On Saturday, at the end of our run we had a going away breakfast for one of our MRTT chapter leaders.  Since we had some extra time, we decided to try a group jump picture.  It turned out so well that I decided to write a tutorial on how to take the perfect jump picture.  Because, you know… I’m now an expert!

The most important thing for the jumper to remember is to get as much air as possible.  I’ve discovered that simply bending the knees is all it takes to make you look like you have a 42-inch vertical jump!

If you’re taking a group shot, the picture turns out best if everyone is up in the air at once.  For the shot that we took on Saturday, I said, “Everyone down, 1, 2, 3, jump!”

We used my iPhone 5S for these pictures.  It has a the ability to take a “burst” of photos by simple holding the shutter (white dot) down as long as you choose.  You then select your favorite pictures out of the burst.  Another way to assure a good jump picture is to take a video, and freeze the frame in the video to capture your favorite shot.

Here we are just as we’re starting the upward trajectory (I accidentally deleted the picture of us in full squat).

MRTTGroupJump1

 

The next three pictures from our burst show us as we are starting to power up, as our feet leave the ground, and just after we’re in the air.

MRTTGroupJump2

MRTTGroupJump3

MRTTGroupJump4

 

And finally, we come to the picture that we were looking for.  Our knees are fully bent (except for Tracy, whose IT Band requested she not bend her knees very much).

MRTTGroupJump5

 

It doesn’t hurt that we happen to be color coordinated, and I can assure you that the perfect spacing of pink was purely accidental.

MRTTGroupJump6

 

Tips for taking the perfect jump picture:

  1. All participants must be willing to try their best to jump high
  2. Remind participants to bend their knees to make the jump look higher
  3. Designate a person to call out the count-down
  4. Have a camera with a fast shutter or that takes bursts of photos
  5. Choose a pretty or interesting background
  6. Remember to smile

 

Compare this jump picture of the Cruisers in 2011 to our MRTT picture from last Saturday.  I guess I’ve learned from my mistakes!

JumpingCruisers

 

If you have any favorite jump pictures, pop over to my Facebook page and post them there!  I’ll select my favorite to use as the cover photo!

 

  • Questions:
  • Have you ever taken a jump picture?
  • If so, where was it taken?
  • What are your plans for this weekend? ~ I’ve got some pretty big ones that you can read about on Friday!