About IQ - not mine, silly - 'Image Quality'

I've had a few queries recently about (my) image quality with questions like 'how good are they really?' and 'how big can they print and still look Okay'?.

Pretty obvious questions if you're thinking to buy a photo off the web because it's not easy to confirm image quality, focus, 'grain' etc. when a web photo like most of those I publish is displayed at only around 500 by 330 pixels (around 300 DPI on a good day).

So, I thought I should lay out the numbers, throw up a few samples, so you can satisfy yourself with the 'IQ'.

Sample images

First up, here's a copy of a shot (thanks Narelle) from today's Canberra Cycling Club event as it appears on the web. It's 500 pixels wide - looks okay to me but it's a tiny copy of the original (you can click on these small images to see what they look like at 100% but don't worry, they're only about 150k, not the originals).




Nikon D300 f/7.1 1/1250s 95mm ISO200


And here's a snip from that same shot (thanks again Narelle) at 100% - 500 pixels wide, 300 dots per inch.



Nikon D300 specs as above


Of course this shot was not the crispiest chip in the pack since Narelle is at least 20 metres away from the camera. But if you've got the bandwidth and are willing to chew some of it up, download the full-size, as-shot freebie of John from today's Stromlo race. This image is 4200 x 2800 pixels at 300 DPI - reduce the DPI to around 210, which is okay for large prints and John will happily print himself half-a-metre meter wide - that's right - 51.5cm by 34.2cm.




Nikon D3 f/8 1/1000s 27mm ISO200

Be aware that this is a 6 megabyte Fine Large JPEG file and it might take some time to download, but if you really wanted to know what most of the recently-published shots look like then grab a copy of John and check it out.


Typical shot stats.

For those who might want to know or care, here's the technical info about the photos I'm publishing at Photostockplus:

Hardware:
- Nikon D3, 12 megapix, FX format (about the same as 35mm film)
- Nikon D300, 12 megapix, DX format (about 67% of 35mm film)

...geez, this is like bike bragging...

- Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 mounted to the D3 mostly (true 24-70mm lens)
- Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 mounted to the D300 (equates to 105-350mm lens)

Image capture:
- JPEG Fine Large gives a 4288 x 2848 pixel image compressed to around 6 megabytes.
- one notch of in-camera sharpening
- ISO 400 on the D300 (above this and we're looking at big 'noise')
- ISO 800 in the D3 (though ISO 3200 still looks fine in RAW)

bfn
Greg

Inalds on tour

Really exciting to see the Inalds performing so well on the European Tour. They finished the Giro with no major injuries nor mechanicals - even managed to survive the feed-station(s) without mishap - good skills! - but I'm not convinced that vino during the race is the best plan, but I grant you it would definitely soften the cobbles and corners.

Then I got to thinking, "When did Scotty win his last race?". Hmmm...checkin, checkin..... Oh, here it is...



Not bad; a good race face, sans headlights, streamlined cow deflector and steel wheels to boot! Now that warrants his place on the Tour in my view.

I'm really looking forward to Fi's turn-out in Giro d'Italia Femminile - back to the shoebox for me, there's gotta be a Fi victory in there somewhere.

(back into the photography techno chat soon)

bfn
Greg

D3 Picture Control and TTL/BL Flash observations

What's your experience with D3 Picture Control and TTL/BL Flash?

Here's an interesting thing... if you set the D3 Picture Controls to something nearer to 'Vivid' when using balanced fill flash (TTL/BL) with the SB-800 you can expect to get some strange skin tones.

Checking back over some recent outdoor portrait work I noticed just how ghastly some shots are when using Standard Picture Controls setting. I hadn't noticed quite how bad some are until I got hold of a new NEC LCD2090UXi colour monitor last week.

Now that I can see colour the way it's supposed to look I've discovered what I need to do get these fill-flash colours looking more realistic - tone down the saturation.

bfn
Greg

Nikon D3 in the field - focus options

Over recent weeks (May 2008) there have surfaced some observations from real shooters describing how they use the spectacular Nikon D3 for action photography.

'At last!' I say, since if you're doing up-close action you really need to know what your options are and when to use them when using an instrument like the D3. So I thought, as much for my benefit as anyone else who stumbles on to this, I should offer up my recent experiences and observations on getting the most from D3 focusing system.

And since most of my photography is bicycle racing, here's my take.

Shooting styles.

Single subject moving at speed across the frame.

This style usually applies to 'time trials' or downhill competition when a rider is on their own in the frame. I don't need to be concerned about quickly shifting focus like I would when a bunch of riders are blasting past. If the rider is a reasonable distance away I can use the D3's Auto-area AF mode - the solid filled icon on the AF mode switch.

