Stops and More

I have to shoot a softball team photo tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. (bright and sunny day)
Do you have any tips/suggestions?
It will be on softball field. You mentioned in groups to put people in a
semi-circle to keep distance from camera the same. The weather is supposed
to be partly cloudy but nice. (more bright and sunny than cloudy)
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yes keep the team in more of a semi circle than versus a straight line
don’t over do the curve of the lines of the team as the coach or team mom will not like it as their mind set is towards a straight line
starting with the straight lines usually two or three rows of members
then slightly pull the ends toward you, rember I said slightly

I have a Canon 40D with the 580EXII flash but not a bracket. I do have the
wireless transmitter to where I can have flash off camera but no light stand
or umbrella.
My lenses are 24-70 L and the 70-200 USM L.
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right now keep your life simple and use the flash mounted on the camera
since these are out door portraits there will not be any shadows from the flash casted on walls behind the ball players
shoot the individuals with the camera vertical. Make sure you are at less than 1/200 of a second so the flash will work safely with that shutter speed
(this exposure below is a guess based on the sunny 16 rule)
use your hand held meter set at THE same ISO as your camera
try 50 ISO
tomorrow at 11:30 this should provide you with
good exposure if your shutter speed is set at 1/200 and the aperture at f 5.6
use flash compensation for one stop less flash if your using ETTL for flash (which is the common flash setting)

During the team or group photo use the camera settings of 1/100 at f8
and turn the flash compensation off or zero
Use the camera in horizontal not vertical, use a tripod to help ensure your framing of the subject is good
and have each player stand the same distance from the camera for each individual portrait
(I usually place a branch or twig where I want them to stand, or a small white pebble)

keep the bright sun just off to the right or left of your shoulders
almost perpendicualr to the line that you are shooting from and towards

                                                                    X <<<<<< Subject for individual photo

sunlight>>>>>>> ———–

                                                            X <<<<<<<< Your camera position

Think of  how we use the Main light and fill in the camera room
in this case we using the Sun as our Main light and the small flash unit as our Fill light
Ideally we would do the reverse but since you can’t have the flash closer to your subjects than your camera right now
were settling for on camera flash

Use the longer lens for the individual photos
get back about 14-20 feet from your subject
use the 24-70 for the group photo
and zoom to about 50mm if your using a full frame camera
if not full frame camera use about 30mm zoom setting