Team Photos: Need help getting pics to players

[K8-90]

I have a bit of a dilemma that I need some advice on...

I volunteer as well as referee (and play) at a small soccer club. Basically, the organizer know's that I'm into photography and asked if I'd be interested in doing some team photos. I haven't promised to do it yet.

I have no problem doing this. Taking the pictures isn't the problem - I just don't know how to distribute them once they're done! Basically, it would be arranged so that after each team has played their final game, they will recieve their trophy and I will arrange the team and take their picture. However, since the pictures are taken at the end of the season, I can't get the coaches to distribute the prints the way most leagues do. The league organizer thought that it would be ok to simply post the images to their website and allow players to print them off there... However, the posted images would have been resized and not of decent quality to be printed.

So I am wondering what my options are. Is there a website I can post them to where people can order prints themselves? I'm not trying to make money off this. and I also need to keep in mind that the league caters to somewhat under-priveledged kids. Many of them would really enjoy having team photo, but would not be able to order prints themselves. Or should I try and get addresses of the kids and send prints to them?

Thanks in advance!

 

[tirediron]

That is a toughie; I think you're idea of posting them on-line is the best option. Why not post a hi-resolution, 8x10 cropped version which they can download; even on dial-up that's only going to take 15-20 minutes to download for a 5mb .jpg, and those that don't want to/can't afford to print, still have the option of having a nice, high quality digital image.

 

[K8-90]

Yeah, that is probably the best idea... However, I spoke to the guy that runs the wesite, and he doesn't want to post large images. Is it possible for me to load hi-res images to Photobucket or a similar site, and then link that to the smaller images on the league site?

Thanks for the input!

 

[tirediron]

Yeah, that is probably the best idea... However, I spoke to the guy that runs the wesite, and he doesn't want to post large images. Is it possible for me to load hi-res images to Photobucket or a similar site, and then link that to the smaller images on the league site?

Thanks for the input!

No, I don't believe that Photobucket, Flickr or any of the 'consumer' hosting services will take what I could would consider to be a hi-res size image. How many teams are we talking about - would he be willing to host them for a limited period? Say 30 days?

An alternative is that some of the on-line processing companies do allow you to have larger files on their website, might be something to look at. I seem to recall that Wal-Mart supports files up to 1.5Mb (but I may be wrong) which isn't quite where you need to be, but have a look around at other labs in your area.

 

[Marnault]

If this is a community league or something similar where most of the parents would live in the same area as you do, you should ask them to pickup their pictures. It would be cheaper than mailing everything out and easy for you. Just pop all the pictures into envelopes with and write their name on it.

It would probably be best if you told them you can pickup your pictures at a between a certain time on over 3-4 days. Then you just need to make sure your home at that time on those few days.


I would avoid trying to upload print quality images to the web for them to download, depending on how many pictures the bandwidth and time needed could be excessive, and its possible for a family to not have a computer. Also when printing they could either go to a poor lab, or ask for a improper size for the format of the image which could result in a subpar image for them. This is probably one of the biggest reasons why I always print the images my self and either deliver or get them to pickup.

 

[randerson07]

Flickr does allow Large Files for Pro accounts. Which only runs about $25 a year(but for 8x10s I dont think you need a pro account). Flickr also Partners with ImageKind which will allow you to list all your photos for sale, and you set the prices, sort of. There is a base price for the size and paper type and frame that your customer chooses, and then you choose the mark up, which in your case could be zero.

Imagekind then handles the printing, and shipping. I found imagekind when I was looking for a safari photo for my parents last xmas. I bought a very large framed print, its beautiful, I now have some of my own work on there for sale. I dont expect to sell to anyone buy family and friends, but it does work out nicely and all the work is handled by someone else.

Just for giggles here is my Image Kind site, most of the photos are linked from Flickr, check out some of the print sizes they allow. These are not small files.
http://randerson07.imagekind.com/

 

[K8-90]

Thanks again for all the help! And While I didn't reply to the last few comments, I did read them.

I thought I'd update you, so...

As it turns out, the date the finals where to be played ended up being changed due to the weather. Unfortunately, it was on a day I had work. So after all this, I didn't even get to do it! I ended up lending my camera to a friend (with very, very strict rules. I stressed that her life would be at stake should anything happen to my camera. She understood ). So now I have a bunch of 'meh' pics to process... Lot's of fun.

 

[bwlergh]

Get their club names and post them to the clubs.

 

[Brian Austin]

Smugmug, pBase, Flickr, and others have large file storage with thumbnail viewing and online print ordering. Just check the upload requirements/limitations before selecting one.

 

[astrostu]

I don't quite understand the difficulty of the coaches distributing the photos, but maybe that's because when I was in soccer in school, the coaches were teachers or bus drivers or otherwise affiliated with the district. So even though it was after the season, they would still have access to us. Is that not the situation here?