A reasonable distance is, say, 5 metres or so when the depth-of-field is enough that it matters little if Auto-area AF mode selects the rider's helmet or handlebars - the difference in focal distance is tiny and won't affect the final result enough to notice.


Bryn Atkinson - Nikon D3 70-200mm, f/4.8 1/1600s ISO200 -0.7EV

This shot from the Australian MTB Downhill competition is a case in point. I don't know (but could check the EXIF data to find out) where the D3 chose to set focal points exactly, but they were obviously on the rider somewhere. But since the subject was about 5 metres away then there's no need to be super-precise with focal point selection - the D3 figures it out every time.

Even though this was shot at f/4.8 the DoF is enough at this distance to catch the subject and his immediate surrounds. The flying dirt may have been more defined with a narrower aperture but it looks okay to me. (Why -0.7EV? - better to be bit under than over-exposed to retain colour saturation - we can always crank the exposure later.)

I apply the same style to road cyclists in time trials - one rider, no clutter and the D3 has no problem grabbing the subject.

Bunch of riders at speed up close

Single subject shots are less common than a swag of riders moving at speed. Here the shooting gets a bit trickier and I find I need to take over from the D3's focusing decisions. This means either making quick decisions as the riders fly past, or deciding on a composition and focus settings before they enter the 'shooting' zone.

The most critical decision for me is 'composition'. Other than out-of-focus subjects there's nothing much worse than having any number of nice compositions presenting themselves only to end up with the one where the main subject is nicely focused but banging their against the picture frame...it doesn't need to happen, and that's why I use Dynamic-area AF mode - I want to take control of the shot.


ACTVCC - Nikon D3 70-200VR f/9 1/500s ISO400 -0.3EV

In this shot the bunch is approaching at around 40km/hour, passing from right to left, so I want the riders on the left of frame to be in focus right up until they leave the frame.

As they approach, I'll quickly move the focal point across to the left of frame and then track those lead riders using the AF-on button (not half-press shutter release) until they're where I want them and then pop 'em.

With the D3's 'predictive' focusing working for me, I can be confident that the closest subject will stay in focus if I pan with him or her as they pass.

Operating an aperture of f/9 I can be reasonably confident the depth of field will just be enough at this distance to have everyone in reasonable focus, even though by focusing primarily on the closest riders ie. those passing from centre to left of frame, the DoF is going to be more foreground than mid-scene.

Of course I'm panning with the bunch so I can follow the lead riders out of the frame, but once they're past me I'll pan back to the approaching riders to capture them too. Sometimes as riders pass out of left of frame there's a short gap to the next bunch of riders. Now, instead of waiting for this next bunch to arrive where my focus point is I can make a quick, blind stab at the centre of the focus point selector to centre the focal point and we're away with a new composition.

Of course none of this is possible if I was using Auto-area AF since focus selection is not up to me and since the riders are going to be fairly close by the time I shoot both depth of field and focal point become critical so I need to take over.

By setting Dynamic-area auto-focus I can then select an initial focal point for the composition that I 'think' the approaching rider/s are going to create, or that I'd like to capture, and then tweak the point selection as the scene resolves itself.

The essential choices

The choice between Auto-area and Dynamic-area AF is usually the last 'buttons and switches' decision to make before hitting the shutter release. But there's much to be decided in the menus before getting to the AF-area button.

Since I use Dynamic-area most I'll discuss menu options relevant to it and maybe come back with some info. about Auto-area focus menu options in another post.

AF-Area mode

Even when we ignore 51 points 3D tracking, the choice amongst 9 points, 21 points or 51 points for the active focus group can be confusing.

I don't know the 'right' answer here, but I do know that when shooting a moving bunch of cyclists I'll pick the focal point that best suits the evolving scene and then attempt to maintain a tight visual lock of that point on the eyes of the rider that I want to be at maximum focus.

And since the dynamics of bicycle racing is reasonably predictable I don't need to worry about not being able to maintain that visual lock. So 9 active focus points is usually enough.

I haven't tested it, nor read anything about it, but I imagine 9 point focusing is probably computationally faster than 21 or 51 points - maybe a bit of a test in future is warranted - since faster is better.

AF-on and Shutter release

I have the D3 (and D300) set to initiate focus using the AF-on button only and not via the shutter release.

Apart from the advantage of fewer premature shots (and with the D3's 9-frames per second it takes only a hint of pressure to blast off 3 or 4 dud shots accidentally in all the excitement) the biggest and best advantage of the AF-on button is that I can focus on a spot where I want to shoot a scene long before the riders arrive at that point, release the AF-on button, recompose the shot for the scenery and fire the shutter release just as they arrive, all the while holding the pre-focus.

