Event shooters workflow

[CYRN]

For those who cover events professionally. Can share your workflow? Especially those required for "next-day" press publication.

What I found was the below, but it's too extreme for me ....hahaha the infra setup cost itself will paralyze most clients.... no need to deliver in minutes but lets say within a couple of hours after the event.

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/...he_olympics.do

thanks

[narcolepticmind]

Hiya there,
I am not really professional, I am just a student still in secondary school
But i have done work for Straits Times before. I was there as part of their student team writing from a youth point of view. At the same time I was appointed as a photographer and all my works were to be published the next day. It was the Asia-Pacific Conference on Gifted Children so it was theory heavy making it hard for me to both write and shoot especially with a shortened deadline.

What i did was to plan out my shots and immediately picked those i would use while on site. I deleted the bad ones immediately from my dslr and aimed for the instucted shots needed (eg closeups on speakers). Then back in my little headquarters at the event I pulled out my laptop and took out those photos. After some photoshop I handed up my photos a few minutes before the deadline. It took me twenty minutes to resize pics and touch up on colours and stuff. At the same time my laptop was dying because I forgot my charger.

So there you go. Hope it helps.

[Headshotzx]

Originally Posted by narcolepticmind What i did was to plan out my shots and immediately picked those i would use while on site. I deleted the bad ones immediately from my dslr and aimed for the instucted shots needed (eg closeups on speakers). Then back in my little headquarters at the event I pulled out my laptop and took out those photos. After some photoshop I handed up my photos a few minutes before the deadline. It took me twenty minutes to resize pics and touch up on colours and stuff.

I agree.

I'm also a secondary school freelance - shooter (in-school shooter, meaning I get a tag or note from art teacher allowing me to shoot anytime, anywhere, and anyone appropriate). So there were some events that needed 'next day' handling over of pictures.

Firstly, it depends on whether I am willing or have time to spend the after-event time at home sorting pictures out. Usually I have the time, and here's my workflow, from the event itself to finish.

- Setup equipment (RAW, evaluative metering, one-shot), check batteries, if shooting in one place, calibrate WB with DIY- expodisc-like pringles cap+tracing paper)
- Shoot & Chimp; If camera shake is very noticeable, delete straight away.
- Pack-up and head back home. While on the MRT/Bus/Car, review the shots. Any bad shots (camera shake, bad subject movement, VIP blinkers) will be deleted.
- Come back, upload. Use Zoombrowser to rate pictures. 3 stars for great shot, 1 star for 'not bad' shots, and the normal 2 stars for the 'normal' shots. Delete the bad ones.
- By now, maybe 10-20% of the shots have been deleted. I do mass raw editing to the keepers, throw the good ones in photoshop and adjust even more.
- Burn into DVD, and hand up the next day.

The on-computer filtering can take as long as 1-2 hours depending on photoshop work for me.

If I'm really tight on time, I just do narco's method.

Hope this helps.

[theRBK]

haven't shot an event in years (due to contractual blah blah blah in my current occupation)... here's what I can remember

- shoot (that one I leave to you...)
- copy onto computer/laptop/external backup device of choice and BACKUP the files onto another external HDD before clearing cards
- make your own selections, if possible with alternatives for each shot (if possible try not to delete anything first... you never know if anything might come in useful later)
- correct colour and exposure and/or crop images (ie. editorialize images)
- process small (ie. small enough that they cannot use as is but big enough to make decisions) jpgs (including alternatives for the same shot where possible) and email to client for their selection (contractual terms should determine how many they can select)
- amend images for clients as required and check back with clients (repeat as required)
- process selected final files and send over electronically via ftp/email/yousendit.com and/or send over a cd or dvd by courier/personal delivery/pigeon/Lassie/pony express etc ...
- and in your own time, backup files to DVD or some offline external backup for archiving... whether you do it with the help of a dedicated digital asset management program, which allows putting searchable tags onto files and keeping track of where each file is offline, or you do it manually is up to you...

of course, if the client wants to work some other way, or circumstances are against such a workflow, adapt as required ...

a program that I like which makes the process very smooth is Capture One (now in version 4.1), where you can make selections and adjustments while processing files in the background... and set various custom output sizes and formats for various requirements so you don't have to remember the do it manually...

