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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
What PS actions do you run before transmitting on-site?
Andrew Richardson, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Houston | TX | USA | Posted: 6:50 PM on 07.01.11 |
| ->> Did a search but couldn't find anything relevant less than 5 years old. I'm just curious what kind of quick processing everyone does before they upload. I haven't integrated actions into my workflow yet so I'd like to know what the rest of y'all use. |
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David Butler II, Photographer
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Somers | CT | USA | Posted: 9:27 PM on 07.01.11 |
->> none...
I would say most editors and end users would like an untouched file... Ingest, caption, crop if needed and ftp out.... especially if you are on site and on deadline. :-)
David |
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Bob DeChiara, Photographer
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Burlington | MA | USA | Posted: 9:30 PM on 07.01.11 |
| ->> I'm with David on that one....the less editing the better on site. |
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Brian Blanco, Photographer
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Tampa / Sarasota | FL | USA | Posted: 9:32 PM on 07.01.11 |
| ->> Andrew, what type of client are you transmitting to? A newspaper, wire service, magazine, commercial client, etc... ? |
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Andrew Richardson, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Houston | TX | USA | Posted: 12:11 AM on 07.02.11 |
| ->> wire service, i just know some others like to run sharpening, contrast adjustment, etc. that's why I was asking, I've always just captioned and cropped but I noticed others were doing more. |
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Nick Morris, Photographer
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San Diego | CA | USA | Posted: 1:05 AM on 07.02.11 |
| ->> I like to remove all of the distracting backgrounds like power lines and people with the clone tool, then a little skin softening and add in a nice vignette then finish up with a good noise reduction and sharpening...oh wait, this isn't the wedding forum. Sorry. |
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Brian Blanco, Photographer
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Tampa / Sarasota | FL | USA | Posted: 7:34 AM on 07.02.11 |
->> Andrew, you're on the right track. For a wire service you'll want to do little more than some minor unsharp mask, crop and some slight adjustments to levels... all on an as-needed-only basis. In some cases with odd lighting you may need to do some slight color correcting too.
If your images are already looking good right out of the camera then that's fantastic.
When you're on a tight deadline, most wires would rather you spent what little time you have on making certain your cutlines are accurate rather than making your files 100% "contest-ready".
Also, some wires have specific instructions regarding post-processing. Which wire are you sending to? |
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Jonathan Castner, Photographer
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Denver | CO | USA | Posted: 10:42 AM on 07.02.11 |
| ->> Well I shoot all my work in RAW so a straight from the camera image looks awful. I have built an action that pulls up all my basic adjustments in layers: levels, curve preset, burn/dodge and one for light sharpening. 90+% of the time I just flatten and transmit without doing anything other than just a levels/curves setting. |
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Doug Pizac, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | USA | Posted: 11:47 AM on 07.02.11 |
->> Filing pictures to a wire service or a newspaper or a magazine should be the best you can produce. Consider it like your portfolio to the world for one simple reason -- your name is on it.
If you work for a newspaper where you have a photo editor or tech in the office to handle post production, then you can send in semi-finished work. But if the person on the desk is a news or sports person who will simply drop your work into a layout hole, do you really want to send in unfinished work?
You also have to remember that wire services have far less staff per capita when it comes to the volume of images passing through than newspapers. So those editors have far less time to "fix" your images if they even do. Nor do they necessarily have the means to do so.
AP may be the biggest wire service, but their photo editing monitors are NOT calibrated. That was reconfirmed to me when I was at an AP-NY function last month. I asked because I now teach photography on the college level and use real life scenarios in my material. So if you plan on having your work go out correctly, it won't unless you do it yourself.
As to workflow, make yourself a series of "actions" that you can quickly step through. If you're shooting .jpg then start with levels to set your blacks/whites, then color balance, then curves. And use highlight dodge and shadow burn tools to add snap to your images.
