First Attempt with LR4 Fr Football

Generally it is better to get C&C if you show the before an after.

-Timing is off, no peak action here, this is mid tackle. I want the initial hit or the violence of the actual throw.
-Crop tighter, if your image doesn't hold up then that means you need to shoot tighter.
-Exposure looks maybe a half stop or so underexposed.

looks crisp, great colors
yeah, this action being captured could be better timed, using burst mode?
cropping to upper bodies of both players could be interesting if you have the resolution for it.
exposure is off slightly
now for LR, remember, once you have invested that 30 mins for just one photo you can do one of two things. First, you can save your editing procedure as a "preset" under "develop" and then apply it to each additional photo with single click on the preset in the left hand side of the develop module.
second, and best way, is to go down to the filmstrip at bottom of screen where the photo you are working on is highlighted and then select all the other photos that you want to do that way by either holding down "control" key and clicking on the additional photos, or holding down the "shift" key and going to the last photo in the series (regardless of how many photos in the series) and click on the last one and all the ones in between will be selected. Then look just above the filmstrip on the right hand side and you will see "synchronize" button, click it and all the hard editing work you did on the first photo will be automatically applied to each photo that was selected, so spending 30 mins on one photo can mean spending 30 mins on ALL the photos.
NOTE: if you cropped the initial image then when you click on the "synchronize" button make sure you don't select "crop" in the pop up box that comes up after clicking synchronize or else the same crop will be done on each photo.
Another great thing about LR is to take one typical photo and make minor adjustment to say, just color green, then save that as preset "more green" and another for "highlights blown out" and another for "lightening shadows" and so on. Then you can quickly take a photo and make each step in edit very rapid by clicking on just the presets that you need, then making minor adjustments in the final image using the sliders.
If you find you do the same thing for EVERY photo taken at night football games then save that as a preset labeled "night football" and use it in the "Import dialog" module so it is applied to the images as they are loaded into LR.
see how easy it gets using LR?
there are plenty of free presets out there on the web, just google for them.
Have fun

yeah its dark on here
It was brighter on my puter
I know the shot isnt very good
Its all I I had time to post

teaching is time consuming
some days wear me out

thanks guys good tips

its on my fb page
It looks better there

add me if you want

Pat Carrigan

Nice work, Pat.

thanks

Im slow but Im plugging along

I learn so much for all of you
I may not understand it all
but thanks for your patience

Im still an idiot
but Im trying

all of you inspire me

I have to say, 30 minutes for one picture is at least 60X longer than it will take you some day. LR is organized so that you just go down the develop tools panel. The farther down you go the less you should need that tool (for the most part).

Here's the way I think about it:
I straighten and crop first. That lets me see if a picture is going to hold up, if it is sharp, etc.. If not, move on.

Then, for the adjustments:
1) get the white balance correct. If you don't the picture will never look right and the adjustments you make may need to be redone once you do correct it.
2) get the overall exposure correct with the exposure slider. I shoot in RAW so that I can adjust the most.
3) fix the highlights and shadows if necessary. On a properly exposed frame adjustments here should be minimal but in football you have the problem of faces in the shadow of the helmet. Use the shadows slider to help a little. Big moves start to look bad, kind of a HDR type effect.
4) I tend to sharpen and apply noise reduction in batches, at then end of my session. Pick one photo that is representative of others, apply appropriate sharpening and noise reduction and sync the entire group with that photo. Then move on to the next group.

This all is harder to describe than to do. It really takes 30 seconds per photo. Keep at it and you can get there.

Also, exporting is not really saving in LR. In fact when you export, that version typically never ends up in LR, at least not in my workflow. Exporting is creating a version of the photo for a particular use. LR saves all your changes as you make them. If you do nothing else but shut down the program you will return to the same place you left a photo the next time you select it. The history panel shows everything you have done to it and it lets you go back to any point in time as you worked the photo.

When you export you decide how big, what file type and compression, if the photo gets a watermark, etc. You can export a photo in as many ways as you need and the original work and your ability to undo it remains.

Keep at it. LR4 is a great tool.

I did not do this?

When you export you decide how big, what file type and compression, if the photo gets a watermark, etc. You can export a photo in as many ways as you need and the original work and your ability to undo it remains.

I didnt know or do any of that ?
I was lucky to get them saved on my external hard drive

For my work flow I still use Lightroom 3.6, I never did feel the need to upgrade.
I do these adjustments for every batch of photos that I post process. Also know that there can be other methods that will get you to the same place. These steps are what I know and use.

I shoot everything in RAW and JPEG these settings are for the RAW photos.

Some of these steps can be selected by using the hot keys.

