Author Archives: bobshank

My Photo Mechanic Workflow

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Screen Shot 2013-11-14 at 10.10.06 PMOver the past three blog posts, I shared why I use Photo Mechanic. So I thought it might be helpful to share how I actually use Photo Mechanic in my workflow.

First, I take the time well before each shoot to do some prep work. I create the rosters for each team in TextEdit. Any text editor will work. The creation of this roster file is easy. I give it a header say: //Pleasant Valley Football Roster 2013  Then I create the shortcuts starting with the team name. The format is the shortcut first, a tab, and then the full name. So it looks like this:
pv     Pleasant Valley
p1     Player Name1
p2     Player Name2 …etc.

I save this text file, open Photo Mechanic, go to the menu and select: Edit, Settings, and Set Code Replacements. This brings up a dialog box and all I have to to do is add the new shortcut file I made in TextEdit. I do this for both teams and have my shortcuts ready to go!

The second prep item is to setup the ingest and IPTC information including folder name and filename. I actually use a short folder and filename such as FB131115, which stands for Football and the date of the game with the year, month, and day. Then I add a custom suffix that includes the time each photo was captured. It looks like this: {iptchour24}-{iptcminute}-{iptcsecond} The reason I do this is because I use two cameras during a game. One is on a monopod attached to my 200-400mm lens and the other is over my shoulder with an R-Strap attached to my 70-200mm lens. When I ingest the photos into Photo Mechanic, they are sorted by filename and placed in the exact order I captured them according to the timestamp.

After the shoot, I place my two flash cards in card readers and have Photo Mechanic ingest them simultaneously. This is another nice feature of Photo Mechanic! Even as the photos are ingesting, I can start looking through the photos to find the best ones to send to my editor. To do this, I use the color coding feature. Unfortunately, Adobe Lightroom does not recognize the selected checkmarks from Photo Mechanic, but it does recognize the color codes! You can choose any colors you want. I use Green for my selects, Blue for photos to send to the editor, and purple for photos that will be sent for a photo gallery. I first go through all the photos in the preview mode and press 3 for the select photos, marking them green. I have the preferences set up so that when I do press 3, the preview mode automatically advances to the next photo. Otherwise, I just press the right arrow. I advance through the entire shoot in this way.

Then, I select only the selects by pressing Option(Alt) and clicking on the green color tab in the lower right corner of the screen of the Contact Sheet in Photo Mechanic. This displays only the photos I marked with the green label. Now, I go through them again, pressing 4 for the very best ones I want to send to my editor for possible publication. This marks them with a blue color. Then I go through each one of these to create captions for each one. This is where Photo Mechanic really shines!

Writing the caption is easy. I first click on the Info button in the Contact Sheet to bring up the photo’s IPTC info dialog box. Then, in the caption box, I start writing my caption. Let’s say that Pleasant Valley’s running back, #28, whose name I may not even know, is the main subject of a photo running into daylight through a hole made by the offensive line. I simply press p28 and his name appears in the caption box! Voila! Isn’t that awesome! This is really handy and a time-saving process for me. There are times when I can’t quite see the player’s full number, so I may have to go back through the series of photos captured at this time to make sure I have the correct number. But this one feature makes Photo Mechanic my goto software for what I do on every sports shoot!

Once all the captions are written, I need to submit them to my editor either via DropBox or FTP. I select the photos to send and then right click and choose Save Selected Photos As. This allows me to save the photos in the size and resolution of my preference. Once they are saved, I send them to my editor and I am almost done.

I then go back to the select (green) photos and select the ones I want to submit for an online gallery at the newspaper by pressing 5 and marking them as purple. I give them a more general caption such as, Pocono Mountain West v. Pleasant Valley November 15, 2013. Then I save them and send them to my editor.

When I get home, I import all the photos into Lightroom. The color codes are maintained, so I flag all these photos and then create Collections for the selects and the photo gallery. I also create a Collection for any photos that were published.

This is my current workflow with Photo Mechanic and Lightroom. It works really well for me solo, though I will occasionally supplement using Mitrefinch tms solution for team management, when working with a team of photographers and/or covering a variety of shots and not wanting duplicates. Communication is always key there! It is fast and efficient, and allows me to quickly sift through all my photos and send the best ones to my editor for publication. Pretty sweet!

