22 replies to this topic

[TBonz]

Interesting read on how Getty and AP are handling photography at the Olympics...missing some of the details I'd love, but still pretty interesting...

 

The Inside Story of How Olympic Photographers Get Such Stunning Images

 

[nbanjogal]

I've been interested in the photographers working the Olympics too--they sure get some amazing images. What a gig, eh? I've been following Jeff Cable since the London Olympics, and just the other day he gave a rundown of his workflow at the Olympics. He also has been giving glimpses of his preparation and gear. I like the personal view he gives his blog readers. As a sports photographer, you might find it intriguing:

 

Jeff Cable's Blog: Crazy fast deadlines and workflow

[iNYONi]

I've been interested in the photographers working the Olympics too--they sure get some amazing images. What a gig, eh? I've been following Jeff Cable since the London Olympics, and just the other day he gave a rundown of his workflow at the Olympics. He also has been giving glimpses of his preparation and gear. I like the personal view he gives his blog readers. As a sports photographer, you might find it intriguing:

 

Jeff Cable's Blog: Crazy fast deadlines and workflow

Thats a great little article Nicole, those sports photographers have really tight deadlines. I've been looking at the gear they use and have noticed quite a lot of Nikons on show, D4's mainly.

Also noticed a lot of them have cables attached to the cameras, i wonder if these are plugged directly into laptops to make the process quicker.

[TBonz]

Nice pointer Nicole!  I enjoyed the read and will follow him.  I was surprised he did anything with Photoshop - not an issue with the product, but didn't expect he'd have sufficient time...Photo Mechanic is fast - I just haven't gotten comfortable enough with it so that I want to use it over LightRoom.  It seems like it ends up taking me about the same time only because of my unfamiliarity...I end up having to figure out how to do things and that slows me down and frustrates me to the point I give up and use LightRoom...I'm just going to have to bite the bullet at some point (probably this weekend!) as I need to get my process sped up with the number of frames I'm going through!

[Russ]

all that pressure puts me off turning into a pro sports tog at the Olympics.

[TBonz]

I don't have to shoot the Olympics...I could be happy shooting {insert any sport here} as long as I got to shoot and got paid sufficient funds!  Seriously though, that does bring up another interesting question for everyone...New topic time!

[Ron]

Two very interesting reads. Thanks. 

 

I was surprised, although in retrospect I don't know why, that they shoot in Jpeg rather than RAW. 

 

--Ron

[Russ]

I would say as jpegs are much smaller so can be transmitted so much more quickly, especially in bulk.

[Merco_61]

Shooting in Raw with a tight deadline would require an assistant to do nothing but convert to jpg for transmission. No editor will accept anything but finished pictures in standard formats.

[TBonz]

Yep - the only pro I know who shoots RAW for sports is one that doesn't work on any significant deadline...

 

While this is definitely NOT meant as a criticism of him - he's a pro photographer (now retired) who made money shooting...He had some other techniques that I would never have expected a pro to use.  Although I understand his reasons, I disagree with them.  If you compare his experience with the level of expirience of the others I know, I would suggest their knowledge of sports photography is significantly greater than his. 

 

I've tried shooting RAW for sports and JPG will definitely allow more room in the buffer and it seems to allow faster frame rate than RAW as well.  I almost always shoot sports with JPG. 

[nbanjogal]

Everything you're saying about JPG vs RAW I've heard before, and it makes sense, so I was a bit surprised to read that Jeff Cable shoots full RAW, especially considering those 14-minute turnarounds he was talking about. Crazy. Well, whatever he does, he gets results, and his pictures get published.

[TBonz]

Yep...I saw that and wondered as well...I've also had issues when I tried to run full RAW with Photo Mechanic...I'm guessing there's something I missed in his steps but haven't gone back to figure it out...I'm sure I will at some point!

[Ron]

As I said... shooting jpegs seemed more logical to me once I thought about the time constraints. And, the results speak for themselves. The stuff they've posted is gorgeous. It just struck me as odd at the time given the barrage of posts one sees on some forums that scream, 'You must shoot RAW!!' LOL 

 

And, no... I don't want to start an argument about the virtues of shooting RAW versus Jpeg. LOL 

 

--Ron

[Merco_61]

Raw usually gives a better result in the end unless the slow emptying of the buffer makes you miss the shot, but jpg is good enough for print. It is not absolutely black or white, it is more about using the right tool for the task...

[Russ]

All my sports shots I shoot raw, but I have no deadline whatsoever. This is just so I can recover more highlights and shadows on sunny, contrasty days. I like Adobe Camera Raw, and even if I shot jpeg I'd still edit with that so the workflow wouldn't change.

[TBonz]

For me it is mostly about the buffer - being able to keep my finger on the trigger sometimes longer than I'd planned - like yesterday when I was shooting my son leading off second base and he started towards 3rd...I just followed him all the way...but it does help in other areas too...I shoot lots of frames - I can fit more on my cards and just the transfer from card to hard drive is quite a bit faster...Not a whole lot of savings in the processing, but that's OK - I'm working to try and speed that up anyway with whatever I shoot!

 

I'll post some pix from this weekend once I've had a chance to get through them...

[Russ]

Yeah the buffer thing isn't much of an issue with the D300s,  but the D7100 sure is, and I've been considering going back to jpeg for that. The transfer speed no issue either, I'm on USB3 and can start working on the first shot straight away anyway, though I usually go and have a drink or something while downloading.

[TBonz]

I used to do the drink thing, but now that I'm going from card to a solid state disk, it doesn't take too long!  Even with the SSD, it is quite a bit faster downloading the JPG files vs. RAW...

[Russ]

[IanB]

I've been interested in the photographers working the Olympics too--they sure get some amazing images. What a gig, eh? I've been following Jeff Cable since the London Olympics, and just the other day he gave a rundown of his workflow at the Olympics. He also has been giving glimpses of his preparation and gear. I like the personal view he gives his blog readers. As a sports photographer, you might find it intriguing:

 

Jeff Cable's Blog: Crazy fast deadlines and workflow

Loving the link and his blog, now a subscriber, so thanks for the great link.  What a fantastic career this guy has had by the looks of it so whatever he does works for him and i spose that is what counts to the individual.

 

Ian.