Sports Shooters, whats your workflow?

Rovers_Andy

Rovers_Andy

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Name
Andy
Edit My Images
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Evening all :)

Once again i need to call on the collective knowledge of TP for some much needed help and advice

I really need to sort out my workflow for when i'm wiring and sending via FTP

At the moment this is my work flow using Photo Mechanic and Aperture (PSE8 should be with me tomorrow which will replace aperture)

Chimp during the game and lock obvious keepers

Ingest to PM and tag the locked shots and any others.

Apply the Stationary pad to the keepers

Export shots to Aperture. I use aperture to straighten, crop, and make any adjustments to exposures, usually highlights and shadows.

Save edited shots and send back to Photo Mechanic.

Caption the shots and then either Send via email using the option in Photo Mechanic or send via FTP.


i'd be interested to hear what the steps are in the workflow of the more experienced sports shooters on here as to me its obvious i need to streamline my workflow.


Thanks

Andy
 
I do motorsports, but I guess it is kind of similar.

One word: Lightroom

On the way in (off the card), copy to HD, back up to external HD. Add my metadata (copyright message, my details etc), basic processing (import sharpen, clarity and vibrance boost, WB etc) and generic keywords.

Select/reject

Quick process selects, crops, angles, exposure etc.

Upload to my website and client at the same time.

I can imgine you would be able to do this in Aperture as it has pretty much the same featureset.
 
people keep suggesting lightroom to me to speed up my workflow. however am i alone in the fact that i just dont get it? ive tried to use it twice now and it just does not drop in to place for me..

am i just being dumb?
 
It's a different way of working I suppose. I use lightroom for my events. It's a one stop shop for me.

Shoot the images, the WT-4 send them automatically to the laptop where lightroom auto imports them via a watched folder.

From there I can tag them or discard them, do basic editing and export them ready for use in whatever way I want.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but it works for me.:D:D:D
 
Andy I do pretty much the same as yourself, but with Photoshop instead! I'd caption the keepers/to wire images before sending them to your editor, that way you can save it in there and there is no need to send back to Photo Mechanic! :)
 
I would add a caveat that I'm not doing the sort of shooting you are Andy, but time is money as they say. It's quick, but not necessarily right for everyone.
 
purpleclouds said:
Andy I do pretty much the same as yourself, but with Photoshop instead! I'd caption the keepers/to wire images before sending them to your editor, that way you can save it in there and there is no need to send back to Photo Mechanic! :)
Click to expand...

good shout Phil, i was thinking the same but wanted the views of others. aiming to play with PSE tomorrow :)
 
:D i might add "there isnt anything wrong with the sigma 70-200" those seem to be the 2 most common things i say on here.. lol

i need to install LR again while ive got no shoots coming up and have another tinker, i think it just blows my mind when ive got urgent stuff i need to get on with lol
 
Another vote for Lightroom here. Usually takes me between 5 and 10 minutes max to send my photos. My workflow:

Connect card reader
Quickly look through shots and transfer what I need to send
Import to Lightroom
Caption images
Crop/fix WB if needed
Export
Send :)
 
if im shooting in the field i use only 1gb cards, shoot 50 or so frames and swap cards, put card into laptop and save to a specified folder on desktop, open those saved images in xnview which very quickly gives me access to thumbnails as big as i choose to set so i can see the image clearly (i set my thumbs to 450px wide)

I then select any i want open and a simple right click allows me to open all the images ive selected in any given external program ive selected (Elements 2 for me. it just works so quickly)

Quick crop and adjust, add my caption then save to another specified folder and upload or email to its destination, all the while still shooting and filling up another card
 
Gary Coyle said:
if im shooting in the field i use only 1gb cards, shoot 50 or so frames and swap cards, put card into laptop and save to a specified folder on desktop, open those saved images in xnview which very quickly gives me access to thumbnails as big as i choose to set so i can see the image clearly (i set my thumbs to 450px wide)

I then select any i want open and a simple right click allows me to open all the images ive selected in any given external program ive selected (Elements 2 for me. it just works so quickly)

Quick crop and adjust, add my caption then save to another specified folder and upload or email to its destination, all the while still shooting and filling up another card
Click to expand...

hmmmm interesting, so during quiet periods your able to get everything ingested, edited and fired to the pic desk, without missing the action?

this could be a good idea :thinking:
 
neil_g said:
people keep suggesting lightroom to me to speed up my workflow. however am i alone in the fact that i just dont get it? ive tried to use it twice now and it just does not drop in to place for me..

am i just being dumb?
Click to expand...

It is down to persoal preference, I'm crap with Photoshop/Bridge/managing my own file structure etc but I find Lightroom works really well for me. There are some good video tutorials on the Adobe website that I watched right it in begining and gave me a good foundation.
 
Lucky you!

The main problem I found when starting out was that there was 2 or 3 ways to do everything, but once you get it sorted it's simple...
 
