How to Take (and Share) Pictures

If you like taking pictures at Silver Spurs events or just happen to snap a great shot that you want to share, here are some tips to help you share that with the team.

How to find the Spurs on Social Media

Instagram

You can follow the Spurs on Instagram with the hashtag #lhsspurs24. You can post your pictures using that same hashtag to share them during the event. This is a public channel and the Spurs booster club has no control over what is posted there as with all things on the Internet, viewer discretion is advised.

Facebook

The team has a private Facebook group that is not available to the general public.

YouTube

You can find team videos posted on the SpursTV page (public) and on the Shutterfly site (private).

Before the Event

  • Batteries charged?
  • Memory card have free space?
  • Camera's time correct? - Having the clock set correctly on your cameral will help to display your pictures chronologically with pictures taken by other people. Remember to check your camera's date when Daylight Saving Time changes

At the Event

  • Enjoy the show
  • Turn your flash off - most camera flashes are only effective for a few feet. If you are taking pictures of an event on stage or on the football field then you are going to get really clear images of the back of heads of the people in the next row. A zoom and a flash almost never go together. Flashes can also be distracting to the dancers. Most camera today can take good pictures in low light.
  • Know your camera - some cameras have a "shutter lag" which is the delay between when you push the button and when the picture is actually taken. Practice with your camera and get to know how it behaves so when the moment comes you are ready.
  • Hold your camera steady - modern cameras have image stabilization to overcome most camera shake which can make the pictures blurry. When you push the button to take the picture try not to mash it so hard that the whole camera rotates. Brace against something solid to help you out whether it is a wall or a railing. Sometimes just tucking in your elbows close to your body will help you keep still. Using a tripod or monopod is always a good idea.
  • Tell a story - Don't forget to take pictures of the warm up and the afterward. Sometimes those are the best real moments. Try to frame your pictures so they give context to what is going on in the picture.
  • Avoid Digital Zoom - some camera, especially camera phones, have a digital zoom feature. This is nothing more than cropping the image at the time you are taking it - deleting a part of the picture that may contain something interesting. Instead of using the digital zoom, use an optical zoom found in most non-phone cameras or use the pedestrian zoom -- walk closer to the subject.
  • Focus on the eyes - If the subject's eyes are in focus the whole picture will work. If you are too far away to see eyes, make sure the faces are in focus.

After the Event

  • Look through your pictures and find the good ones.
  • Upload the good ones to legacysilverspurs.shutterfly.com into a folder named for the event. If there's already a folder for that event, go into that album and choose "Add pictures". The Shutterfly account is setup for dancers and their families to share pictures in a private manner. Any picture posted can be used for Silver Spurs promotions including the end of the year banquet.
  • Email It - If you have a great shot that you want to have included in the Banquet slide show at the end of the year you can email it to [email protected]. This is an alternative to the Shutterfly option. No more than 20MB per email. Pictures should be in JPEG format.
  • Quality - upload your pictures to Shutterfly in the highest quality option available to your camera. This will allow your picture to be cropped and printed as needed. Screen shots on your iPhone may look OK on your iPhone but they do not have the fidelity of the original.
  • Social Media Sites - if you download a picture from a social media site if may not have the quality of the original picture you took. Its best to go back to the source - the original camera.
  • Copyright and Creative Commons - If you did not take the picture, make sure you have rights to re-use the picture. By default all photographs are protected by US Copyright Law. If you buy a print at a dance competition make sure you know what rights you are buying. An alternative to Copyright law is known as Creative Commons which usually allows for pictures to be shared as long as you give credit to the photographer. If you don't have the rights to the picture then you should not be posting it to Shutterfly or any social media site. When you post a picture on Shutterfly, you are giving permission for other Silver Spurs to share your pictures. These are just some ideas. If you have other suggestions to share, use the comment form below.