Hey everybody, thanks for checking out the video and I hope it gave you a different perspective on shooting and editing low light, high ISO sports photos. If you have a technique you like, include it in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!
Jack, never used auto iso, but I can see it could be an advantage. I'm going to start trying it out. There are times, especially on those filed where the light changes like day and night.
Presets are your friend. I have a few starter presets based on ISO that handle the noise reduction, since the same ISO generally produces about the same noise. With raw, that gives me more room to adjust the exposure and increase dynamic range without enhancing JPEG artifacts. Generally I pick a photo, do everything I want to do with it globally in LR, then save that as a preset. It saves a ton of time. I have always had better results from doing it myself in lightroom vs handing it off to topaz or dxo/nik for noise reduction. And white balance is probably most of the reason I keep it in RAW.
Great tutorial. I purchased Topaz DeNoise after watching this video. Wow, what a difference in a good number of my high school gym sports images. Just because of the noise, I considered many of them rejects. Now, I've been able to "recover" a good many of them. Thanks for the insight.
Thank you Jack. I shoot high school sports with my son who is is high school sophomore .He is an aspiring photographer and is picking it up quite quickly. I appreciate your Photo Mechanic recommendation. I use Lightroom to review and select photos before editing but it is a tedious process. I'll give Photo Mechanic a try to see if it speeds up our process. Thank you.
Hi Jack, this is my first time commenting on a video although I'm am a subscriber and enjoy your content. Like you, I also shoot highschool sports and struggle with poor light in stadiums and ball fields. I shoot only jpg in sports. Having used Topaz D Noise for two years, I agree it does a great job. So I will add in camera noise correction to see if it works for me, probably will and also follow your workflow for LR. Previously I've used a D5 ( a beast ) but switched to Z9 and Z6. I can't say for sure yet ( only shot a few games with the Z9) but I think the D5 handled high iso better. I mean high iso like 12-16K. sometimes even higher. Any cropping with a noise like that just ruins the photo so I just purchased a used 400 2.8 G and its amazing, athlete fills the frame at 40 yards, much better than my Sigma 120-300 2.8 sport which I've used for 3 years and love it. So I will look into photo-mechanic, I'm not super busy with dead lines so I can afford to go slower. Thanks much, Ted in Sebastian, Fl.
Hey Ted, although I advocated for jpegs and in-camera noise reduction in that video, over the last 6 months or so, Topaz Denoise (and other companies like DxO) have added much better processing of RAW files. As a result, I've been going that route more and more these days. As for the D5 versus the Z9, I would agree that my files from the D5 come out smoother at very high ISOs (10,000 or higher) than the Z9, however, I've got really good results with Topaz Denoise using the "low light" mode with Z9 RAW files.
I shoot a ton of hockey, and I just recently switched to JPG with in-camera noise reduction. Very happy I did. I never used DeNoise in Lightroom. Thanks for the tip. I'll have to try. I just have one game left, so we'll see how it goes.
I have worked high school sports for twelve years. We have similar styles. Settling vary slightly but wide open aperture, 1/1,000 min Shutter Speed, AUTO ISO with Max 51,200 (YES). Also use Photo Mechanic, LR, PS, Topaz DeNoise and Clarity. All are shot in RAW. You are probably working with MaxPreps or similar service. I am freelancing and shoot for parents (max. Four or five per game) I carry a 1DxMkII & two R6’s. Lenses for football are usually EF 500 f4, 300 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8 & 24-70 f2.8 plus 1.4 ext. on occasions with the f2.8 lenses. I sort Selected images and Color Tag (per player) in Photo Mechanic, Import Selects into Drive, Imports location into LR, sort the color labels into players folders and review each folder for best 15-20 images. Edit basics in LR then PSCC. My work is considered “Media Approved” as I am free to alter images more than editor’s would allow. A second note. I am retired and started with grandchildren. Business grew and grew into a business which I could not survive as a business model. I truly enjoy being on the sidelines on Friday night and delivering images that might enjoyed for years. I will watch for other videos of your work. Thanks.
As an experiment, I used my 1DX2 for a low light shot of the flower pot on a table at night just using the 25-watt porch light about 14 feet away. I shot using 1/180 sec, f/4 (24-105 lens) with ISO 25600 set for RAW+JPG-L for comparison. I did not see the extreme noise levels you displayed on your D5. My two images were loaded into Adobe Brigde and also Photo Mechanic to view the differences of both CR2 and JPG, and surprisingly very little difference between the two images. Exporting the RAW to JPG without additional compression, other than what JPG naturally does were very clean, theough shooting at 25600 ISO does affect clarity and sharpness, which can be boosted in TOPAZ apps for Denoise and Sharpen. As a rule, different camera brands and models use different technologies for creating images off the sensor, and base sensor noise is always there. Sensitizing the sensor with higher ISO (while amplifying the light, also amplifies the noise and quiescent sensor still has noise-higher the temp, the greater the base noise). I always shoot in RAW for the most data off the sensor, then add modifications in post, which can be done in a batch mode in instead of one-at-a-time. Normally, I rarely shoot ISO greater than 10000 at 1/1000 sec, and f/4 at night HS field games.
Only thing I haven't tried on similar photos or any photos really was adjusting the saturation by color. I knew just what you meant about skin colors and dehaze so I'm gonna give some old photos another look with that extra step. Thanks for info.
