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Lauren Fisher - Nikon D4, Tamron 24-70, 1/500th, F2.8, ISO250

Lauren Fisher - Nikon D4, Tamron 24-70, 1/500th, F2.8, ISO250

Lightning Fast Event Workflow (PhotoFit #9)

March 17, 2015

Read the previous #photofit columns here

One of the biggest questions I've been getting is "how do you get images out quickly."  So let's do a whole breakdown on the workflow I use to get an extremely fast turnaround from shot to delivery of images.

Above, my basic event workstation.  At the center, Macbook Pro.  For storage and live projects, a Lacie Thunderbolt drive.  For ingest I'll use a lexar CF/SD split reader.  At larger events, or if I have to manage multiple photographers, I'll switch and use the Lexar Pro Workflow hub where I can read from four different readers at the same time, and ingest to different locations.  On the right.... coffee... there's always coffee.  

You'll also notice to memory cards (I really put these in for show, but I always follow these rules).  On the left I'll place cards to be ingested.  I'll also always place a card that has info to be ingested face down.  That way, if things get shuffled around, there's a hiccup, or some sort of mixup and I find a random memory card, if it's facedown, I know it needs to still go through the reader.  On the right, I'll place cards that have been read.  I'll always place these cards face up.  If there's any possibility I'll have an assistant or helpers, I'll rip a piece of paper in half, place one on the left and one on the right with the words "in" and "out" on them.  That way if I say to someone to grab something or drop it off, there's no confusion.  This system seems simplistic but it is extremely useful, especially when you're tired.

Software:  Photomechanic and Lightroom.  If you don't know what Photomechnaic is, just download it now and get it over with.  Best $75 you'll spend to speed up your process.  

What is PM?  Basically the fastest way to ingest images onto a computer, apply tags, keywords, and basic information, and then very rapidly select images for further editing or uploading.  It is not an editing program.

Workflow procedure
(before the event)
Open PM and set IPTC stationary for the event.  Here I set basic info like the keywords I want applied, where I am, the name of the event, copyright info, and the date.  Every ingest will get this basic info.

1.  After I take a whole bunch of photos, I'll get to the computer and put a card in.  My first step will be to open Photo Mechanic.  Once it recognizes the card (or if it doesn't I'll hit command+G) I'll go to the ingest prompt and select the card.  Here I'll decide whether I'm dropping everything into one big folder, or if I'm ingesting per heat/wod or some other identifier.

2.  Once the ingest begins, I can already start buzzing through the JPEG previews that PM generates.  The beauty of this program, is even if you don't shoot JPEG (and I don't), the program will steal the preview file that your camera creates to show you on the back of the camera and very quickly render that on the computer.  This allows you to buzz through hundreds of images, at full resolution and pick winners.  Fun bonus, I can start another import in another reader slot from another card at the same time.

3.  Sorting.  Photo Mechanic is not an ediitng program, it's an ingest and sorting program.  Because I can buzz through these full size files so quickly, I can ensure perfect focus and good exposure.  As I spot images I like, I'll tag them a "1" on the keyboard, basically just a pick that there was something I liked.  These 1-5 tags will carry over to stars in Lightroom, so I'm not just wasting my time.

4.  Once I've run through the ingest and selected my basic picks -- let's say I go from 100 to 10 images -- I'll do one more quick sweep and perhaps cut down to 6 images only by tagging the really good shots with a "2."

Ben Smith, Adam Klink - Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/1000th, F2.8, ISO 160

Ben Smith, Adam Klink - Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/1000th, F2.8, ISO 160

5.  I'll then take those "2" images, highlight them all, and drag them into Lightroom (literally by clicking, holding and then dropping on the Lightroom logo).  Once you do this, the Lightroom ingest prompt will come up.  I'm doing this now to apply my preset edit to the images and open up the full suite of editing options I want to finalize and publish my shots.  In that ingest prompt, I'll turn off metadata presets (I've already handled that with Photo Mechanic) and I'll just select the preset I want to apply.  I'll then click import.  Note, you're not ingesting another copy of the photo, you're just adding the photo to your Lightroom library.  Ingesting (getting the photo from the memory card to your computer) is handled much faster by Photo Mechanic, and Lightroom can't begin new imports if other imports have already begun (another key advantage to PM).

5A.  If your client (or yourself) just needs a quick edit burned off, you can hit command+s in PM and the save prompt will open.  If I'm working for a client, I'll often set a dropbox folder as the save to location folders so while the image saves, it immediately is going to a shared folder that the client will receive.  Conversely, I could also have this folder set to a dropbox folder that I use as a place holder for my instagram/facebook posts.  While PM won't edit your photos, you will get the JPEG preview of the image, not the flat RAW file.  If you've preset enough in your camera, that JPEG preview can be more than passable for a quick posts or upload.

