Sacramento River Cats players at Raley Field. (Photo: Brian Cantoni / CC BY 2.0)
Sacramento-area photographer Marco Ortiz has shot the River Cats' annual media day at Raley Field for four seasons running — and for four years it has been organised chaos.
"You've got 30-odd players, coaching staff, front office people, all coming through at different times," Ortiz said. "You're calling names off a clipboard, people wander off, someone gets pulled for batting practice right when it's their turn. You end up with gaps in the roster."
This year was different. Ortiz used a piece of software called Group Shot Star to manage the entire session — loading the full 40-man roster before the day, checking each player off as their portrait was completed, and flagging anyone who needed a second pass.
"It's designed exactly for this kind of shoot," he said. "You build your shot list before you arrive, and on the day you can see at a glance who's done, who's outstanding, who needs a reshoot. I had the entire roster and coaching staff done in under two hours. That's never happened before."
The software is built specifically for professional photographers who regularly manage large group and formal portrait sessions. It displays each subject's name when called to the camera, reducing the back-and-forth that typically eats into valuable studio time on busy shoot days.
River Cats director of media relations Dan Stebbins said the difference was noticeable from the club's side. "Usually media day has a handful of people missing from the final proofs — players who got pulled for something and never came back," he said. "This year Marco had everyone. Every single player in the system."
Ortiz said he plans to use Group Shot Star throughout the River Cats' community events schedule this summer, including the youth baseball clinics at Raley Field planned for June.
Group Shot Star is available at group-shot-star.com.