I’ve shot HS hockey and just finished shooting HS lacrosse. If only I had seen this earlier. I got beat with noise on night games and editing RAW files can only do so much. I use Rawtherapee and it’s good, but I’ll have 300-450 photos from a game. Culling is not as fast as Photo Mechanic, I see. On some games, I kept my ISO lower and compensated with the slower shutter speed, and positioning on better lit areas of the field. I would go back to the JPEG format after seeing this. I did shoot JPEG for hockey, but that was more for storing files to Google Photo. But, I get that dad pay. Thanks again for the great video!
I personally shoot RAW with low-light sports and don't see it as adding an extra burden in the post-processing. In Lightroom, I take one image, apply sharpening, noise reduction, etc. and then copy and paste the development settings that I like to the other images. I only have to re-visit the settings when I hit images where I've had to jack the ISO as nightfall progresses. Again, I tweak one image and then copy and paste to the others. Last night I shot my first HS football game in a while. I ingested about 1,000 RAW images, culled them in Photo Mechanic (you really should mention the power of applying IPTC templates with PM), imported and then post-processed them in LR with 150+ final images. I was done in under two hours from the time I got home.
Here's why I don't do that. I have two different camera bodies that handle low light differently and produce different grain patterns at the same ISOs. Also, the amount of grain and noise I see at ISO 3200 is significantly different from the grain at 10,000 - both from the same game and the same camera. Also, the grain and noise from my RAWs are horrible compared to the grain from my JPEGs with in-camera noise reduction. I've tried it many different ways, using a variety of techniques - including the one you suggest. JPEGs with in-camera noise reduction, followed by a run through Topaz Denoise, wins every time.
@@JackBeasleyMedia Jack, me too... I use a D5 and a D4s. I used my 300 f2.8 on the D5 and a 70-200 f2.8 on the D4s. I think I had to re-tweak the sharpening/NR about four or five times total last night. Shooting RAW also allows for wider exposure changes, better shadow recovery, and wider WB options. It blunts the need to use Auto ISO. When I edit each image, if anything, I only may bump the exposure a bit (you're right about lighting inconsistences), perhaps bump up the shadows, level the horizon, and crop. I also don't have to use any NR-reduction add-ins. I was also surprised at the level of noise you had in your D5 example. I was using ISO 6400 (I never had to go higher than that... and I'm in Michigan) when it got dark with my D5 and I didn't have nearly as much noise in my RAW images as you showed in your example. If your workflow works you for, that's great. I used to use JPEGs, but my son talked me into trying RAW and after that I haven't looked back. You asked others what their high ISO workflow was like, so I thought I'd chime in.
Love this video. Really informative and you're covering things that relate directly to what I like to do.......get out there with the kids and try and get some great pics of them, something they can look back on with pride that they did. Thanks for the awesome tips/instruction.
Thanks for the video. I've been shooting raw because I like the idea of having more information but I'm going to go back to .jpg with the noise reduction.
When making this video, I experimented with both RAW and JPEG through Topaz Denoise -- and JPEG came out better every time. With RAW, I always had to do some noise reduction in Lightroom before I sent it to Topaz Denoise to get the same quality I got out of the straight-out-of-camera JPEGs.
Great video! It’s great to know that someone has essentially the exact same approach as I do to night sports workflow. People tend to dramatically underestimate the power of auto high ISO reduction. Further, and I always thought I was the contrarian but it seems you are as well… I’ll never understand how in good conscious people can tell a new shooter is to shoot in raw. You are essentially telling them that not only do you have to learn photography but you need to be an absolute master of Lightroom and Photoshop to get a picture into fighting shape. Crazy. Ironically raw is often more valuable for advanced photographers who will know what to do with all that digital information. When you’re starting out your camera is indeed smarter than you are. If people want to shoot JPEG and raw and keep the RAW as back up or emergencies… That’s fine
Hi, Jack! Pedro, from Brazil here. I loved the DeNoize tip! Never heard of it. I shoot mostly Cossfit competitions and I suffer with the lights here. If the event is not set out doors, I know the lights will be very, very bad. Do you have any advice about Crossfit Photography? Thanks!!!
Awesome information and video Jack! I have the same take unless it is state playoffs I will shoot in raw! Question as MaxPreps require certain crop so do you do this while in mechanic or LR. Thanks again 🙌
Hi Jack, I'm just now picking up on your videos and they're awesome. I'm a grandma who was shooting young grandchildren playing to now shooting travel soccer for 4 granddaughters ages 11-17. Did all my old shooting with Nikon 3100 and 18-300 lens. I now have Nikon 7500 and a new Tamron 70-200 2.8. I love both the lens and the camera but still getting used to both. My question is for years I have been using the Photos program on my iMac to edit and place in iCloud so my kids could have access to all the photos. I'm now wanting to use LRC BUT I can't figure out how to get them out of the cloud to LRC and then back in the cloud where I organize all my folders for the girls. Any help from anyone would be appreciated!!
Great advice if your shooting with a flagship camera, but the iso sensitivity on lower level cameras will never get that same result. You should mention that in the video. I never shoot auto anything, I like my photos to be consistent through out and make slight adjustments in post, I can batch edit, I use the video record button on my D4 to change iso so it’s simple fast and easy, I can adjust on the fly while looking through the viewfinder. Same with auto white balance, to inconsistent and adjusting in post with a jpeg file just isn’t the same. Enjoying your channel though.