6.  If we've continued with a Lightroom ingest it will take a few moments for it to identify the specific files you've selected out of the 100.  Once it grabs them, the ingest will go very quickly, and then LR will get to work applying the preset you've chosen.  

Scott Panchik - Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/500th, f2.8, ISO 8000

Scott Panchik - Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/500th, f2.8, ISO 8000

7.  From there, you're now just doing a quick Lightroom edit.  I'll go through crop first, then white balance, and then exposure and a few other tweaks.  Once I'm happy, I'll go to the export dialog, drop whatever watermark I'm using and burn them off.

8.  Drink coffee, get back to work.

While this might seem like a complicated process, in practice it goes extremely fast.  You can finish shooting an event and within 5 minutes already have photos online or off to your client.  The combo of PM and LR in this setup, to me, is unbeatable for speed and also delivering professionally edited content - not just snapshots.  This process works for me and might certainly not be for everyone.  Comment with what works for you and what doesn't.

Bonus points:  Let's say you have time and now you wan't to see the rest of your full take in LR.  Instead of having to tag everything, then drag it into LR there's a faster solution.  In LR, as long as one image from the folder has been added to the library, you can right click the folder and hit synchronize.  This will scan to see how many files were not ingested.  Once that scan is complete you'll then bring up the same ingest dialog and apply your presets.  This rendering will take awhile, but again, it's to be done once the pressure is off.  You don't have to worry about the long complicated ingest process anymore, and can just let LR do its thing and render down your RAW files.

Other Tips
- Never format cards onsite until your images are backed up onto a second location.  Always have more than enough memory cards.  Every now and then, something you think is ingested isn't.  You go back and realize you've already formatted that card because you were lazy and didn't want to grab another card.  Voila, you just deleted your precious content and don't have a backup.  Moral of the story, don't ever reformat cards onsite.

If you like what you've read, please share.  Feel free to post some content suggestions below so I know what you're looking for in my next post.  For bookings email shaun@superclearyphoto.com.  And as always, follow @supercleary on instagram and SuperClearyPhoto on Facebook.

Emily Bridgers - Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/400, F2.8, ISO 800

Emily Bridgers - Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/400, F2.8, ISO 800

Tags photofit, photography, supercleary, superclearyphoto, lauren fisher, emily bridgers, crossfit, wodapalooza, ecc, east coast championships, kill cliff, progenex
8 Comments
What a venue -- Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/3200, f 3.5, ISO 100

What a venue -- Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/3200, f 3.5, ISO 100

Wodapalooza 2015 (How to shoot outdoor sports - PhotoFit #6)

January 30, 2015

The last few weeks I've been on the road so here come the recaps!

I had the privilege of heading down to Miami to shoot Wodapalooza 2015 for Progenex.  I know, tough gig.... Miami in January.  Quick setup - Wodapalooza (WZA for short) has become one of the largest functional fitness competitions and festivals in the world.  It takes place at the incredible Bayfront Park in Miami, with three separate workout zones, 17 divisions, and a massive vendor expo, all along the Miami waterfront.

WZA was sponsored by Progenex, and my gig was to cover their athletes across three days of competition. 

Sam Briggs and Emily Bridgers going back and forth during the final event - and during the whole weekend.  Sam took the title two years in a row.  Nikon D4, Tamron 24-70, 1/400th, F2.8, ISO 320

Sam Briggs and Emily Bridgers going back and forth during the final event - and during the whole weekend.  Sam took the title two years in a row.  Nikon D4, Tamron 24-70, 1/400th, F2.8, ISO 320

From a technical standpoint, outdoor events are far easier than indoor events because you know going in it will be an low ISO setup.  The real challenges comes from realizing you're going to have to work with the changing light (the sun) over the course of the day.  From the incredible golden hour light of the morning and early evening, to the brutal harsh mid-day sun.  And the extra bonus, shooting wods at night with extremely limited lighting.

My setup: Nikon D4, Nikon 600 as backup.  Go-to lens for the majority of the weekend was the Nikon 70-200 2.8 VRII.  I've called this lens magical on more than one occasion, and under optimal shooting conditions like this it didn't disappoint.  For large events like this, I bring along my Sigma 120-300 2.8 (an epic lens for big field events), but I wound up having amazing access that let me get very close to the action, so that focal length wasn't really needed.  Not that I was complaining, that lens weighs something like 15 pounds.  The two other lens I had handy were my Sigma 35 1.4 for some wider stuff (and to bust out during the night events) and my Tamron 24-70 2.8 for some wide zoom during daytime events.