You might think it strange that I'd want to shoot scenery, but that's where most sport shooters go wrong in my view. The point is it's 'all about' the scenery - it's the environment, the distant hills and autumn leaves, it's 'where' the action is happening that matters to me. Scenery can turn an otherwise interesting sports shot into an exciting photo. Just check Graham Watson's stuff to see what I mean. Even check some of my stuff for a newby's attempt - http//greglong.photostockplus.com

VR or not to VR

VR (Vibration Reduction within the Lens) is a no no for most fast-paced sport photography. And here's my three reasons -

1). in most cases the initial stabilization is way too slow,

2). unless your doing slow-pan blurs at say 1/20s, its just not necessary for typical shutter speeds of say 1/500s and faster, and

3). it can ruin a shot by actuating during shutter release - the few times I let this to happen to me was very annoying.

Unfortunately, the new pro lens that I prefer for bicycle action have VR - the 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8 and 18-200VR DX - but at least I can turn VR off... or on since there are plenty of occasions when VR is very useful, but not during a bike race.

Focus tracking with lock on

Now, here's the darndest thing to understand about D3 focusing - trying to interpret the D3/D300 User's Manual when it discusses Focus Tracking (menu Custom-a4). The discussion about Long, Normal and Short lock-on tracking makes no sense... until you read the 'Off' option. Here's what the Off option says - "the camera immediately adjusts focus when the distance to subject changes". In other words, it immediately refocuses on what ever is under the active focus point.

So, the "Long" option must mean that the camera will NOT adjust focus immediately.... and "Short" just means it won't take quite as long to adjust as does the "Long" option.

Well, two things to say about that:

1. whether Short, Normal or Long I think that it's only relevant when I'm the one doing the erratic movement and the subject is stationary. If I'm in a canoe shooting waterbirds and boat keeps bobbing about then I'd use tracking - but not when I'm crouched on the side of the road shooting cyclists,

2. as I described earlier, I want to re-focus quickly after a rider blasts, so I always have tracking "Off" --- focusing only with the AF-on button makes this a bit quicker too - at least it feels quicker.

The idea that my chosen subject may be 'briefly obscured' by an even more interesting subject is enough that I want tracking to be inactive so that re-focus is done instantly, and the D3 refocusing is as good as 'instant' - something that continues to amaze.

Summary

Here's a summary of menu and switch configurations I use for my style of bike photography:

1. Set AF-On button (Custom a9) to AF-On only so I can elect to pre-focus and recompose a shot

2. Set Dynamic-area (switch) on, pick a preferred focus point and keep it right on their eyes.

3. Set 9-point focus area (Custom a8) and be precise with focus point positioning

4. Set Focus Tracking (Custom a4) with Lock-On to "Off" and use AF-On to do the auto focusing

After much trial and error - and hunting in the 'dark' to figure this stuff out - that's what seems to work best for me.

bfn

Greg

My photography workflow

I've been asked recently about my post-shot processing, especially how I get shots to my pics site so soon after an event and I thought it might be of interest to some if I spec'd it out.

My primary aim is to spend no more than 2 minutes per shot - from camera to web. The first smart thing to do of course is capture a good shot first up since no amount of post-processing can fix it - or as a journalist mate of mine says 'you can't polish turds' - eeew. This means capturing the shot as cleanly as possible - good exposure, good focus, nice composition and if possible try and weave some emotion into the shot which can mean waiting until a cyclist's expression is emotive or reflects their riding personality or which best conveys the nature of the race or event.

Having got a keeper worth posting to the web, here's what I use to make it happen:

1. Thumbsplus 7 on top of an SQL Server database for image management
2. Adobe Photoshop CS2 for complex image processing
3. Nikon Capture NX to convert Nikon RAW .NEF files
4. Adobe DNG convertor to convert .NEF to .DNG formats
5. Adobe Bridge

1. Photo management

I've used Thumbsplus since the late 90's. It's currently up to version 7 and shortly coming out as version 8. Out-of-the-box TP uses the Microsoft Jet Engine (the actual database behind Microsoft Access) to manage photo files. I've dispensed with the Access ('Jet') storage and instead linked TP to an SQL Server Express 2005 backend.

The speed, indexing, security, reliability and certainty that SQL Server offers is way above what the Jet engine can do; in fact, being able to locate one image out of 100,000+ in a few milliseconds is critical when responding to online request for certain images.

Thumbsplus also has an image viewer called TPView which doubles as a very capable editor. It's especially useful for crop, rotate, contrast changes etc. If your photography is mostly for news - online or print - then TPView is probably all you need. It can't dodge, burn or repair images but that's not really necessary for the work I do.

Thumbsplus can also be configured to launch applications such as Photoshop using DDE (dynamic data exchange). It will pass selected image(s) to the called application. This reduces processing time considerably and makes TP an exceptional image manager - bit of a sleeper in fact since it doesn't get a lot of coverage compared to many other lesser systems currently in vogue.