 

Why I Use Photo Mechanic (Part 3)

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Screen Shot 2013-11-14 at 10.10.06 PMWorking as a freelance stringer for a newspaper requires me to quickly sort through all the photographs of an event, pick the photos to submit to the editors, and write captions for each one. This can all be done in Lightroom and other software packages, but not nearly as easily and quickly as in Photo Mechanic. Code Replacements in Photo Mechanic is the primary reason I use this software on every sports shoot.

Here is an example: I am working through the select photos to submit to my editor and the deadline is fast-approaching. I need to write captions quickly and accurately to meet my deadline. Code Replacements allow me to use a shortcut, which includes the number of the players jersey, to include the players full name. Other shortcuts are also available, such as the team name, location, and any other metadata I choose to include in the caption. So to specifically describe this example, I come across a photo I need to write a caption for and include the players’ names. I simply use Code Replacements by pressing \code#\. It’s that simple and it’s incredibly quick! My code simply includes an initial or two of the team, say “P” for Pleasant Valley, and then the player #. So with 4 simple keystrokes I have the player’s name accurately and efficiently placed into my caption. “\P#\. This is especially helpful for the visiting teams whose players I do not know. Using the jersey numbers to help create my captions is awesome!

I do have to upload the roster for each team prior to the game, but this is easily accomplished. I absolutely love Code Replacements. They make my job much more manageable. I can provide accurate and quick captions for the photos I submit to my editors. What’s not to like?

 

 

Why I Use Photo Mechanic (Part 2)

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Screen Shot 2013-11-14 at 10.10.06 PMYesterday I started a series of blog posts about why I use Photo Mechanic. I received several comments regarding this software; some were favorable and some were not. I understand that some people have a hard time changing or adding new software to their workflow. Others will not want to pay the money to add software to their repertoire. I am not trying to persuade you to follow my preferences; I am just sharing why I like Photo Mechanic so much.

The second reason I use Photo Mechanic is the speed in moving from viewing one photo to the next. This is where the Photo Mechanic’s speed really shows up. The ingest (or import) speed is faster than Lightroom but not incredibly faster in comparison. I do think every second counts, especially when I am up against a deadline. But side by side, moving through large files of photos to view them one after the other is really where Photo Mechanic outshines Lightroom by leaps and bounds!

Do a test for yourself. Open Lightroom and then open a photo in the Loupe view so the image fills the screen. Now scroll to the next few images one at a time. You will probably see the photo fill the image right away but you might see a little black box in the bottom, middle of the screen that reads, “Loading…” until the photo fully loads. This is the case especially when you are viewing RAW files. It just takes a while for the full-sized photos to fully load in Lightroom. Now do a test in the trial version of Photo Mechanic. Do you see a difference?

Tomorrow I will share my most favorite reason why I use Photo Mechanic. It is so helpful that I could never imagine not using this software to shoot another sporting event!

 

Why I Use Photo Mechanic (Part 1)

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Screen Shot 2013-11-14 at 10.10.06 PMI was introduced to Lightroom several years ago and I still use Lightroom today. It is my preference for databasing my photographs and doing much of my photo editing and uploading galleries to my website. But something changed recently that introduced new software to my workflow.

I started shooting sports for a local daily newspaper, The Pocono Record. This new endeavor forced me to look at things differently in order to meet the stringent deadlines. One quick example: Friday night high school football games start at 7pm in my area and the deadline for photos to the newspaper is 9:15pm. The game is barely into the 3rd quarter in most cases by this time! Sorting through my photos and picking the ones to submit to the paper requires speed and efficiency.

I heard about Photo Mechanic and some of its speedy features, so I decided to check it out. I perused their website and decided to download a trial copy of the software for a month. After just one photo assignment, I was hooked!

The first reason I use Photo Mechanic is speed. This software doesn’t mess around. It allows me to quickly and efficiently sort through over a thousand images in short order. The speed of uploading my flash cards is much quicker than in Lightroom, and forwarding through image after image to preview them is much quicker, too! In reality, I read about this, but was hesitant to actually believe the hype. It wasn’t until I tried it myself that I realized the hype was right!

