Producing pics for a swimming event

Kind of following on from the " Do you need permission" thread. I have been

asked by a local club to cover a weekend swimming event where they would like

a photographer to produce pictures that can be printed straight away and sold

to parents. I will be covering the event for a local paper (being paid) so was

thinking of donating my time provided they covered hire of equipment etc.

 

So my question is what printer should I hire (I think Kodak do a quite good

event one) and what image software package would you advise as I suspect that

photoshop would be way to slow.

 

Any other advice offered would be gratefully received!

 

 

Nigel

Don't use direct flash on wet tank suits.

If you "will be covering the event for a local paper (being paid)", and if I were that paper, I

would consider you and the photos you produce from this event "locked in". I.o.w.

exclusively for me, the paper. I wouldn't appreciate you selling some of those photos to

"third parties" (parents or whomever).

 

Whaddayamean "I suspect that photoshop would be way to slow"? For what exactly? Yes, PS

is a juggernaut of an app. But it IS the king. So if there's anything slow, and you want it

faster.... maybe it's time for a new quad machine loaded with RAM?

 

However, there ARE of course alternatives to Photoshop. PLENTY, to be sure. One photo

editor I can recommend and use often (mostly for retouching work) is PhotoLine32. It's an

excellent photo editor, FREE downloadable shareware with a fully functional trial. And it

handles RAW too. Get it here: http://www.pl32.com/.

You didn't mention whether it's an indoor or outdoor (daylight) event. If it's the latter you

may want to bring a polarizer to control the water reflections.

The paper are paying on a per pic basis and are really only interested in certain local to them swimmers so my time there is really my own so I don't expect a conflict.

 

What I mean by Photoshop being to slow is that I am assuming there will be a fairly high number of pics that need to be cropped to print sizes with some basic work such as sharpening and level alteration and I kind of assumed that there would be some specialist software for this type of event photography?

"What I mean by Photoshop being to slow is that I am assuming there will be a fairly high

number of pics that need to be cropped to print sizes with some basic work such as

sharpening and level alteration and I kind of assumed that there would be some specialist

software for this type of event photography?"

 

That specialist software is Photoshop or any other photo editor, Nigel: find out how to do

"batch" operations on a bunch of pix, set it up, start it, and go to bed. Everything will be

done and ready for you in the morning!

Shooting for a newspaper where you're trying to get one or two visually compelling photos that will catch the reader's eye (and hopefully are of the winning swimmer) is VERY different than shooting an event as an event, where you are expected to get a photo of virtually every kid who competes, especially if you also have to be concerned about making prints on location. You should really make a choice either to shoot for the newspaper or shoot for the event organizers but not both. In addition, many newspapers would consider it a violation of their ethics guidelines to be engaged in a business relationship with a group you are supposed to be there to cover as a journalist.

Nigel,

 

I use Adobe PS Album 2.0 to upload and show parents the photo's. It allows you to burn CDs of selected images and also links to Photoshop for major editing.

 

Andy

I have tryed to do both for the paper and the event and it is just about impossible. For the newspaper you have to keep track of the names of who is in the pool and who is coming out of the pool and can be VERY confusing. There is no way to get pics of every kid at a swim meet. There are hundreds of parents all standing right around the pool and once everyone is wet - THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME! Also when in the water, the kids don't rise out of the water during their relays like the pros do, so sometimes you will get absoltely nothing of an entire relay because they never show their face! Backstrokes are usually the best events to get faces and sometimes the butterfly, but again, they don't rise out of the water as much when they are kids. For software, use Photoshop. If indoors, check using the flash because you can mess up the starts. Also if indoors, shoot raw because of the white balance issues. (most indoor pools are VERY grey and dreary.) Take a towel to sit on and to wipe off your equipment. Look around for funny goggles - they make really good pics!!<div></div>