Insider view of an 18 day sports assignment.

[AceCo55]

I always shoot jpeg. I didn't do a first count on the images, but was shooting between 750-1200 per day. I do a lot of in camera deleting while shooting and depending on the sport the keeper rate is a lot higher than others. Generally I would say my keeper is around 90%, of that I would say that they are all good usable images, but again depending on the sport, using figure skating, I would say that keeper rate is around 95%, and 80% are solid images. I may keep a few that are border line in the first edit. I run everything through photoshop, and then go through everything again deleting the ones that don't work. Most of these are the borderline that end up getting dumped.

I use photo mechanic and go through and ID each image, when I originally download the raw files, I add the event and the date, I also get a copy of the game roster so I can add the correct names. For the team sports I copy the roster and add it to folder. Names have to be correct. I don't add any other file info to the images. For the athletes that have numbers, it's easy, for the sports where they don't, judo have names on the back, so I shoot the match board and then their back for the name. For Badminton I shoot the match board with the names, and then just shoot, each player is wearing team colours so that's how I ID those. Any I can't ID by name I just ID by the team.

Thank-you for being so generous to share that. It helps confirm what I'm doing is around the mark ... although I usually have a MUCH lower keeper rate!!! It is/has been a wonderful insight into the life of a working sports pro photog. I love shooting sports but I certainly would not like the pressure and schedule you are dealing with. I hope you still find it "fun" and a joy to capture "that" shot.

 

[imagemaker46]

I always shoot jpeg. I didn't do a first count on the images, but was shooting between 750-1200 per day. I do a lot of in camera deleting while shooting and depending on the sport the keeper rate is a lot higher than others. Generally I would say my keeper is around 90%, of that I would say that they are all good usable images, but again depending on the sport, using figure skating, I would say that keeper rate is around 95%, and 80% are solid images. I may keep a few that are border line in the first edit. I run everything through photoshop, and then go through everything again deleting the ones that don't work. Most of these are the borderline that end up getting dumped.

I use photo mechanic and go through and ID each image, when I originally download the raw files, I add the event and the date, I also get a copy of the game roster so I can add the correct names. For the team sports I copy the roster and add it to folder. Names have to be correct. I don't add any other file info to the images. For the athletes that have numbers, it's easy, for the sports where they don't, judo have names on the back, so I shoot the match board and then their back for the name. For Badminton I shoot the match board with the names, and then just shoot, each player is wearing team colours so that's how I ID those. Any I can't ID by name I just ID by the team.

Thank-you for being so generous to share that. It helps confirm what I'm doing is around the mark ... although I usually have a MUCH lower keeper rate!!! It is/has been a wonderful insight into the life of a working sports pro photog. I love shooting sports but I certainly would not like the pressure and schedule you are dealing with. I hope you still find it "fun" and a joy to capture "that" shot.

Thanks for the words. I do still enjoy being out shooting. These shoots in spite of the long days are really relaxing and pretty much stress free. I have more stress when I'm not shooting. Working with the same client for 15 years, they give me a list of the receptions they want me to cover, if I have the time, I cover what I can, and they understand this. I look at the schedule a couple of days before, and was adding shoots and changing it daily. Not having to work on a rigid schedule is much easier.

 

[Roba]

Thanks Scott, that all made for interesting reading, and i haven't read 7 pages straight on here for ages.

 

[imagemaker46]

Final wrap. Just finished all the edits, a few hundred images over 10,000. On to my next shoot starting next week, 4 days of swimming. Thanks everyone for following along and all the great comments, much appreciated.