In an annual photo shoot, I like to come up with something just a little different than the year before. Taking photos of the graduating seniors from the Macalester football team is just plain fun. This year, I challenged them to come not only with their football gear, but whoever else they were, their other selves, their alter egos.

I admit that I suspected that perhaps only half of the 14 guys would come prepared, but like the amazing men they are, they surprised me. All were set to go. I haven't had so much fun shooting in a long time.

The set up was two lights, a main and a fill, plus a black cloth backdrop. I had to stand on a chair for some of the shots. When we were done, there was grass and turf pellets on the backdrop, but it worked fine as a "portable" set. (I prefer paper rolls.) Shot with the Nikon 17-55, 2.8 lens, which is my favorite lens for these kinds of shoots. I can go a bit wide if I need to.

In processing the photos, I had to bump up the lighting at times on the legs and feet, which meant the lights weren't quite right, but other than that, the lighting was okay. I took two shots of each player and sized them to be identical in height. I removed some of the backdrop in Photoshop and filled with black. I printed them on 13x19" paper, using gloves to handle. I only mention the gloves because that black picks up fingerprints easily. I matted them for the banquet, and then teammates were able to sign the mats.