I will share my Photo Mechanic workflow in upcoming blog posts, but Part 1 of this series is clear: I use Photo Mechanic because of its speed. It is fast and it is efficient. Give it a try. Compare it to your preferred software and see if it makes any difference to you.

 

Game Day Celebrations

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Millersville v. East Stroudsburg Universtiy

Chest pumps, high fives, spikes, and dances are just some of the celebrations you will see on game day after a touchdown or a big play. Photographing these celebrations helps to tell the full story of the game. Keep your camera on the player who scored the touchdown long after the play. Keep following and shooting, and you will get shots likes these.

Millersville v. East Stroudsburg UniverstiyTouchdown celebrations have changed over the years. Some include a simple spike of the football. Other times it is a complicated and well-rehearsed combination of moves. Either way, these can be great photographic moments! Tracking the players and always being ready are the keys to success.

Millersville v. East Stroudsburg UniverstiyCapturing the faces of at least one of the players is a good goal with celebrations. Using a wider angle lens is often a good idea, especially if the celebration breaks out in the endzone near your spot. Pay attention to the backgrounds, too.

Millersville v. East Stroudsburg UniverstiyChest pumps are all the rave these days. From the pro games down to the pee wees, chest pumps are often seen on the football field. Capturing these celebrations is simply a matter of being prepared and following the players after the whistle blows and the play is over. Give it a try.Millersville v. East Stroudsburg Universtiy

 

 

 

Football Action Photos

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Millersville v. East Stroudsburg UniverstiyAnother college game produced some great action for me to photograph this past Saturday as East Stroudsburg hosted Millersville.

It was not a close game–ESU ran away with it actually. But the action was thrilling nevertheless! I was more successful in following the action with my camera and the athletes provided some great action on the field!

Millersville v. East Stroudsburg Universtiy

What do you think about these action photos?

Millersville v. East Stroudsburg Universtiy

 

 

 

College Football Photos in the Easton Express-Times

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Millersville v. East Stroudsburg UniverstiyToday I photographed the Millersville v. East Stroudsburg University football game. It was my first stringer assignment for the Easton Express-Times. They posted this photo and a gallery of my photos from today’s game on their website, which you can view here.

I said before that the atmosphere of shooting a college football game is over the top and today was no exception. Even though ESU won 66-17, it was a thrill to be there and shoot the game! I’ll tell you, being alongside the field sure beats being a couch potato and watching the games at home on TV!

Today I was a little more successful tracking the receivers down field to capture the action on the pass receptions. Knowing some of the go-to players helped. Knowledge of the game and the situation on each down is also advantageous. I believe I am getting better with my sports photography and I hope my sports photos show it!

 

 

More College Football Photos

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Lock Haven v. East StroudsburgThe Lock Haven v. East Stroudsburg college football game was a thrill for me to photograph on a number of levels. It was my first college football photo assignment. This alone had me psyched up! It was also an afternoon game and I was looking forward to shooting a game in more available light. The thrill of watching these college athletes compete on the gridiron was more than enough to get me excited!

The action did not disappoint. It was high energy from the start! The intensity, emotion, and enthusiasm were all present from the start. This first photo above shows some of the passion put on the field by these players. It is absolutely incredible! And to think I have the honor and privilege of being on the field to capture these special moments with my camera… well, it’s just mind boggling!

Lock Haven v. East StroudsburgHomecoming always seems to host an enthusiastic and high-energy crowd. When the home team scores; all the better! Here, wide receiver, Robert Bleiler, is running for the touchdown after a 96-yard run after reception.

Lock Haven v. East StroudsburgRobert Bleiler & Greg Blue are celebrating after a touchdown in this photograph. Capturing the emotions and celebrations after a play can be very successful. Just be very careful about putting a camera in the face of a defeated player.

Lock Haven v. East StroudsburgKickoffs are not always the easiest play to photograph. There is just so much going on at this time. Players are everywhere and it looks like organized chaos! Here I was able to obtain a clean view of the kicker without another player in the frame. Whew, lucky!

 

 

 

 

ESU Football Kicking Record Broken!