1. Pick one photo and crop to Maxpreps size/ratio.
2. Select the white balance.
3.Move the recovery slider to 100.
4.Clarity to +30
5. Vibrance to +15
6. under the Tone Curve use 'Strong Contrast'
7.Sharpening to 50
8. Noise reduction 'luminance' to 40
9. Under the 'Edit' button 'Select All'
10. go to 'Develop' mode
11. Select the 'Sync' button
12.In the "Synchronize Setting' box check only those settings that are listed above,
13.Go to 'Library ' mode and then the "library button' select 'Previews' and 'render 1:1 previews'

The only step that I will adjust is #8 depending on the camera and ISO. I have found that '40' may not be necessary but it is a good starting point.

If you are shooting JPEG then some or all of these settings may not be needed as your camera may be making the adjustments already.

Once the photos have been rendered I will then go back through in the Library mode so that all I have to do is scroll and left click with the mouse between 'fit' and '1:1' to determine if the photos was in focus. If not in focus I will then pick that photo using the 'P' key. Once all of the out of focus or other wise bad photos have been selected I then go to the 'Edit' mode and 'Select Flagged Photos', next I will right click on one of the selected photos and select the delete photo button. From there I will delete the photos from the hard drive. Learn to delete, it will save hard drive space and eventually it help make you a better photographer.

Now that the initial adjustments have been made I will do the final crop and any exposure adjustments that may be necessary. Once that is done I will export and save the photos as necessary.

Right click, export, read the sections to get descriptions of what they do.

LR4 kills LR3 in noise reduction alone.

John Thanks
Ill try to digest that

I still dont know If Im importing them right

DNC?

or something like that

sorry for my ignorance

John Godwin wrote in post #14960448
Some of these steps can be selected by using the hot keys.

1. Pick one photo and crop to Maxpreps size/ratio.
2. Select the white balance.
3.Move the recovery slider to 100.
4.Clarity to +30
5. Vibrance to +15
6. under the Tone Curve use 'Strong Contrast'
7.Sharpening to 50
8. Noise reduction 'luminance' to 40
9. Under the 'Edit' button 'Select All'
10. go to 'Develop' mode
11. Select the 'Sync' button
12.In the "Synchronize Setting' box check only those settings that are listed above,
13.Go to 'Library ' mode and then the "library button' select 'Previews' and 'render 1:1 previews'

The only step that I will adjust is #8 depending on the camera and ISO. I have found that '40' may not be necessary but it is a good starting point.

John, what type of photography do you do? sports?
I agree with most of what you said, on #4 I might only increase clarity to 20
#6: I prefer Medium Contrast
#7: 50 is pretty aggressive for sharpening right out of the box. I would set it at 20
#8: 40 is too aggressive in luminous noise reduction, makes things too soft. I often have mine at 0-10 but I shoot a low ISO so maybe that is difference.


Burnett: after you do above, whatever "recipe" you choose, John's, mine, or your's then save it as a preset. You may even find that some stadiums deserve their own settings/presets because of better/worse lighting and different ones for day/afternoon/night games.

In addition to John's suggestion to flag photos for deleting (and you will get fast at doing that using keyboard shortcuts and arrow keys) also use the "star" settings or "color codes" to identify your best shots, 5 star, 3 star, or red for best green for maybe, etc.

when exporting files, examine the export dialog box that pops up and read what you can do with it. say the game is St Peters vs Allen, then name the files "StPete-Allen" and set it up to include date and it will save it like this filename: "StPete-Allen 09/11/2012-1.jpg" where the -1 at the end of the name is the 1st file saved, then the next will be saved with -2, -3, and so on.
You can set it to save to a certain file size or to a certain length or width or both, at a certain dpi (72 for web, 360 for print)
you can set it up to always include your watermark, whether a logo or just plain text.
you can set it to automatically upload to Flickr, smugmug, etc

after the first export done this way, each additional export just right click and select "export with Previous" so it will use the same settings as first photo. You can also select ALL the photos and export them all at once with just one click!! very cool, everything automated.

go to www.adobe.com and go to Lightroom forum and watch the tutorials plus there are many more videos on Youtube and elsewhere on web.

Once you have it set up right, you will FLY through editing and love it like no other program you have ever used!

burnett44,
While ajaffe is correct in regards to the noise reduction, keep in mind its 64 bit, so you will need to make sure you have the equipment to use it. Just a heads up.

I have no clue what I got

this thread gives me a headache lol

thanks boys and girls

Lightroom has an infinite number of combinations and tools that can be used,pretty overwhelming for a first time user!!!. I shoot sports and not every photo will work with those settings that I listed but the vast majority will for my style of shooting and equipment used. You may find that different settings are to your liking and that is great, find what you like and use them. Post processing RAW files in the digital age is a part of photography and how you end up with the final rendition is entirely up to the individual photographer. I shoot JPEG on a separate card and try to get it right in the camera. At night or indoors unless using strobes or flashes the white balance is almost always a problem and I would rather post process those files in the RAW format instead of JPEG.