I don't know, I shot a soccer game last night that started with a setting sun, transitioning to parts of the field in shadow while others weren't, then the lights came on, and finally, it got dark enough that the sun was no longer a factor. My light levels were constantly changing throughout, minute by minute, in different parts of the field. I really don't know how you'd keep changing ISO when still trying to track the action. Oh yeah, and WB was never the same throughout - but that's another video!
@@JackBeasleyMedia thanks for the response... good point about when field is have sun half shade... I’m going to try auto iso my next out door soccer match
Hey Jack love the videos so far. I mostly shoot motorsports, but have recently got into shooting softball. Just a question and this something i'm not sure about and it seems to be more of a personal preference. What do set you in camera color settings to in picture style? And do you alter them?
I pretty much use the same setting as you with my D850 and D500. But one thing I do, that I didn't see you touch on for low light settings is, I turn off the Active D-Lighting. I found that it leaves some weird artifacts in the shadows that are a pain to edit out in post.
Once and for all for the Folks who comment on Jack shooting JPEG I've had the oppurtunity to snap my stuff for a magazine and be a fly on the wall to watch the arena photographers and getty photographers at the Knight's game in Vegas and Henderson. Truth be told they shoot in Jpeg and use photomechanic and upload quickly so they can be picked up by the media. No editing done except maybe in bulk and superfast. So Jack is all over it. fyi when editing using raw you do topaz at the very end not the beginning. also fyi. jacks jpegs are tiffs as well. so editable. great info jack ill be stealing it :)-
Hey man, super useful content! I'm looking through your playlists and wondering, any tips on using/swapping between 2 cameras? For example, telephoto to wide angle as the players hit the sideline in football?
I briefly mention it in the soccer video I have coming up, but it really depends on the situation and the lenses I'm using. I've seen photogs carry the shorter lensed camera around their necks in front of them, and then one-hand it with their right hand. That's never worked for me as I'm using zooms and I want to use both hands. Plus, I have a hard time controlling it with just one hand. One technique I use with my big, heavy 400/2.8 is to shift the camera/lens to my left shoulder as I pick up my 70-200 with my right hand. Then, I kind of cradle the 400 between my shoulder and face as I shoot with the shorter lens using both hands. In the case of my 200-500, it's fairly light, so I may just pull that one all the way down while picking up the 70-200 camera (which is what you see in that upcoming video). I think the big point to remember is, don't wait too long to make the switch.
Hey Jack, thank you for all the tips you have given. It's been a great help. I shot my first high school game last night. On a average after editing, how many photos would you say you turn in?
For MaxPreps? A little over 100. But I seem to be on the low end. I know photogs who shoot games really hard with tons of candid shots and post over 300.
@@JackBeasleyMedia Thanks. Just curious. I'm going through a lot of them now for the team gallery. Had fun! Still editing, but had fun shooting them 😆😆.
Hi Jack Great video and i appreciate the heads up on the photo mechanic software, however they have 2 versions 6 and a plus version, which one are you using in this video? thank you.
Good question - I find indoor sports don't respond to saturation levels the same way outdoor sports do. I believe it's because the quality of light indoors tends to be softer and less directional. So yes, I do add in the dehaze, but it doesn't respond as dramatically as during daylight or outdoor night events.
With if you want to spend time on the exposure adjustment, raw is nice, but otherwise jpeg just makes things easier. I use LR for the culling and pull the selected into collections. One thing I've been trying with limited success is downloading jpg from camera to my phone to the cloud while shooting. Then use LR on the phone to flag keepers. I'm wondering if anyone has a good workflow for this since the Nikon app is somewhat hit or miss. It's nice to be able to do the culling away from the computer (on your phone for instance).
dozer-I use LR for culling too but haven't used the collections part, how does that work? I usually just make a new folder for edits in windows. Do you label them or number them for culling? Thanks, John
@@johnryan296 collections are just named groups of files imo. I've change my workflow a bit and have not found a good mobile app, so doing more on the computer. I've stopped using collections and just use the filtering system to group my images now. Just work directly off the folder structure made during import with dates for folder names.
@@dozerthecat Thanks Dozer, that's what I've been doing, usually rate the photos then delete the ones I don't want. MY friend swears by photo mechanic, he uses that and PS. But he does a lot of captioning too.
I'm just getting into capturing high school football this year. I just adjusted my settings per your recommendation in this video and will try it out for next week's game. I have a 70-200mm 2.8 lens, but can't quite capture much very well at midfield to the other side of the field. I've seen telephoto addition lenses to add to my 200mm to make it into a 300mm - do these work? Or am I better off saving and getting a 70-300mm lens?
I think you're talking about a teleconverter. They come in 1.4x and 2x. While you do increase your range, it comes at the cost of losing an f-stop with the 1.4x and two f-stops with the 2x. So your f2.8 lens becomes a f4 or f5 - neither of which are great for night time sports. The 75-300 has the same problem in that it is f5.6 when zoomed to 300mm. If you do go with a teleconverter, I'd go with the 1.4x. It gets you close to 300mm and you only lose one f-stop.
Have you tried running the JPGs through Topaz DeNoise before the import into Lightroom? I've tried both ways and I somewhat like doing the AI first, but I'm interested in your thoughts on it.
Since I made that video, Topaz Denoise has significantly improved and now does a great job with RAW files. If you watch my more recent videos, you’ll see I now use Topaz Denoise quite a bit.
