This gallery on FBhttps://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150230909080957.318332.12083590956

The dark outer-glow/drop shadow on the players is simple enough.

How I do achieve a similar look for that washed out but over-exposed effect?

Is that a heavy use of the unsharp filter on the players too?

Do you think that these are studio shots that have been placed onto the background? or did they have serious lighting outside?

looks like the Joel Grimes 3 light setup with gritty post processing...

Joel's flickr page here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210138@N04/

joel's site, this page highlights his lighting setup:http://web.me.com/joelgrimes/Joel_Grimes_Photography/Edgy_portraits_3_lights.html

:thumbsup: Cheers Bobby

Also - shoot raw, and in the raw processor kick your Clarity setting all the way up, and your saturation (especially in reds and yellows) a few notches down.

That will get you a good start to the processing.

These all look to me like they're going for the faux, over-the-top HDR look.

That's basically what it is. Its visual data compression - just like crappy 90's audio compression.