Team Progenex Brute Strength --- These dudes are huge.  Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/2500th, F2.8, ISO 160

Team Progenex Brute Strength --- These dudes are huge.  Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/2500th, F2.8, ISO 160

Shooting outdoor sports - Aperture vs. Manual

In my mind, there are two main ways to shoot outdoor events: Aperture priority (AP) and full manual each has its advantages and drawbacks.  In most situations, I'll lean towards full manual, and I did that for most of the weekend.  Aperture priority, means I'm setting aperture and ISO, and letting the camera's computer figure out the shutter speed.  If I'm in full manual, I'm setting everything myself, and those settings remain locked until I change them again.  AP is  extremely helpful if we have a bright sun with clouds sneaking in and out.  If I'm in manual and have completely dialed in my exposure when the sun is blocked, I'm great.  But, if those clouds blow over, the exposure is going to be completely different, and if I'm not on my game and forget to change that, I could have completely blown-out over exposed images that can't be saved in post processing.  Sounds great, but the flip-side of this is if your cameras meter sees something that throws it off, you could have images with your subjects woefully underexposed.  Where would AP go wrong?  Let's say during any of the bayfront events:  where athletes were working on a huge rig built right next to the water.  Depending on how you have your cameras metering set, when you point at your subject you might get a meter reading for the bright and reflective water behind them, not your exerciser.  If you're not aware of this and anticipate for that, you're going to have a very very dark subject with some nicely exposed water.  Of course, their are ways to deal with this (using exposure compensation, as well as using center-weighted, or spot metering) but once it gets that complicated, I'd rather switch to straight manual.

Chelsie Morter during the Sit-Shoot-Swim event.  Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/1000th, f4.0, ISO 100

Chelsie Morter during the Sit-Shoot-Swim event.  Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/1000th, f4.0, ISO 100

How do I set my base exposure in full manual for an outdoor event?  I like to look at the exposure triangle like this:  set as much as you can, and then only have to adjust a single setting once you're shooting.  So first off, I'm going to select an aperture just a bit back from wide open - maybe 3.5.  It's outdoors, it's bright.  I'm not battling for shutter speed, so I'd rather have a little wiggle room if my focus isn't perfect.  Next, I'll set my ISO.  I'll have this anywhere between 100-640.  At these levels, there is absolutely no noise.  I'll use that upper range if I want a little more shutter speed.  So now, while I'm shooting the only setting I'll change on the fly is my shutter speed.  Now that we're out of a dark gym, we should aim to always be hitting 1/1000th of a second.  If that is underexposed, just crank up the ISO more.  You can easily shoot at ISO 800 outdoors without even the slightest hint of noise.  The added sharpness from the shutter speed makes for amazing images.  So while manual might seem like there are a ton of settings you have to be adjusting, realistically, I'm just adjusting my shutter speed based on the results I'm getting.  I'm not really touching my aperture, and my iso might just be a slight tweak every hour or two as the sun moves.  Shooting in manual also keeps me extremely engaged in what I'm doing.  I'm not pointing and shooting: I'm thinking about the environment around me and how the light is influencing the frame.  Is it brighter or darker?  What direction is it coming in from and how can I situate myself to get the best results with it.  I've shot plenty of scenes with AP, but I'll usually stick now to the more consistent results I'll get with manual.  There is nothing more frustrating to nailing the perfect moment, only to realize the camera's meter went bezerk because something bright (or dark) caught it, and your subject is now blown out or completely black.

Rasmus Wisbech during the complex ladder -- Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/800th, f 2.8, ISO 400

Rasmus Wisbech during the complex ladder -- Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/800th, f 2.8, ISO 400

Organizing a big event shoot

The biggest challenge on this job (other than dealing with the incredible weather and delicious cuban food) was tracking some 25 athletes, all competing at nearly the same time, across three workout stations, over 8 WODs, as early as 8am and as late as 830pm.  The number one tip I can offer here is to plan ahead.  Once I got a list of athletes from my editor, I then setup a complete schedule, detailing where/when each athlete was supposed to do each workout, and updated this each morning as their heat assignments were updated.  With so many moving pieces, the worst thing I could do is not going into it with a strategy to cover it properly.

A little peek at a very small part of my heat sheet

A little peek at a very small part of my heat sheet

Looking over the spreadsheet, I could plan out my day, and quickly see if there were conflicts - multiple athletes going at the same time at different locations.  Instead of panicking in a scenario like this, it's easier to just discuss with your clients where they'd like you and set expectations clearly.  Instead of pretending that you can do literally everything, I tried to make sure I could focus on different athletes at different workouts, and markoff who I was able to get where.  That way as the event went on, I knew if I was having trouble capturing certain athletes, or if I was only focusing on the same people over and over.  This was helpful because I could then easily coordinate with my editor.  To boil that down - plan ahead, decide where you need to be, and then make the most of that time!  Revaluate over the course of the event and if you're missing coverage, adjust accordingly.  