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Lock Haven v. East StroudsburgEast Stroudsburg University kicker, Taylor Groff, broke the school record for most points kicked in a career! The record-breaking kick took place in Saturday’s Homecoming Game against Lock Haven–a game which ESU won handedly!

Lock Haven v. East StroudsburgGroff was poised to potentially break two kicking records this week. He was inline to best the most points kicked in a career and top the total number of field goals made by an ESU kicker. He accomplished the first one and is still on track to accomplish the second one before the season ends. Both remaining games are at home, so if he breaks this record it will also be in front of his home crowd.

Lock Haven v. East Stroudsburg

Lock Haven v. East Stroudsburg

 

My First College Game Photo Assignment

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Lock Haven v. East StroudsburgSaturday I photographed the Lock Haven v. East Stroudsburg college football game–my first college photo assignment. It was a thrill to be on the college scene and it was Homecoming to boot!

I arrived early enough to obtain my credentials at the gate. This is definitely a different scene than my usual Friday night high school football games. I also had just enough time to watch both teams in their pre-game warmups. I like to do this in order to determine who the main go-to players appear to be for each team. I also like to determine whether the quarterbacks are right or left-handed.

The National Anthem was sung and both teams took the field to much enthusiasm in the stadium. Being on a college field on a Saturday afternoon was almost surreal! I quickly gathered my composure and settled in to photographing the game. As expected, I found the daylight shooting time to be much easier than my typical high school Friday nights under the lights. It was cloudy at times, which did cause some different problems. The clouds would open up and bright sunlight illuminated the players. Then, as the game progressed, dark shadows from the bleachers draped onto the field. I concluded after the shoot that in those conditions I might have been better off using the Auto-ISO setting.

Lock Haven v. East StroudsburgNevertheless, I was able to capture some quality photographs of the game. I enjoyed the abundant and glowing light, which appeared through the clouds at times. I also prefer to compose the action photos tightly. Backgrounds were a problem, even at a college game. Some empty bleachers, vehicles at the one end of the field, and other distracting backgrounds came into play at times for me. Backgrounds are critical for a quality sports photograph and I was successfully able to work around these problems some of the time but not always.

I also found myself better able to capture the eyes of the players in the daylight. This is one of the three main criterion for a “What makes a football photo great,” according to Peter Read Miller in his book, On Sports Photography. I highly recommend this book as a resource for sports photographers. It is chock full of great info and tidbits of information to shoot sports more successfully. I am finding it extremely useful in my current photo endeavors and re-read the football chapters again before going out to shoot this college game on Saturday afternoon.

One thing I quickly agreed with Peter Read Miller about was the struggle to photograph a football game between all the officials. There are more referees at a college game than in a high school game. They were all over the place! I found myself having to move upfield ahead of the play more than typical for me. I also agree with Peter that the end zone was the sweet spot much of the time as the teams were driving for a score. Using my 200-400mm f/4 lens was invaluable. I was proud to sport my Nikon cap from my position alongside the field because my Nikon equipment was helping me capture some amazing photographs!

Lock Haven v. East StroudsburgThe college game is longer than a high school game, so endurance was more of a consideration than I originally imagined. My knees were more achy than typical as a result. Wearing kneepads certainly helped, as I prefer to keep a low profile in my shooting position. I just think this makes for a much better perspective when shooting football, and just about any sport for that matter. Take a knee (or two) when shooting a game and you will see a big difference!

The college game is also faster than a high school game. I found it more difficult to track the receivers and be on time when they caught a pass from their QB. I did get better as the game progressed, but it was definitely a challenge. In the future, I need to learn more about the QB’s tendencies and who his main go-to guys are in important downs. Knowledge of the game and the teams’ tendencies are invaluable.

All-in-all, my first photo assignment at a college football game was successful. The newspaper printed one of my photos of the ESU quarterback who had a big day. He passed for 462 yards and four touchdowns in this game! My tight photo of him winding up to pass down field was the winning photo picked by the editors.

Now, I cannot wait for my next college day assignment! It was an absolute blast and I can’t wait to do it again! I am sure I will learn more and keep perfecting my sports photography skills.

Lock Haven v. East Stroudsburg