The best sports team photo ideas are simple: a tidy line-up, soft light and a second picture where people are allowed to laugh. Here you will find how to get the classic line-up right, which poses bring more life into a squad picture and what is different in football, handball and volleyball. Plus tips for photos with children who cannot stand still for ten minutes.
The classic line-up: three rows, every face visible
The classic team photo has three rows: the tallest stand at the back, the middle row sits on a bench, and the smallest kneel or sit on the grass at the front. Coaches and team staff stand at the ends of the back row. Anyone in a different coloured shirt, such as the goalkeepers, goes in the middle of the front row; there the colour holds the picture together instead of splitting it.
- Stand in the gaps: every face needs a clear view. Rule of thumb: if you can see the camera, the camera can see you.
- Uniform looks calm: everyone with arms folded or everyone with hands behind their back, socks pulled up, water bottles and bags out of the picture.
- Shoulders towards the middle: turned in slightly, the row looks narrower and the picture more lively.
- Something to remember it by: a ball, a pennant or a board with the season and team name at the front in the middle still explains the picture twenty years from now.
Sports team photo ideas beyond the three rows
Take the proper picture first, then the relaxed ones. The mood is better afterwards, and the must-have photo is already done.
Celebrating on command
Everyone jumps in the air at the same time or throws their arms up. With burst mode, there will be one shot where really everyone is in the air.
From above, in a circle
Everyone lies on the grass in a star shape, heads towards the middle. The photo is taken from the stand, the clubhouse balcony or a securely placed ladder.
From the middle of the circle
The team stands in a tight circle and looks down. The phone lies on the ground in the middle and takes the picture with the self-timer.
Backs to the camera
Everyone turns round, names and shirt numbers facing the camera, looking towards the goal or across the pitch. Good as a second picture for the website or a poster.
Before and after
One picture in fresh kit before the match, one after a mud bath or after the win with wet hair. Side by side, the two tell the story of the season.
With home in the background
In front of the clubhouse, by the town sign, in the stand of your own ground. That way you can still see years later where you come from.
With the sponsor at the handover
New shirts, new balls: the sponsor stands in the middle, the team gathers round. A picture like this is often worth more to the business than a logo; more in the guide Sports club sponsorship.
Football, handball, volleyball: what is different in a team photo
Every sport has its own locations and quirks. Three examples:
Football. Football squads are big, so there is hardly a way round three rows. The goal with its net or the stand make good backgrounds; for the photo from above, the centre circle gives you the shape.
Handball. Light in a sports hall is weaker than it looks. Stand in the brightest spot, switch on all the lights and use a tripod, because the phone exposes for longer in low light. A nice idea: everyone stands along the goal area line, with the goalkeepers in the goal behind.
Volleyball. Volleyball teams are smaller, which makes relaxed pictures easier. Use the net: one row kneels in front of it, the other jumps to block behind it. Anyone who wears a different coloured shirt as the libero belongs in the middle.
You will find books and ideas for your sport in the overview Sports.
Team photo tips: light, location and technique
You do not need a professional camera for a good team photo, but a few tricks help:
- Light: a lightly overcast sky is ideal, because nobody squints and there are no harsh shadows. In sunshine, put the team in the even shade of a building or have the sun coming from the side. Bright sun from the front means screwed-up eyes.
- Background: calm, with no cars, bins or advertising boards running right through people's heads.
- Distance: take a few steps back and zoom in slightly. A wide angle from close up distorts the people at the edges.
- Height: the camera belongs at roughly head height of the middle row or slightly above; if necessary, stand on a chair.
- Burst mode: take ten photos instead of one. In one of them, everyone will have their eyes open.
- Room at the edges: in landscape format with a little space left and right, the picture can be cropped later for the website, a programme or a book.
- One voice: only one person gives instructions, ideally whoever is taking the photo.
Team photo with children: short, early and playful
Allow no more than ten minutes for a photo with children and take it before training, not afterwards when everyone is sweaty and tired. One parent lines everyone up, one person takes the picture, and the coach makes them laugh. A trick for open eyes: everyone closes their eyes and only opens them on “three”.
If you want to show the pictures on the website, on social media or in the club magazine, check beforehand whether the parents agree. What belongs in a consent form like this is covered in the guide Photo consent form for clubs; this is not legal advice, and if in doubt your association can help.
From the team photo to the team yearbook
In a Flashbook, the team photo gets its own page. On top of that, every person gets a double-page spread with two photos they upload themselves and their answers. For the cover, the photos of each person are cut out and designed into one shared picture; you choose the background, for example a picture of your home town, or you take the stadium cover. Tip: on the day of the team photo, take individual pictures of everyone straight away, against a calm background and in the same light, and send each person their own picture, or the parents in the case of children. Then the cover looks all of a piece.