Photographers need to understand what they are doing when they get to an event. Just sending a student to an event with the instructions "take pictures" will not get you the results you want! Students who haven't done this before will need clear instruction.

Before You Send Them to The Wolves:

1. Talk to them about the book's theme and layout style.
2. Do they need to take portrait or landscape images (or both)?
3. Go with them to their first event. Expecting someone to succeed at a new job with no training is not reasonable. Teach them how to introduce themselves to coaches, refs, and teachers. Show them what getting close means (telling a student to get close to the action may mean the back seat in the bleachers to them).
4. Have them do a practice shoot and bring you the images. Review the images together and adjust behaviours before they start taking real shots.
5. Show them what you need for team photos. Remind them to keep space around the edge of the frame to allow for cropping if needed and take the team picture regardless of if some are missing.
6. Create a "shopping list" for images needed. This list will provide the student with a clear idea of what they need to do.
   • Dominant Photo - player making a layup taken from under the hoop
   • Shot of players watching from the bench
   • 5+ images of fans cheering
   • Action shot of players on court/field (get as close as you can)
   • Coach and players in a huddle
   • Pre-game warmups
   • Post-game victory celebration

Remind them that they only need to submit the good photos, and that they should be deleting any shots that are obviously poor. A photo check should always be done at the midpoint of any season or event to make sure you have good images. If you do this now you have time to correct it. If you wait until the end of the season or event and you don't have what you want, you can't fix it!