Jack I believe we are from the same generation. How was your transition to digital? I must admit, I went kicking and dragging, Lol ! But once I was onboard I was sold.
I made the jump later in life after a long break from photography in the Army. I found I still knew how to take picture, but I had no clue how to edit digital photos.
@@JackBeasleyMedia Muscle memory is real, you were a high school photographer joined the military retired and picked photography up years later using a new medium called digital, awesome! My Dad was an Old School photographer, I grew up in the darkroom. As a kid I was the kid with the camera documenting school activities etc.., Later I became a cop/medic and became great friends with the local PJ. He was an inspiration for me. Later as a young cop I joined the college I was attending part time newspaper team, the rest is history. I used photography as a stress outlet of being a cop. Years later guys would request if I could cover last minute sporting events for them. Well, I went a bit too long, thanks for your service, I have two children who have served one as a NCO and the other as a West Point grad.
Hey, Jack! informative video and interesting choise of shooting. I just wanted to make sure a few things. I see you are using denoise anyway, so then why not shooting raw? as it would still clean everything perfectly. My point is, you still have some space for the human error, lets say you dial in incorrectly, now I've seen that you are still playing a little bit with the shadows or highlights sliders, but does it actually affect anything on the high compression file? Because my teaching background was as follows: shoot in raw, so you have full control over everything. I guess you need to be super confident to only shoot jpeg and you probably never shoot in full manual too? This is what I mostly do even in a dynimic lighting scenarios, not the smartes move though I guess, but just I am used to that lately. So this is what I wanted to point out and make sure.
I've experimented with Topaz Denoise using several variations - straight RAW, JPEG with in-camera noise reduction, and RAW processed through Nikon's NXD and NX Studio (I'm a Nikon shooter). In each case, JPEG with in-camera noise reduction looked the best coming out of Denoise, followed by RAW files processed with NX Studio. Running RAWs through Denoise and then trying to edit them in Lightroom looked the worst. Now, since I made that video, Topaz updated Denoise and I've found ways to get RAWs processed through NX Studio to look as good as my JPEGs coming out of Denoise. If I were to make that video today, I'd say the JPEGs and RAWs with NX Studio were equal. BUT, it adds an additional step to the process. AND, I can't vouch for Canon or Sony's software to be the same or better for their customers. While I agree with you that RAW gives you the edge over JPEG is high dynamic situations, if I am confident in my abilities to get it pretty close in camera, I'll go with JPEG.
@@JackBeasleyMedia another thing to look at too, while talking about RAW vs JPEG for high iso shooting. When shooting in RAW look at the whites of the subjects eyes. When shooting RAW the whites in the eyes and sometimes the teeth will take on the color of the surrounding skin tones. When I shoot in JPEG this weird color shift in the eyes and teeth doesn't happen.
Curious, I also use LR & DeNoise AI for my workflow...however, I see on the Topaz site (as well as other youtubers) that the suggested workflow is to use DeNoise AI prior to making any edits in LR. Have you noticed a difference in either workflow?
All of the advice I gave in that video is still valid. HOWEVER, since Topaz Denoise now has a good RAW mode (which it didn't before), my workflow looks more like this: Shoot RAW > Topaz Denoise in "clear" mode > convert to DNG > edit in Lightroom. I discussed why I changed and give examples in this video: ruclips.net/video/fIfZFuHQiEs/видео.html As for NX Studio, I like to use that for daylight, low ISO images. I think the colors come out better than RAWs straight into Lightroom. However, I don't think it produces images as sharp and grain-free in high ISO situations as the Topaz Denoise technique I described above. Also, NX Studio is clunky and extremely slow compared to Lightroom.
I batch process my culled photos in Denoise before I edit them in Lightroom. That way, I know they are as sharp and grain-free as they are going to get. Also, Denoise adds a lot of data to the file, and I export from Lightroom at a certain size.
Hey everybody, thanks for checking out the video and I hope it gave you a different perspective on shooting and editing low light, high ISO sports photos. If you have a technique you like, include it in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!
Jack, never used auto iso, but I can see it could be an advantage. I'm going to start trying it out. There are times, especially on those filed where the light changes like day and night.
Presets are your friend. I have a few starter presets based on ISO that handle the noise reduction, since the same ISO generally produces about the same noise. With raw, that gives me more room to adjust the exposure and increase dynamic range without enhancing JPEG artifacts. Generally I pick a photo, do everything I want to do with it globally in LR, then save that as a preset. It saves a ton of time. I have always had better results from doing it myself in lightroom vs handing it off to topaz or dxo/nik for noise reduction. And white balance is probably most of the reason I keep it in RAW.
Great tutorial. I purchased Topaz DeNoise after watching this video. Wow, what a difference in a good number of my high school gym sports images. Just because of the noise, I considered many of them rejects. Now, I've been able to "recover" a good many of them. Thanks for the insight.
Thanks for watching! I have a newer version of this video that focuses on editing RAW images
Thank you Jack. I shoot high school sports with my son who is is high school sophomore .He is an aspiring photographer and is picking it up quite quickly. I appreciate your Photo Mechanic recommendation. I use Lightroom to review and select photos before editing but it is a tedious process. I'll give Photo Mechanic a try to see if it speeds up our process. Thank you.
Jack - well done! Very helpful. Keep helping us get the shot!
Thank you!
