Before and after - Post processing sports in Lightroom

Here is a quick look at a few images from high school basketball and how I adjust them for newspaper, as well as how far you can take them with a quick edit in Lightroom.

Terrell played hard but lost to Carrollton Newman Smith Tuesday night... It was not a great night shooting for me as much of the best action took place on the opposite end of the court, regardless of where I went.

However, when looking through the images, I was pleasantly pleased to find that the players were very expressive.  When players are really hustling, it shows on their faces.  That, in turn, makes much better pictures even when you don't get the best action shots.

OK... here is a quick 1-2-3.

Camera setup was Canon 1D mkIV, 50mm, ISO2000, 1/1250, f2.  That turns out slightly underexposed.


Same picture, as sent it in to the newspaper...  Bumped up the exposure a bit, sharpened and with some noise reduction.  It makes a big difference for the newspaper press, which tends to print dark on most days.  If the images will run in black and white, I bump the exposure even more because anything dark gray prints black, and white is the color of the paper itself.


I do more than 90% of my normal processing in Lightroom, and really 100% of the work for newspaper.  But even in Lightroom, you can go pretty far into the realm of 'edgy magazine feature' with just a few clicks.  Oh the drama.


Here are a few more with a basic edit and an over-the-top version based on Matt Kloskowski's "Game Day" Lightroom presets.

This one is with the 70-200mm lens, iso3200, f2.8, 1/1000






Another boring shot but with nice expression in the eyes.

Fun with gifs part two

After yesterday's fun with some animated .gifs, I noticed another perfect opportunity for more.  Students performed with jump ropes and hula hoops at halftime of this evening's Terrell vs Tyler John Tyler basketball game.

To make these, I just fired a high-speed burst of the action, processed them, and joined them using an online .gif maker.  This one was very user friendly and allowed more images in the mix than some others (some limit to 3).  Google will find you many others if you search 'animated gif maker.'

And, for you Gosnells...

Have a great weekend.

Monday Photo Roundup - Nov. 12

Terrell travelled to Highland Park for the final game of the season.  As halftime shows go, the Highland Belles were the best dance/drill team I've seen all year.  It's too bad their website has a bunch of mediocre photos that are distorted.

Which leads me to another point.  Don't stretch/bend photos to fit a spot.  Crop them if you have to, but stretching to fit is terrible.  It is also one reason photogs hate giving up digital files to customers.  If you make a photo look ugly, it reflects back on the photographer.

Transfer B&W photos onto clear contact paper to stick them anywhere...

An intriguing photog project - contents of insane asylum patient suitcases.  There is so much history there and so much unknown about the owners of the objects.

10 surefire ways to become a better photographer.  I subscribe to this method, and add one more step.  Also look at a lot of photos.

And if you want better photos of the moon, here is a comprehensive article on that topic.

The football action was a little lopsided Friday, and my shots were just OK.  I'm thinking the lady in the endzone was positioned just right for this play.


Same for whoever was shooting from the other side here..


Have a great week.

Telling the tale of a losing effort

Action shots at sporting events can often be misleading in telling the story of the game.  Photo editors look for shots that depict how the game went, but it is sometimes the non-action shots that really tell the tale.

Such was the case last night as Terrell (the team I was covering) fell behind early.  It was clear that the teams were badly mismatched and it would be a long night for the Tigers.  After several turnovers and no offensive movement of the ball at all, Terrell head coach Kevin Wilson called a timeout in the first quarter to rally the team a bit.  A short walk to my left and I had the team, coach and scoreboard lined up...


The action shots can be telling, of course, but that becomes a bit like singling out players in one instance of bad play.. A quarterback falling untouched in the backfield for example..

Or getting tossed at the line of scrimmage..

An interception..


Or being tackled by more than half of the opposing team's players at once. Not sure how that happens. Seven West Mesquite players got to the runner.


There were three Terrell highlights, only one of which I managed a photo of.  I was in a bad spot for a fake punt that worked for a first down.  Same an interception that went back for a long defensive touchdown.

A long (81 yard) pass and run for a touchdown was right in front of me, so of course, the receiver was facing the other sideline...