I am only sending peak action. goals or anything real interesting.. stock is for later

Somehting happens swap cards and download the whole lot.. it litrally takes seconds rather than minutes using express card adapter



STEP 1
use fastzone image viewer (free and powerfull from www.faststone.org) to tag the pics i want
. copy to keep folder ..its not days since i took the picture so i know where to look for quick easy picking.

STEP 2
photoshop. edit, caption and save

STEP 3
send
 
I haven't got the pressures of sending, but tend to upload to webspace the same day.

Lightroom works well for me, 99% of processing is done there these days (levels, crop etc ).

I found to get the best from lightroom it was well worth going through the tutorials on the web. It's a different workflow process than I used before so I found these helpful.
 
I should probably clarify, this is for wiring live from pitchside whilst the match is still in progress
 
Rovers_Andy said:
hmmmm interesting, so during quiet periods your able to get everything ingested, edited and fired to the pic desk, without missing the action?

this could be a good idea :thinking:
Click to expand...

Secret is to pick a quiet time, say when the attacking side are attacking away from you and quite a way downfield, this at least gives time to transfer your images, DO NOT forget to get another card in the camera straight away or at least make use of the dual card slots in the camera, its sods law that the play will turn on an interception pass while you dont have a card in camera.
 
Rovers_Andy said:
I should probably clarify, this is for wiring live from pitchside whilst the match is still in progress
Click to expand...

Then you only need to upload/email as many as the recipiant wants, say 8-10 from a game, easy peasy, i can edit, crop, adjust, caption and save 10 in less than 5 minutes, isnt this what half times for. :lol:
 
well yeah you can send some stuff at half time but if theres a goal after 10 minutes your not going to wait till half time to send.

I reckon your idea of changing cards regularly could be a good idea Gary,
 
neil_g said:
people keep suggesting lightroom to me to speed up my workflow. however am i alone in the fact that i just dont get it? ive tried to use it twice now and it just does not drop in to place for me..

am i just being dumb?
Click to expand...

I only got it second time round, first time it confused the hell outta me
 
Rovers_Andy said:
well yeah you can send some stuff at half time but if theres a goal after 10 minutes your not going to wait till half time to send.

I reckon your idea of changing cards regularly could be a good idea Gary,
Click to expand...

Why not wait until half time, unless youre uploading to a live service like sporting life or the BBC sport website half time is well good enough.
 
Rovers_Andy said:
well yeah you can send some stuff at half time but if theres a goal after 10 minutes your not going to wait till half time to send.

I reckon your idea of changing cards regularly could be a good idea Gary,
Click to expand...

yeagh half time is ok for local papers but pretty much not for agencies.. you need to send as soon as the action has happened and its every man for himself... you watch tonight when pne score...every photogrpaher will ahve his nose in laptop 10 seconds later (after getting celly shots)
 
Yep i know I reckon there could be a fair few togs there tonight

I think its going to come down to practice practice practice but reckon swapping cards every 10 mins and locking keepers in camera could work.

Thanks for the replies everyone :)
 
using Mac. have Aperture for basic editing etc and use Photo Mechanic for Ingesting selecting and captioning.

Just ordered PSE8 so will use that for editing instead of aperture
 
I'm not convinced that Elements will be any quicker than Aperture.

What part of the workflow is causing the problem/bottleneck? Is it the moving to and fro between programs? (If so hasn't Aperture got an FTP/email plugin?)
 
I use Lightroom when pitchside. If I am stationary I'll have my main camera tethered via USB to my laptop. Lightroom sucks the pictures out in real time so no need to swap cards for the main camera. Pics are pulled off a second body by swapping cards.

Lightroom ingests and puts generic keywords plus a basic caption detailing the event location, team names etc. It also inserts all the IPTC data including my contact details.

During quiet times, I flag the images I want to use, and then filter on those images. I'll then put star ratings on them so as not to forget some of the good ones. I'm after 5 or so key shots from the game to send up to the papers. I'll caption anything with 4 or more stars, and leave the rest for review after the game.

After cropping and levels or whatever else, I then export the captioned pics, and upload to picture desks using FTP via Filezilla.

At halftime and full time I'll have a good look through my remaining starred pics and grab any that I've missed and send them in too. Often I find a shot that, when cropped, looks just great but which I might have originally overlooked.

Once I get home I load the whole lot onto my home PC into Lightroom and prepare & caption the stock pics (i.e. single player shots) and upload all the decent stuff to my Photoshelter account.

Backups are done from my home PC automatically to a 500GB USB drive and a 1TB NAS. Once the backups are done I'll wipe my memory cards.
 
Cheers Tobers :)

i think im going to experiment with shooting tethered, interesting that you mention that the images to the picture desks are via FTP. I had always thought they were sent as email attachments. Do you find shooting tethered is quite battery hungry?

As far as i can tell having had a quick play with Elements its pretty similar to Aperture but has some features that work better.
 