[ungku]

solo setup

-shoot
-move pics to laptop or pc
-edit with bibble pro because its the easiest to use and gives good results for me
-batch process (might take an hour or two)
-burn to dvd/thumbdrive and give on the spot or upload to ftp/email/yousendit
-backup all files to dvd and keep in storage

multi setup
-shoot with wireless transmitter and send to laptop for projection and editing
-2nd person will edit on the spot
-same process as above for the rest

bibble is very easy to use but the capture one software that theRBK recommended is also very good.

[zerartul]

I do events photography for my unit in army last time. Im a canon user.

Take the pictures.
Load into pc after the event
Use DPP to select and process pictures
Batch output via dpp
Special touch up in photoshop on selected pictures if required
Burn into CD
Submit

Using lightroom or dpp makes workflow faster then using standard photoshop as it allows basic correction, cropping and output at the preferred scale all at once.

[unseen]

Most places have a photodesk dedicated to editing photos, so I tend to shoot for what they want.
1) Our press: Every event requires only 1 - 2 photos, so I only need to get "THE shot". With perfect focus, composition, exposure, etc.

2) On JPG of cos, I don't have the time to go fiddle with things the photo desks are handling. And they should be good enough

3) Normally I try get "THE shot" within 10 different shots. A few more "good" shots would help when I'm not confident of "THE shot".
Usually, the moment you press the shutter you should know how it'll turn out. There's only good/print quality photos, and bad photos, no inbetween. Normally bad = delete.

4) The editors don't need that many photos to choose from. It's extra work for them. A few shots for them to pick from is more than enough.

5) I've been told that not being able to shortlist good photos is the sign of a poor photographer. Unless you have a dedicated editor for shortlisting, you better be able to do the job yourself.
Photoshop/editing/cropping comes only after the photos are shortlisted.

[CYRN]

Originally Posted by unseen Most places have a photodesk dedicated to editing photos, so I tend to shoot for what they want. 1) Our press: Every event requires only 1 - 2 photos, so I only need to get "THE shot". With perfect focus, composition, exposure, etc. 2) On JPG of cos, I don't have the time to go fiddle with things the photo desks are handling. And they should be good enough 3) Normally I try get "THE shot" within 10 different shots. A few more "good" shots would help when I'm not confident of "THE shot". Usually, the moment you press the shutter you should know how it'll turn out. There's only good/print quality photos, and bad photos, no inbetween. Normally bad = delete. 4) The editors don't need that many photos to choose from. It's extra work for them. A few shots for them to pick from is more than enough. 5) I've been told that not being able to shortlist good photos is the sign of a poor photographer. Unless you have a dedicated editor for shortlisting, you better be able to do the job yourself. Photoshop/editing/cropping comes only after the photos are shortlisted.

So you choose a couple of "the shot" and submit to the press only after editing or not? this is puzzling for me if they have their own in-house editors, then I only need to shortlist and submit...right?

[tjhan]

There are so many types of event photography. Of course for news, be it web or print, speed is of the essence and you only need a couple of shots. Zeraturl, where were you from?

[IsenGrim]

well,

im not a professional, but i've done shoots that cant be "reshot" (events la)

first things first.
know what pictures you/client/editor want. make a list of it. getting these pictures shot Perfectly is the bare minimum. make sure they are nailed man.

if you're really in for time, get something like a wolverine external harddisk. you can plug in you card and even review and delete useless images, without a laptop nor power supply. it reads jpgs and RAW files.

when you get home, the rest is the same. (LR, PS, GIMP, CD/DVD)

[serendipity]

1) Understand the theme of the event to be published. If possible talk to the writer or editor.

2) Go through the flow of the event, if possible talk to the event incharge, and anticipate when the "theme" scene most likely to happen, and be there.

3) Shot according to theme. technical things like focus, brightness, ..., etc, needless to say.

4) Pick the few most appropriate one and submit ASAP. Let the backend people do the editing. Of course don't give them "mission impossible".

If point (1) & (2) not implementable. Then be there through out, and start from point (3), then point (4) abit tough.