He turned my way after the catch, but alas, the moment was gone. It could be any play of the game.

Still, for me, the photo at the top tells the tale pretty well by itself.

Thursday Night Lights at Mesquite Memorial

The Terrell Tigers will go into Mesquite Memorial Stadium as the definite underdog for tonight's matchup.  Luckily for everyone shooting photos, the lights and unique features of the venue can help make up for what may be a lopsided game. The large communications tower at the south end of the field can be incorporated with a wide-angle lens ...






And a nice grassy bowl at the end of the field makes a clean background for on-field action.


And lighting is better than average, so it should be a good night, at least for the cameras.

Monday Photo Roundup - Oct. 1

Settling into fall and football weather..  To follow up on last week's homecoming post, here is an interesting observation.  On Friday, the best reaction upon the announcement of king and queen winners was from the parents rather than the students.

Be a Photographer!  1946 vocational film shows that everything has changed, and not much has changed.


The cost of printer ink, relative to other liquids.  There's gold in them thar cartridges!

Big price drop on the still-impressive Canon 5D Mk II.  The dreamy look of modern wedding and family portraiture is, in part, the work of this camera.  However, the autofocus and sensor improvements of the Mk III version may be worth almost twice the price?

There are other Canon rebates as well...

Golden corporate headshot advice from The Slanted Lens is up on Strobist...

Finally... In low-light high school football, you really want the action to be right in front of you (or invest in an $11k lens).  So it was nice to be in the right place at the right time Friday.  In Terrell, the light is particularly bad, as you can see in this series....

Have a great week!

Homecoming Queens

Ahhh, Homecoming.  The wonderful high school tradition that is lost on me, but that is OK.  Maybe I will get more sentimental later in life.

I was discussing photog duties during homecoming with another photog and was reminded that this will be my fifth year doing this.  Which is a challenge now to make something that doesn't look like every homecoming shot from the last four.

Of course, the homecoming queen is the primary objective.  Football and all else may be lost, but you really need the queen :).

The real problem is that there isn't much room to take a risk.  You have to get some sort of shot for the newspaper to run.

The first year I shot homecoming was the best reaction moment of all so far.

2009 was less of a reaction, and less of a sharp photo by me. Not what I would call a success.



2010 was a switch to Terrell, but I didn't get much from the reaction.  A bonus, the queen's face was nicely framed by the previous queen's arm as she was crowned. Sometimes the arm is blocking the face instead.


Last year was a good reaction and a poor job by the photographer capturing it...

At least the crowning shot was in focus.

This year, it will be two homecoming games.  A few weeks ago in North Forney I got an OK reaction shot..


And an OK crowning/hug.  But just OK.


Hopefully an early start will mean good light and a good shot tonight.

See y'all in Terrell.

The fun part

For me a 13-hour stretch this weekend was great example of why it is fun to keep a foot in the world of photojournalism.  Dealing with a lot of varied situations can only make you a better photographer.

Friday night started with volleyball as the two Forney ISD high schools squared off.  I had about 20 minutes to get some useable shots for the Tribune.  Getting there a little early allowed me to get some stock shots of most of the players for North Forney.  Of course, you also get a lot of this in volleyball.


Then it was a short drive over for the first night of Rodeo Terrell. The Tribune had a big hole on the front page that needed a photo, so no pressure there. Second rider out of the chute in Bareback Bronc riding was a keeper..


More photos from Rodeo Terrell can be seen at the Tribune's Facebook page.

After editing into the weee hours, it was a early alarm to head to the lake. High school fishing competitions are apparently a rapidly growing, with lots of prizes and college scholarship money on the line. We will look at that in the next edition of Kaufman County Life magazine. No clouds meant a beautiful morning in the boat with some really cool young men and dedicated volunteers who make Kaufman's program a success. Did I mention the light was great?

You'll have to get the magazine to see the good ones :). Of course, a large part of fishing is waiting for fish. The 70-200 is NOT a birding lens by any stretch, but hey, the birds were there.

I just need to figure out how to tell them to fly on the other side of me to get the good light. Hmmmmm... Have a great rest o' the weekend.