Hi Jack, this is my first time commenting on a video although I'm am a subscriber and enjoy your content. Like you, I also shoot highschool sports and struggle with poor light in stadiums and ball fields. I shoot only jpg in sports. Having used Topaz D Noise for two years, I agree it does a great job. So I will add in camera noise correction to see if it works for me, probably will and also follow your workflow for LR. Previously I've used a D5 ( a beast ) but switched to Z9 and Z6. I can't say for sure yet ( only shot a few games with the Z9) but I think the D5 handled high iso better. I mean high iso like 12-16K. sometimes even higher. Any cropping with a noise like that just ruins the photo so I just purchased a used 400 2.8 G and its amazing, athlete fills the frame at 40 yards, much better than my Sigma 120-300 2.8 sport which I've used for 3 years and love it. So I will look into photo-mechanic, I'm not super busy with dead lines so I can afford to go slower. Thanks much, Ted in Sebastian, Fl.
Hey Ted, although I advocated for jpegs and in-camera noise reduction in that video, over the last 6 months or so, Topaz Denoise (and other companies like DxO) have added much better processing of RAW files. As a result, I've been going that route more and more these days. As for the D5 versus the Z9, I would agree that my files from the D5 come out smoother at very high ISOs (10,000 or higher) than the Z9, however, I've got really good results with Topaz Denoise using the "low light" mode with Z9 RAW files.
Great video for people interested in learning more about sports photography and establishing a good post process.
Thank you!
I shoot a ton of hockey, and I just recently switched to JPG with in-camera noise reduction. Very happy I did. I never used DeNoise in Lightroom. Thanks for the tip. I'll have to try. I just have one game left, so we'll see how it goes.
Good luck!
I have worked high school sports for twelve years. We have similar styles. Settling vary slightly but wide open aperture, 1/1,000 min Shutter Speed, AUTO ISO with Max 51,200 (YES). Also use Photo Mechanic, LR, PS, Topaz DeNoise and Clarity. All are shot in RAW.
You are probably working with MaxPreps or similar service. I am freelancing and shoot for parents (max. Four or five per game) I carry a 1DxMkII & two R6’s. Lenses for football are usually EF 500 f4, 300 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8 & 24-70 f2.8 plus 1.4 ext. on occasions with the f2.8 lenses. I sort Selected images and Color Tag (per player) in Photo Mechanic, Import Selects into Drive, Imports location into LR, sort the color labels into players folders and review each folder for best 15-20 images. Edit basics in LR then PSCC. My work is considered “Media Approved” as I am free to alter images more than editor’s would allow.
A second note. I am retired and started with grandchildren. Business grew and grew into a business which I could not survive as a business model. I truly enjoy being on the sidelines on Friday night and delivering images that might enjoyed for years.
I will watch for other videos of your work. Thanks.
Hey Randy, it sounds like you’ve got a good deal going! Thanks for watching!
Thank you Jack. This will save me some time this coming football season.
You're welcome!
Thanks a lot! I am just stepping my feet into sports photography and your tutorials are helping me a lot! Good stuff! Thanks! 👍👍👍
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the video. Will try out these settings tomorrow night.👍🇦🇺
Good luck!
As an experiment, I used my 1DX2 for a low light shot of the flower pot on a table at night just using the 25-watt porch light about 14 feet away. I shot using 1/180 sec, f/4 (24-105 lens) with ISO 25600 set for RAW+JPG-L for comparison. I did not see the extreme noise levels you displayed on your D5. My two images were loaded into Adobe Brigde and also Photo Mechanic to view the differences of both CR2 and JPG, and surprisingly very little difference between the two images. Exporting the RAW to JPG without additional compression, other than what JPG naturally does were very clean, theough shooting at 25600 ISO does affect clarity and sharpness, which can be boosted in TOPAZ apps for Denoise and Sharpen. As a rule, different camera brands and models use different technologies for creating images off the sensor, and base sensor noise is always there. Sensitizing the sensor with higher ISO (while amplifying the light, also amplifies the noise and quiescent sensor still has noise-higher the temp, the greater the base noise). I always shoot in RAW for the most data off the sensor, then add modifications in post, which can be done in a batch mode in instead of one-at-a-time. Normally, I rarely shoot ISO greater than 10000 at 1/1000 sec, and f/4 at night HS field games.
Fabulous tutorial
Thanks!
Only thing I haven't tried on similar photos or any photos really was adjusting the saturation by color. I knew just what you meant about skin colors and dehaze so I'm gonna give some old photos another look with that extra step. Thanks for info.
Have fun! I sometimes too pull out old photos and try new tricks on them.
Hey Jack, Thanks for the video's. Just what I was looking for.
Thank you, Sir!
I’ve shot HS hockey and just finished shooting HS lacrosse. If only I had seen this earlier. I got beat with noise on night games and editing RAW files can only do so much. I use Rawtherapee and it’s good, but I’ll have 300-450 photos from a game. Culling is not as fast as Photo Mechanic, I see. On some games, I kept my ISO lower and compensated with the slower shutter speed, and positioning on better lit areas of the field. I would go back to the JPEG format after seeing this. I did shoot JPEG for hockey, but that was more for storing files to Google Photo. But, I get that dad pay. Thanks again for the great video!
Thanks, Terry. I hope it helps!
Appreciate these tips!