Tobers said:
I use Lightroom when pitchside. If I am stationary I'll have my main camera tethered via USB to my laptop. Lightroom sucks the pictures out in real time so no need to swap cards for the main camera. Pics are pulled off a second body by swapping cards.

Lightroom ingests and puts generic keywords plus a basic caption detailing the event location, team names etc. It also inserts all the IPTC data including my contact details.

During quiet times, I flag the images I want to use, and then filter on those images. I'll then put star ratings on them so as not to forget some of the good ones. I'm after 5 or so key shots from the game to send up to the papers. I'll caption anything with 4 or more stars, and leave the rest for review after the game.

After cropping and levels or whatever else, I then export the captioned pics, and upload to picture desks using FTP via Filezilla.

At halftime and full time I'll have a good look through my remaining starred pics and grab any that I've missed and send them in too. Often I find a shot that, when cropped, looks just great but which I might have originally overlooked.

Once I get home I load the whole lot onto my home PC into Lightroom and prepare & caption the stock pics (i.e. single player shots) and upload all the decent stuff to my Photoshelter account.

Backups are done from my home PC automatically to a 500GB USB drive and a 1TB NAS. Once the backups are done I'll wipe my memory cards.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the FTP export plugin for Lightroom?
 
that reminds me, thanks to all that gave me another push in the direction of lightroom. after watching the video tutorials on the adobe website ive decided to give it another go but properly with reorganising my photo storage etc etc.

i might start a separate thread with how i get on etc.
 
Tobers said:
Lightroom ingests and puts generic keywords plus a basic caption detailing the event location, team names etc. It also inserts all the IPTC data including my contact details.
Click to expand...

How do you get LR to do this automatically, I have tried but I don't seem to be able to.

Do you put this in a folder first then import to this folder?

Sorry if it is a stupid question.
 
Rovers_Andy said:
I had always thought they were sent as email attachments. Do you find shooting tethered is quite battery hungry?
Click to expand...

Not seen a difference to be honest. The 1DIII battery is amazing anyway. What does happen occasionally is that the buffer fills up. I think the buffer for tethered shooting is only about 10 shots (jpeg) compared to 100+ for just writing to an on-board card, so that's one thing to watch. Pics appear in 3-4 secs on the laptop after taking them.

Craikeybaby said:
Have you tried the FTP export plugin for Lightroom?
Click to expand...

Yep - it doesn't handle error situations such as a signal drop as well as Filezilla unfortunately so is fine until something goes wrong at which point Filezilla recovers much better.

tiler65 said:
How do you get LR to do this automatically, I have tried but I don't seem to be able to.

Do you put this in a folder first then import to this folder?
Click to expand...

Note I'm using Canon kit here, so fire up Canon Utilities. Set the remote shooting function to import pics to the location you want (I use c:\watchedfolder). Make sure you DONT have any linked software running in the "linked software" tab!! Then in Lightroom you want to set File > Auto Import Settings up to have a watched folder of "c:\watchedfolder". Note that the watched folder must be empty when you set this up for the first time. Set the other settings up - pretty obvious really. I will have previously set up a metadata preset for a specific match that will contain the IPTC and keyword info that I need, and I apply that in the Metadata section of the Auto Import Settings. Then just do File > Enable Auto Import. Plug your camera in and you should be off & running.

Oh, one other thing to note. I use internet tethering over bluetooth from my laptop to my iPhone - works a treat. Phone stays in my pocket, no cables or dongles required.
 
Tobers said:
Note I'm using Canon kit here, so fire up Canon Utilities. Set the remote shooting function to import pics to the location you want (I use c:\watchedfolder). Make sure you DONT have any linked software running in the "linked software" tab!! Then in Lightroom you want to set File > Auto Import Settings up to have a watched folder of "c:\watchedfolder". Note that the watched folder must be empty when you set this up for the first time. Set the other settings up - pretty obvious really. I will have previously set up a metadata preset for a specific match that will contain the IPTC and keyword info that I need, and I apply that in the Metadata section of the Auto Import Settings. Then just do File > Enable Auto Import. Plug your camera in and you should be off & running.

Oh, one other thing to note. I use internet tethering over bluetooth from my laptop to my iPhone - works a treat. Phone stays in my pocket, no cables or dongles required.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, clears it up for me.
 
Tobers said:
Not seen a difference to be honest. The 1DIII battery is amazing anyway. What does happen occasionally is that the buffer fills up. I think the buffer for tethered shooting is only about 10 shots (jpeg) compared to 100+ for just writing to an on-board card, so that's one thing to watch. Pics appear in 3-4 secs on the laptop after taking them.
Click to expand...

Sorry i mean battery life on your laptop
 
Ah - no problem really. It lasts a good 5 hours. Always take an AC adaptor though - I was once caught out with no power and had the most embarassing task of asking a fellow tog to let me use his laptop to send my pics in.
 
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