A few weeks ago I did a video on the workflow I use for sports. In that video I talked about code replacements. Here's a video on what code replacements are, how to create them, and how to use them. If you haven't checked out the sports workflow video you can check it out here.
Virginia State Soccer Championship
Went up to Fairfax yesterday for the Virginia State Soccer Championship Games and shot four games throughout the day. It was a great day of shooting other than it being extremely hot and humid. It was also a great opportunity to try out the new 200-400mm lens I picked up recently. The lens worked out great especially with the D500. Here's a few of the photos I got.
Nikon D500 High ISO
While trying out the Nikon D500 I wanted to see how good (or bad) the noise was at high ISO. What I found was the noise at 51200 was not as bad as I expected. There is obviously a lot of noise but it was very smooth and even. Quite frankly its still usable, especially if you're shooting low light sports.
Download the DNG files below to check out 25600 and 51200 for yourself.
Nikon D500 First Photos
After getting the new Nikon D500 last week I went out to give it a try. The easiest thing I had to shoot was a sunset. I still wasn't used to all the features of the camera yet so it was kind of rough at first but the more I shot the more I got comfortable with all the settings.
Side note, when I first got the camera I thought the tilting LCD was more of a gimmick and I wouldn't use it that much. I actually ended up using the LCD popped out the whole night. I was using a super low tripod angle so it was nice to be able to tilt the screen up so I could look at it without having to lay almost on the ground.
Here's a couple of the photos I got from the first night with the camera.
Nikon D500 Unboxing
I preordered a Nikon D500 and it just came in. My first impressions are ergonomically its really nice to hold and feels solid and well built. I got the vertical grip with it which makes it feel even better. The buttons are a bit different for me (Im coming from a D3) but thats not that big of a deal.
Personally I think the RAW images come out kind of flat but there is a ton of data in the files that easily allows you to really make them pop if you edit them in in LR or ACR.
The auto white balance is different for me. There are 3 different auto settings one for cooler, one for neutral, and one for warmer which threw me off at first because it was set to the cooler auto setting.
ISO range is ridiculous. There is visible noise but honestly the noise at 51K looks about what 6400 on my D3 looks like.
Haven't played with the video much but I did do a short 4K clip last night just to check the straight out of camera quality and its really awesome.
The autofocus system is incredible. I shot a half marathon this morning and out of the 800 shots or so I think I missed about 5 (using continuous AF).
So far Im very happy with the camera and once I figure out what all the features do Im sure it will be even better. Ill be doing a full review in the next week or two.
Sports Workflow
I've had a few questions over the last couple of weeks about the workflow I use when I shoot sports. Well its actually pretty simple. My program of choice is Photo Mechanic and is sold by www.camerabits.com. Its a fantastic program that allows you to quickly import, sort, caption, and upload photos.
My process starts with creating a folder for the photos. I always use the same format for folders and files which is YEAR-MONTH-DAY followed by the subject. For example "160505 BB Ocean Lakes v First Colonial." I then set up my XMP file with basic information such as location, headline, contact info, etc.
While Im at the game during breaks in the action I will go through the photos and "lock" the photos I think are good. I also leave myself voice memos so I know what was going on in the photos.
When I get done at the game I ingest the photos making sure the apply the basic XMP data and rename the files. Once all the photos are ingested I sort the photos that are "tagged." This will display all the photos I locked while I was at the game.
From there I run through the photos and tag photos that I like and make any crops necessary. Once the photos are tagged I go through and caption the photos that have been tagged. To speed up captioning I use code replacements.
Once all the photos are captioned I save the photos into a subfolder. From there I can either upload the photos for delivery or load the photos into Lightroom.
Virginia Storm
Went out to the beach the other night with a friend to shoot some sunsets. The sunset ended up being covered by the clouds but while we were out there a storm starting rolling in. Right before we left, and it started pouring, I got this photo. Enjoy.
VA Fashion Week
Had the opportunity to photograph VA Fashion Week. It was great to meet all the designers, models, and other photographers. It was fun to photograph but challenging at the same time. Lighting wasn't that great but I worked around that setting up my studio lights. Here are some of the photos I got. For more you can check out www.facebook.com/russelltracyphoto.
Neon Lights
Went to Work|Release in Norfolk for a fashion show and they have a neon display right now. While neon signs are pretty basic they can be quite deceptive to shoot when it comes to exposure. The in camera exposure meter will lie to you and say its way underexposed. Had fun shooting these while I waiting for the fashion show to start. Enjoy.
GoPro Tips for Photographers
After messing around with the GoPro Hero4 Black and some of the photography equipment I have I found a few things that could be pretty helpful to all the photographers out there that have a GoPro.