I personally shoot RAW with low-light sports and don't see it as adding an extra burden in the post-processing. In Lightroom, I take one image, apply sharpening, noise reduction, etc. and then copy and paste the development settings that I like to the other images. I only have to re-visit the settings when I hit images where I've had to jack the ISO as nightfall progresses. Again, I tweak one image and then copy and paste to the others. Last night I shot my first HS football game in a while. I ingested about 1,000 RAW images, culled them in Photo Mechanic (you really should mention the power of applying IPTC templates with PM), imported and then post-processed them in LR with 150+ final images. I was done in under two hours from the time I got home.
Here's why I don't do that. I have two different camera bodies that handle low light differently and produce different grain patterns at the same ISOs. Also, the amount of grain and noise I see at ISO 3200 is significantly different from the grain at 10,000 - both from the same game and the same camera. Also, the grain and noise from my RAWs are horrible compared to the grain from my JPEGs with in-camera noise reduction. I've tried it many different ways, using a variety of techniques - including the one you suggest. JPEGs with in-camera noise reduction, followed by a run through Topaz Denoise, wins every time.
@@JackBeasleyMedia Jack, me too... I use a D5 and a D4s. I used my 300 f2.8 on the D5 and a 70-200 f2.8 on the D4s. I think I had to re-tweak the sharpening/NR about four or five times total last night. Shooting RAW also allows for wider exposure changes, better shadow recovery, and wider WB options. It blunts the need to use Auto ISO. When I edit each image, if anything, I only may bump the exposure a bit (you're right about lighting inconsistences), perhaps bump up the shadows, level the horizon, and crop. I also don't have to use any NR-reduction add-ins.
I was also surprised at the level of noise you had in your D5 example. I was using ISO 6400 (I never had to go higher than that... and I'm in Michigan) when it got dark with my D5 and I didn't have nearly as much noise in my RAW images as you showed in your example.
If your workflow works you for, that's great. I used to use JPEGs, but my son talked me into trying RAW and after that I haven't looked back. You asked others what their high ISO workflow was like, so I thought I'd chime in.
Awesome video!
Thank you!
Love this video. Really informative and you're covering things that relate directly to what I like to do.......get out there with the kids and try and get some great pics of them, something they can look back on with pride that they did. Thanks for the awesome tips/instruction.
Thank you for the kind words, Steve. I appreciate it!
Thanks for the video. I've been shooting raw because I like the idea of having more information but I'm going to go back to .jpg with the noise reduction.
When making this video, I experimented with both RAW and JPEG through Topaz Denoise -- and JPEG came out better every time. With RAW, I always had to do some noise reduction in Lightroom before I sent it to Topaz Denoise to get the same quality I got out of the straight-out-of-camera JPEGs.
Great video! It’s great to know that someone has essentially the exact same approach as I do to night sports workflow. People tend to dramatically underestimate the power of auto high ISO reduction. Further, and I always thought I was the contrarian but it seems you are as well… I’ll never understand how in good conscious people can tell a new shooter is to shoot in raw. You are essentially telling them that not only do you have to learn photography but you need to be an absolute master of Lightroom and Photoshop to get a picture into fighting shape. Crazy.
Ironically raw is often more valuable for advanced photographers who will know what to do with all that digital information. When you’re starting out your camera is indeed smarter than you are. If people want to shoot JPEG and raw and keep the RAW as back up or emergencies… That’s fine
Hi, Jack! Pedro, from Brazil here. I loved the DeNoize tip! Never heard of it. I shoot mostly Cossfit competitions and I suffer with the lights here. If the event is not set out doors, I know the lights will be very, very bad. Do you have any advice about Crossfit Photography? Thanks!!!
Awesome information and video Jack! I have the same take unless it is state playoffs I will shoot in raw!
Question as MaxPreps require certain crop so do you do this while in mechanic or LR.
Thanks again 🙌
Hey Scott, thanks. I've known people who do it in Photomechanic, but I prefer doing it as a batch in Lightroom.
Hi Jack, I'm just now picking up on your videos and they're awesome. I'm a grandma who was shooting young grandchildren playing to now shooting travel soccer for 4 granddaughters ages 11-17. Did all my old shooting with Nikon 3100 and 18-300 lens. I now have Nikon 7500 and a new Tamron 70-200 2.8. I love both the lens and the camera but still getting used to both. My question is for years I have been using the Photos program on my iMac to edit and place in iCloud so my kids could have access to all the photos. I'm now wanting to use LRC BUT I can't figure out how to get them out of the cloud to LRC and then back in the cloud where I organize all my folders for the girls. Any help from anyone would be appreciated!!
Great advice if your shooting with a flagship camera, but the iso sensitivity on lower level cameras will never get that same result. You should mention that in the video. I never shoot auto anything, I like my photos to be consistent through out and make slight adjustments in post, I can batch edit, I use the video record button on my D4 to change iso so it’s simple fast and easy, I can adjust on the fly while looking through the viewfinder. Same with auto white balance, to inconsistent and adjusting in post with a jpeg file just isn’t the same. Enjoying your channel though.
I don't know, I shot a soccer game last night that started with a setting sun, transitioning to parts of the field in shadow while others weren't, then the lights came on, and finally, it got dark enough that the sun was no longer a factor. My light levels were constantly changing throughout, minute by minute, in different parts of the field. I really don't know how you'd keep changing ISO when still trying to track the action. Oh yeah, and WB was never the same throughout - but that's another video!
