent their players and school. However, excellent results can be had using action photos provided by fans, school photographers, or newspapers. The best thing about action photos is that they are readily available and can be sent to GTS in May which ensures you poster gets to you long before the season starts.

MAILING PHOTOS - Please send glossy photographic prints, not matté. Keep in mind that if you want us to enlarge a print to the full extent possible (26² wide in some cases) we¹ll need an 8² x 10² from you for good results. Please do not send any color laser output or ink jet printouts, as they are generally of very poor quality and yield unacceptable results. If you are sending CDs, we need 300 d.p.i. files in either JPEG, PDF, or TIFF file formats. Please send your materials to us as soon as you possibly can so you can get your poster back before the season starts. Materials received after August 1st are processed on a first come, first served basis. Try not to be Tail End Charlie.

PHOTO FILE TRANSFER - We no longer accept e-mail attachments of school photos. If there is no way you can mail a CD or photographic prints, call your salesman and we¹ll work something out.