Lauren Fisher during the dumb bell snatch workout -- Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/640th, F2.8, ISO 320 -- notice my shutter started slowing.  The stage had a crazy split light scenario that gradually got brighter as they got farther from the back …

Lauren Fisher during the dumb bell snatch workout -- Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/640th, F2.8, ISO 320 -- notice my shutter started slowing.  The stage had a crazy split light scenario that gradually got brighter as they got farther from the back of the stage. On the fly I just adjusted my shutter speed as she got into the brighter light. 

The monkey wrench came quickly on day 1 as each workout station ran to differing degrees of on-time-ness.  Once one station started running nearly an hour behind, that sort of shot my perfect plan.  Easy enough, I just worked with the event organizers to get updated schedules and worked around it.  

Shooting at Night

As the lights went down, we all expected the Miami nights party setup to turn on, but the lights that did switch on - while awesome for the spectator experience were basically nothing more than rotating strobes.  The night events were dark, I mean really dark.  These sorts of moments, instead of being a stressful disaster, should be a time to try and do something different.  Dark is dark.  There is no way to add light to an unlit subject no matter how much you crank the iso and drag the shutter.  You cannot shoot with a flash at an event like this, so don't even reach for it.  It's distracting for the spectators and worse, can be dangerous for the athletes.  It's better in these times to try and create something new and different.  It's now time to play around with the backlight, wider shots showing the scale of the event, or any number of other "unique" shots.  You're simply not going to get those sharp perfect exposures from the middle of the day, so it's easier to adapt instead of stressing over what's impossible.  For the night shoots, I switched to my 35 1.4 to benefit from the wider aperture and shot a lot of wider images hoping to catch some of the strobe lights as they rotated around.  There were a ton of misses here, but still a few cool moments.

The legendary Taylar Stallings during the team Clean and Jerk complex ladder, with her team she set the event record.  Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/250th, F2.8, ISO 8000

The legendary Taylar Stallings during the team Clean and Jerk complex ladder, with her team she set the event record.  Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/250th, F2.8, ISO 8000

Hopefully, somewhere in this ranting I've laid out a few techniques for shooting outdoor sports, as well as organizing your time during long complicated shoots.  Please, feel free to comment if you'd like to explain anything at all at length (or more clearly).  And a huge thanks to Progenex for having me down in Miami, and my amazing hosts - Guido, Dylan, Steve, et al for putting on such a sick event.  Next up will be a recap from a totally different sort of event, the Kill Cliff East Coast Championship!

Emily Bridgers after her first event.  Always smiles, she eventually took second place.  Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/1000th, f 2.8, ISO 320

Emily Bridgers after her first event.  Always smiles, she eventually took second place.  Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200, 1/1000th, f 2.8, ISO 320

If you like what you've read, please share.  Feel free to post some content suggestions below so I know what you're looking for in my next post.  For bookings email shaun@superclearyphoto.com.  And as always, follow @supercleary on instagram and SuperClearyPhoto on Facebook.

Some other images from WZA 2015 - click to see full-size

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Tags crossfit, supercleary, superclearyphoto, wodapalooza, progenex, lauren fisher, sam briggs, photography, photofit
1 Comment
Great product shoot this week for @musclebutterusa 
#productphotography #sociallydistanced #easysubject
Great product shoot this week for @musclebutterusa 
#productphotography #sociallydistanced #easysubject
Great product shoot this week for @musclebutterusa 
#productphotography #sociallydistanced #easysubject
EVF Battle of the Fittest VII | Only 48 hours left to get your @evfperformance photos! Head to SuperClearyPhoto.com. #crossfit #fitness #motivation #training #inspiration
EVF Battle of the Fittest VII | Only 48 hours left to get your @evfperformance photos! Head to SuperClearyPhoto.com. #crossfit #fitness #motivation #training #inspiration
EVF Battle of the Fittest VII | Only 48 hours left to get your @evfperformance photos! Head to SuperClearyPhoto.com. #crossfit #fitness #motivation #training #inspiration
A whole lot of fitness last weekend @evfperformance — make sure to get your photos at SuperClearyPhoto.com 40% off for only a few more days. 
#crossfit #evfperformance #fitness #training #motivation
A whole lot of fitness last weekend @evfperformance — make sure to get your photos at SuperClearyPhoto.com 40% off for only a few more days. 
#crossfit #evfperformance #fitness #training #motivation
A whole lot of fitness last weekend @evfperformance — make sure to get your photos at SuperClearyPhoto.com 40% off for only a few more days. 
#crossfit #evfperformance #fitness #training #motivation
@evfperformance Battle of the Fittest 2020 | all photos at SuperClearyPhoto.com
#crossfit #fitness #motivation #inspiration