@@JackBeasleyMedia thanks for the response... good point about when field is have sun half shade... I’m going to try auto iso my next out door soccer match
Hey Jack love the videos so far. I mostly shoot motorsports, but have recently got into shooting softball. Just a question and this something i'm not sure about and it seems to be more of a personal preference. What do set you in camera color settings to in picture style? And do you alter them?
I have to tell you, I set it to “standard” for 95% of what I do. The only time I switch it to something else is “flat” for shooting video.
I pretty much use the same setting as you with my D850 and D500. But one thing I do, that I didn't see you touch on for low light settings is, I turn off the Active D-Lighting. I found that it leaves some weird artifacts in the shadows that are a pain to edit out in post.
Hmm, I don’t know that I’ve noticed that - or knew it was doing it. I’ll have to check it out.
Once and for all for the Folks who comment on Jack shooting JPEG I've had the oppurtunity to snap my stuff for a magazine and be a fly on the wall to watch the arena photographers and getty photographers at the Knight's game in Vegas and Henderson. Truth be told they shoot in Jpeg and use photomechanic and upload quickly so they can be picked up by the media. No editing done except maybe in bulk and superfast. So Jack is all over it.
fyi when editing using raw you do topaz at the very end not the beginning.
also fyi. jacks jpegs are tiffs as well. so editable.
great info jack ill be stealing it :)-
Thank you!
Now I get photo mechanic. Sub
Sweet!
Hey man, super useful content! I'm looking through your playlists and wondering, any tips on using/swapping between 2 cameras? For example, telephoto to wide angle as the players hit the sideline in football?
I briefly mention it in the soccer video I have coming up, but it really depends on the situation and the lenses I'm using. I've seen photogs carry the shorter lensed camera around their necks in front of them, and then one-hand it with their right hand. That's never worked for me as I'm using zooms and I want to use both hands. Plus, I have a hard time controlling it with just one hand. One technique I use with my big, heavy 400/2.8 is to shift the camera/lens to my left shoulder as I pick up my 70-200 with my right hand. Then, I kind of cradle the 400 between my shoulder and face as I shoot with the shorter lens using both hands. In the case of my 200-500, it's fairly light, so I may just pull that one all the way down while picking up the 70-200 camera (which is what you see in that upcoming video). I think the big point to remember is, don't wait too long to make the switch.
Hey Jack, thank you for all the tips you have given. It's been a great help. I shot my first high school game last night. On a average after editing, how many photos would you say you turn in?
For MaxPreps? A little over 100. But I seem to be on the low end. I know photogs who shoot games really hard with tons of candid shots and post over 300.
@@JackBeasleyMedia Thanks. Just curious. I'm going through a lot of them now for the team gallery. Had fun! Still editing, but had fun shooting them 😆😆.
Hi Jack Great video and i appreciate the heads up on the photo mechanic software, however they have 2 versions 6 and a plus version, which one are you using in this video? thank you.
The standard version.
@@JackBeasleyMedia okay copy that Jack. thanks for the quick response and information on how to be a better sports photographer! salute!
Do you use the same saturation settings for indoor sports like basketball and volleyball?
Good question - I find indoor sports don't respond to saturation levels the same way outdoor sports do. I believe it's because the quality of light indoors tends to be softer and less directional. So yes, I do add in the dehaze, but it doesn't respond as dramatically as during daylight or outdoor night events.
With if you want to spend time on the exposure adjustment, raw is nice, but otherwise jpeg just makes things easier.
I use LR for the culling and pull the selected into collections.
One thing I've been trying with limited success is downloading jpg from camera to my phone to the cloud while shooting. Then use LR on the phone to flag keepers. I'm wondering if anyone has a good workflow for this since the Nikon app is somewhat hit or miss. It's nice to be able to do the culling away from the computer (on your phone for instance).
dozer-I use LR for culling too but haven't used the collections part, how does that work? I usually just make a new folder for edits in windows. Do you label them or number them for culling? Thanks, John
@@johnryan296 collections are just named groups of files imo. I've change my workflow a bit and have not found a good mobile app, so doing more on the computer. I've stopped using collections and just use the filtering system to group my images now. Just work directly off the folder structure made during import with dates for folder names.
@@dozerthecat Thanks Dozer, that's what I've been doing, usually rate the photos then delete the ones I don't want. MY friend swears by photo mechanic, he uses that and PS. But he does a lot of captioning too.
I'm just getting into capturing high school football this year. I just adjusted my settings per your recommendation in this video and will try it out for next week's game. I have a 70-200mm 2.8 lens, but can't quite capture much very well at midfield to the other side of the field. I've seen telephoto addition lenses to add to my 200mm to make it into a 300mm - do these work? Or am I better off saving and getting a 70-300mm lens?
I think you're talking about a teleconverter. They come in 1.4x and 2x. While you do increase your range, it comes at the cost of losing an f-stop with the 1.4x and two f-stops with the 2x. So your f2.8 lens becomes a f4 or f5 - neither of which are great for night time sports. The 75-300 has the same problem in that it is f5.6 when zoomed to 300mm. If you do go with a teleconverter, I'd go with the 1.4x. It gets you close to 300mm and you only lose one f-stop.
@@JackBeasleyMedia Yes, that's the correct term. Ok, I think I'll want to just keep saving for that 300 or 400mm lens :) Thanks for your quick reply!
Have you tried running the JPGs through Topaz DeNoise before the import into Lightroom? I've tried both ways and I somewhat like doing the AI first, but I'm interested in your thoughts on it.
