8:26am
We are supposed to leave for the XL Center around 10:00am today. I'm focused on getting some good documentary shots. Not going to think too much about how lame yesterday was. Just thankful I even got the shots I DID get.
Paul told me a little about their pre-game antics that normally happen. I'm hoping that the girls aren't so serious today. I need to get some energy and emotion from them.
Also, a win would be nice considering my contract situation. A "one and done" tournament would not be very beneficial to me. Paul is being great and allowing me to charge for the travel day since it was originally supposed to be a flight.
One problem is the coach. On one hand, she wants a lot of candid shots. Buy, everytime I mention to Paul that I want to shoot 1 or 2 pics in their video meeting, the locker room before the game, etc... he seems hesitant to ask her.
So in the future, I have learned that I make these things part of my contract. Otherwise, I am faced with the struggle of getting good shots.
Oh, and she's upset that I don't have more pics of the forwards. My response? They don't do anything worth shooting! Missing layups is boring. But, she is the client. I have to kiss her ass a little today so she remembers me. Well, off to prepare!
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2:02pm
Well, it ended as quickly as it began. Over 1,200 RAW photos were taken and we'll be on the bus back to Pittsburgh first thing in the morning. It's dissapointing, but all-in-all a good experience. I'll post some sample images later today. Right now, it "pack up the gear" time.
10:56pm
Only about 160 miles from Pittsburgh. It's been a long day. I decided to just go through the raw images and sharpen, adjust levels & curves and crop while we were driving. Ended up with about 200 keepers. Not bad considering most of it was action and I still can't squeeze off just one frame consistently.
I've come up with a pretty slick workflow for images that will probably end up on the website or used for the media guide. I shoot RAW, use DPP to apply the "standard curve assist" first, then I literally push the sharpening to 500%. I know that sounds like alot, but the images pick up a little noise but "jump" off the screen. I figured it out last night while playing with some images from the first day.
I don't recommend this for every project. Obviously this is extreme, both in automation and sharpening. The 1D mkII has awesome color depth, white balance and sharpness. I am trying to figure out any reason to ever need 15-25 megapixel. I'm sure there are reasons, but not in my application so far.
If I were just processing 5-10 images for print, I would do my Photoshop workflow which is easy and makes the images "pop".
First, I shoot RAW. Second, I adjust levels in DPP. It works fine and I can either do that or adjust the. In Photoshop. I really haven't worked much with RAW in PS. And, I use version 7.0 on a PC. Not exactly the photographer's choice for post-processing gear.
After the levels are adjusted, I apply between 300 & 500% sharpening. This is where I open the image in Photoshop and fix imperfections, etc.
Lastly, if noise is an issue, I'll run the whole batch through a very low frequency filter in Neat Image. I can usually shoot at ISO 800 or below so it really isn't a big issue in my mind.
So, back to the topic... this has been a great experience. The coach was iffy about a new team photog but I did my best to schmooze her a little. I think it worked. We'll see when I talked to Paul his coming week.
I have to remember to send a thank you card to Paul, Agnes and the staff for being so accomodating to me. I know having a photog everywhere you go can be annoying.
Well that sums up the 2010 Big East tournament for me. I wish it would have been longer but it is what it is. Hopefully, this leads to many opportunities with Pitt and the networking that I've done. I did, however, forget to give the people in charge my biz card. I'll include it in the thank you card.
Now... what us next? Oh yeah, working for the PAHL. Time to make some calls
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