First, the cases that come with the battery adaptor for Nikon prosumer bodies can hold two GoPros almost perfectly. This is pretty nice if you want to carry your GoPro with you in a camera bag or just for storage.
The second is for photographers that have a lot of grip for lighting laying around super clamps with the studs and magic arms make great mounting points for the GoPro. You just need to get the GoPro 1/4" stand adaptor.
Finally, I found while shooting 4K video the battery doesn't last very long and it doesn't last much longer with a the GoPro battery bacpac. I have a Alienbees Vagabond Mini Lithium that has two 120V outlets (which is great for studio lights) but it also has a USB charger. You can plug your GoPro into the USB charger and get super extended battery life out of a very portable pack.
Hope these tips gave you some ideas to use.
GoPro Hero4 Black Video Time Lapse
Recently picked up a GoPro Hero4 Black and have been messing around with all the features. I recently went out to try the video time lapse feature. This is similar to taking a normal time lapse sequence but it takes all the photos and automatically puts them together into a 4K video.
What I found was while the video time lapse works pretty well for typical time lapse footage but it doesn't do great for sunsets with the camera automatically compensating for the light changing from bright to dark. Im going to try again but use the regular photo time lapse feature.
Here's the video time lapse I captured.
Sunset Timelapse
Went out the other evening with a friend to do some sunset photos and I decided I was going to try doing another timelapse. Overall Im happy with the way it turned out. Next time Im going to start earlier and stay later to get a longer video.
Throwback Thursday
I was going through some old photos and decided to do a re-edit of a photo I took a few years ago. I took this at a shoot in PA back in 2013. We were shooting fashion outside at a dam overflow and there was a pretty cool stairway and overlook next to the overflow. Here's one of the photos I took from that shoot. Hope you enjoy.
Joey and Rory
This is going to be a pretty short post. Joey Feek (from "Joey+Rory") passed away today from cancer. I got to meet and photograph them in concert back in 2009 at APG and wanted to share a few of the photos.
Navy Retirement Ceremony
Last week I had the opportunity to photograph the retirement ceremony for someone on my ship. Its always a honor to get asked to photograph a retirement ceremony even more so when its someone you worked with.
I shot this with a D3 with both the 80-200 f2.8 and 28-70 f2.8 1/100, f3.2 ISO 4000. I had to push the ISO due to the low light in the church but Im still happy with the results. Here's a few of the photos I got. Enjoy.
2015 Review
With 2015 over I wanted to share a few of the photos I took last year. Unfortunately I didn't get to shoot and much as I have in the past but I plan to get out and shoot a lot more this year.
Last Shoot of 2015
As 2015 comes to a close I did one last shoot of the year. We ended up shooting on the white seamless which I made some modifications to. I added a few pieces of foam board behind the background lights to help reflect and even out the lighting on the backdrop as well as on the floor to help the white look more seamless.
Here are a few of the shots I got. Happy New Year.
Army vs Navy Game
In 2010 I had the chance to photograph the Army vs Navy game. It you've never had the opportunity to go to one its an awesome experience. Today is the 116th meeting between the two teams and I wanted to share some of the photos I captured in 2010.
In addition to the actual game I had the chance to meet and photograph six Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. It was a huge honor to meet these men and talk to them. Enjoy the photos.
Photo Challenge
Several weeks ago Jared Polin from FroKnowsPhoto posted a photo challenge on his YouTube page. The challenge basically consisted of going to a location, staying there for one hour and taking photos of everything you see.
Yesterday I decided to go out and give the challenge a try. At first I didn't think the challenge would be very difficult. I found a spot downtown near the waterfront and started shooting. For the first 20-30 minutes I was shooting pretty obvious stuff. After about 30 minutes I starting struggling to find stuff to shoot. This is where the challenge really started. I started looking around and started seeing all the little details I didn't notice at first.
When I left I realized something I had never really thought much about before which is to look outside the box at all the little details. Don't just look at the big picture, look at all the little pieces that make up the big picture.
I pass the same challenge onto you and see what you can get. Here's some of the photos I got yesterday.
Pictures of the Day
I missed putting this up a few weeks ago but here it is now. September 26th 2010 I had a photo featured on the wire service's Pictures of the Day for the first time. Not only was it selected to be in Pictures of the Day, it also happens to be one of my favorite NFL photos.
I was photographing the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns and the Ravens had the ball. I was shooting with the D3 and 400 f2.8 about 15 yards down field. Raven's snapped the ball and I saw Anquan Boldin running down the field towards me. I didn't have time to change cameras to get the 80-200 so I just started shooting as the ball was flying through the air. Right as Boldin passed me he dove for the ball while fighting off the Brown's defender. Here's the shot from Pictures of the Day and the original.