Since I made that video, Topaz Denoise has significantly improved and now does a great job with RAW files. If you watch my more recent videos, you’ll see I now use Topaz Denoise quite a bit.
Jack I believe we are from the same generation. How was your transition to digital? I must admit, I went kicking and dragging, Lol ! But once I was onboard I was sold.
I made the jump later in life after a long break from photography in the Army. I found I still knew how to take picture, but I had no clue how to edit digital photos.
@@JackBeasleyMedia Muscle memory is real, you were a high school photographer joined the military retired and picked photography up years later using a new medium called digital, awesome! My Dad was an Old School photographer, I grew up in the darkroom. As a kid I was the kid with the camera documenting school activities etc.., Later I became a cop/medic and became great friends with the local PJ. He was an inspiration for me. Later as a young cop I joined the college I was attending part time newspaper team, the rest is history. I used photography as a stress outlet of being a cop. Years later guys would request if I could cover last minute sporting events for them. Well, I went a bit too long, thanks for your service, I have two children who have served one as a NCO and the other as a West Point grad.
Interesting
With the sports night setting, was that made or is that a preset inside of light room?
I made it in Lightroom and saved it as a preset.
@@JackBeasleyMedia oh nice! Had my fingers crossed it was a preset you found so I could use it haha
Does the in-camera noise reduction work ok on older cameras like a Canon 6D?
To a point, you’ll have to experiment. I regularly use Topaz Denoise to clean up noise
Hello did you make the settings for sports night in Lightroom?
Yes
Hey, Jack! informative video and interesting choise of shooting. I just wanted to make sure a few things. I see you are using denoise anyway, so then why not shooting raw? as it would still clean everything perfectly. My point is, you still have some space for the human error, lets say you dial in incorrectly, now I've seen that you are still playing a little bit with the shadows or highlights sliders, but does it actually affect anything on the high compression file? Because my teaching background was as follows: shoot in raw, so you have full control over everything. I guess you need to be super confident to only shoot jpeg and you probably never shoot in full manual too? This is what I mostly do even in a dynimic lighting scenarios, not the smartes move though I guess, but just I am used to that lately. So this is what I wanted to point out and make sure.
I've experimented with Topaz Denoise using several variations - straight RAW, JPEG with in-camera noise reduction, and RAW processed through Nikon's NXD and NX Studio (I'm a Nikon shooter). In each case, JPEG with in-camera noise reduction looked the best coming out of Denoise, followed by RAW files processed with NX Studio. Running RAWs through Denoise and then trying to edit them in Lightroom looked the worst. Now, since I made that video, Topaz updated Denoise and I've found ways to get RAWs processed through NX Studio to look as good as my JPEGs coming out of Denoise. If I were to make that video today, I'd say the JPEGs and RAWs with NX Studio were equal. BUT, it adds an additional step to the process. AND, I can't vouch for Canon or Sony's software to be the same or better for their customers.
While I agree with you that RAW gives you the edge over JPEG is high dynamic situations, if I am confident in my abilities to get it pretty close in camera, I'll go with JPEG.
@@JackBeasleyMedia another thing to look at too, while talking about RAW vs JPEG for high iso shooting. When shooting in RAW look at the whites of the subjects eyes. When shooting RAW the whites in the eyes and sometimes the teeth will take on the color of the surrounding skin tones. When I shoot in JPEG this weird color shift in the eyes and teeth doesn't happen.
Agreed, and I think I point that out in another video
Curious, I also use LR & DeNoise AI for my workflow...however, I see on the Topaz site (as well as other youtubers) that the suggested workflow is to use DeNoise AI prior to making any edits in LR. Have you noticed a difference in either workflow?
Yes, I saw that too. I tried it both ways and I was happier with the results from after the Lightroom edits.
Do you still use Lightroom or have you switched to NX Studio for your editing.
All of the advice I gave in that video is still valid. HOWEVER, since Topaz Denoise now has a good RAW mode (which it didn't before), my workflow looks more like this: Shoot RAW > Topaz Denoise in "clear" mode > convert to DNG > edit in Lightroom. I discussed why I changed and give examples in this video: ruclips.net/video/fIfZFuHQiEs/видео.html
As for NX Studio, I like to use that for daylight, low ISO images. I think the colors come out better than RAWs straight into Lightroom. However, I don't think it produces images as sharp and grain-free in high ISO situations as the Topaz Denoise technique I described above. Also, NX Studio is clunky and extremely slow compared to Lightroom.
Nice video but I am a Canon man and I always prefer Raw and Manuel
Come over from the dark side, we have cookies! LOL
Anyway to get the Sports Night Preset?
There’s a link in the description of this video - DO NOT BUY PRESETS | Free Adobe Lightroom Presets
Jack, are you a MIZZOU grad?
Nope
How does the batch mode work with DeNoise and Lightroom?
It doesn’t. I use Topaz as a standalone in that case.
@@JackBeasleyMedia So where and how in your process do you use Topaz? Thanks.
I batch process my culled photos in Denoise before I edit them in Lightroom. That way, I know they are as sharp and grain-free as they are going to get. Also, Denoise adds a lot of data to the file, and I export from Lightroom at a certain size.
01:25 I am surprised about your settings: metering matrix +0.3 compensation
It's a pretty common setting, to shoot a little on the overexposed side. For noise and grain, it's far better than underexposing.
2:32 I like that😍💋 💝💖❤️
Thank you!