With practice you'll be able to do a better job shooting raw by using a X-Rite ColorChecker Passport for each lighting situation you're shooting in. Its software creates a calibration profile for your camera. I shoot raw and batch correct my selects, tweak them individually and transmit them faster than colleagues who shoot camera jpg and work on them individually. And my images look a ton better. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 1:02 PM on 07.02.11 |
| ->> AP has a pretty Draconian policy about any post processing. The staffers I work next to at various events say they are only allowed to crop their photos. They told me they are not allowed to use ANY sharpening functions. I think you should ask the various agencies you may be working for what their policies are about imaging your photos. |
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Adam Brimer, Photographer, Assistant
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Knoxville | TN | USA | Posted: 1:57 PM on 07.02.11 |
| ->> I use a Photoshop droplet on my desktop to resize photos for galleries on the web for my newspaper / employer. Drag and drop and then FTP to site. |
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Craig Mitchelldyer, Photographer, Assistant
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 2:57 PM on 07.02.11 |
->> "Well I shoot all my work in RAW so a straight from the camera image looks awful."
Uh, I think you might be doing it backwards. You should shoot to get exposure, color balance etc right IN CAMERA, not in post. RAW files if shot correctly will look good right out of camera.
As for the original question:
Very very minor adjustments. Shoot it right to begin with and there will not be a lot that needs to be done. |
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Doug Pizac, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | USA | Posted: 5:01 PM on 07.02.11 |
->> The AP policy of no post process sharpening is because images are to be shot/saved straight to .jpg with in-camera sharpening set. And one isn't suppose to sharpen twice. But if you shoot raw, you have to do a touch of post sharpening so your images don't appear out of focus to the editors. They don't have time to determine if sharpening has to be added; all they see are soft photos.
And as Chuck said, each agency is differenet with different policies. US Presswire for example wants submitted images that sparkle so they don't need fixing.
Think of it this way. If you have 10 pictures and you can make them shine with an extra minute each of post work (toning, color correcting, etc.), that's 10 minutes of quality control. But if 10 photogs send in 10 images that need work, that equates to over an hour and a half of time for the photo editor -- time he/she doesn't have when dealing with hundreds of images instead of just 10. And who is going to do a better job on the image corrections? The photo editor who has no time to spare or the photographer whose name is on the image?
As the old adage goes: "If you want it done right, do it yourself." With all the cutbacks and consolodations that have occurred in the industry, that saying couldn't be more true nowadays. |
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Louis Lopez, Photographer
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Southern California | CA | USA | Posted: 5:35 PM on 07.02.11 |
->> Andrew,
I suggest you email your wire and ask them what their requirements/restrictions are. They may even have a PhotoShop action they can send to you to run on all your images before transmitting. Getting advice from message boards on this type of question is sketchy at best , as different employers/clients have their own criteria. Best to just ask your client/wire you are shooting for. |
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Tim Snow, Photographer
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Montreal | Qc | Canada | Posted: 7:46 PM on 07.02.11 |
->> Definitely check with your client. If they want SOOC, then give that, if they want tons of post, do that.
I post to my paper in Lightroom. It's actually really quick, I shoot all manual and aim to get my shots as good as possible in camera, but in LR I may tweak the WB, blacks and highlights. If I am shooting a concert or sporting event where the lighting is pretty constant fixing the first image in a series and then applying that adjustment to all of the selects globally works beautifully. |
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Butch Miller, Photographer
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Lock Haven | PA | USA | Posted: 7:57 PM on 07.02.11 |
| ->> I totally agree the the main sentiment here ... ask your clients what they want, need or expect you to provide ... and what level of PP they trust you to perform for their intended use ... I only perform such tasks prescribed by the various publications that range from only sending the SOOC RAW file with caption, key wording and base info ... to only cropping/straightening with minor color balance/white balance adjustments ... to full prep and conversion for B&W or CMYK press ready files ... but is is always with their needs in mind ... not what makes it easiest for me ... I always strive to give the as much usable image data as possible ... |
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Andrew Richardson, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Houston | TX | USA | Posted: 3:32 AM on 07.03.11 |
| ->> Thanks everyone, great information and suggestions, exactly what I was looking for. |
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Brad Barr, Photographer
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Port St. Lucie | FL | USA | Posted: 6:52 PM on 07.07.11 |
->> Most editing programs will show your "raw" image using the embedded jpeg for displaing, so the only way they should look "crappy" is if you shot them that way. In LR as many others, you are looking at the image utilizing the in camera settings (wb etc), and only revert to the bland raw version if you start working on them.
I do agree for sure, give the files to the company you shoot for the way they want them. Usually that is pretty much as you shot them....provided of course you shot them correctly. color and exposure especially |
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