2. Photo processing

Photoshop CS2 is my preferred application for complex image processing. If you know Photoshop then you'll understand its popularity. Allied with Bridge and the many plugins available it's a great tool. I'm sure there are many other applications that do some things better than PS CS2, but for all-round image/photo processing it does me.

3. From camera RAW to disk

Nikon Capture NX comes as a licenced application with most high-end Nikon cameras. It's a fine tool for converting .NEF format images to something that Photoshop CS2 and Thumbsplus can work with. Being a Java application it's not the fastest piece of software, but it does a commendable job converting RAW .NEFs and quite a bit of useful RAW processsing - exposure and whitebalance adjustments in particular.

Since Photoshop CS2 has now probably fallen off the upgrade path it's unlikely to ever be able to open the newer Nikon RAW .NEF files so Nikon Capture NX is essential for getting files to a format the PS CS2 can understand. I could of course convert the .NEF files to Adobe DNG (see next section) format and go that way but I reserve that extra step for scenic stuff where speed is not an issue - remember we're looking for '2 minutes tops per photo' so another step is a burden.

I should add that I hardly ever capture cycling events in RAW .NEF - the high-quality and hence large file size is not really necessary unless a particular set of circumstances make for either tricky lighting or white balance settings or where exposure is difficult or when I'm shooting something I know will probably end up in a magazine. Those shots deserve the highest quality for later processing.

4. DNG - a camera RAW to disk alternative

Adobe has pushed hard to establish a non-proprietary standard for storing digital images in a format than any application developer can read and write - a standard that then should exist far into the future. Their DNG convertor takes Nikon .NEF (and many other Camera manufacturer formats) and creates a .DNG (a 'digital negative') formatted file.

The DNG format will open in CS2 so this is an alternative to Capture NX's transformation. There's a bit of chat about which is better - Adobe's DNG convertor, or Capture NX - but I haven't tested each enough to know. If I was producing fine-art images I'd probably care but it's not a big deal for web/print news media.

5. Adobe Bridge for image management

Bridge offers image management and some processing capabilities prior to processing in Photoshop. It 'can' work as an alternative to Thumbsplus, with some extra goodies thrown in, but it is not a patch on the speed of Thumbsplus with a SQL Server backend.

I only use Bridge occasionally since it's faster for me to flick back to Thumbsplus, locate another image(s) and use Thumbsplus' DDE link to send those images to Photoshop or whatever other application link that I've set up.

--

Sports photography is like a cross between gold panning and fishing - you can catch lot's of little'uns (the dust), get the occasional goodie (the nuggets) - but in the end all the keepers get processed - as fast and clean as I can; these tools make it happen.

bfn

Greg

ACT Vets in training for Gunning 2-day 2008

For ACT Vets Cycling Club article

Downloadable hi-res images (~3MBytes, Hi-res JPEG approx. 4800 x 2400 at 300dpi) from ACT Vets training ride in preparation for "Gunning 2 day" event held May 3, 4 2008.

Additional rights-managed stock from this event will be available at http://greglong.photostockplus.com

Original - _ND30504.JPG (2.4MB)

Original - _ND30510.JPG (2MB)

Original - _ND30520.JPG (3.3MB)

Original - _ND30588.JPG (2.2MB)

Original - _ND30600.JPG(2.2MB)

NSW / CORC Round 1 Downhill - 6th April 2008

Saturday Practice

By my estimation 227 riders turned up for the NSW MTB Round 1 Downhill comp. at Mt Stromlo - that's a lot of subjects to practice fill-flash with.

I like these downhill events for photography practice - the Downhill course mostly faces east so riders are coming out of the afternoon sun which tests the fill-flash thinking; access to the jumps is easy and I can get great angles, and these riders are not what I'd call camera shy - they're happy to 'work it for the camera' so to speak so most shots have plenty of action about them.

For Saturday I stuck to the plan of the 70-200mm f/2.8 on the D3 and the entirely workable Tokina 12-24 DX on the D300. For tight berm shots the 70-200 is simply awesome - I just set the AF auto AF-area and let the D3 figure out the best focus points. But this doesn't work perfectly since the wide sensors are not cross points (I believe) and can suffer in low light, but at 3pm on a sunny day this is hardly an issue.

The great thing is that as riders come around the berm they're about 5 metres away so the focus can be on their handlebars, hands, front wheel or their head but at that range it matters not. That's why the 70-200 cranks - it is just so fast. (I shot the Vets at Lookout Hill last Saturday arvo and I spent some time testing autofocus speed with a single focus point and it continues to amaze - focus feels instantaneous - spooky).

Having the D300 mated to 12-24 is very handy. But it requires thinking and planning. With such a relatively slow auto-focus in this combo you need to think about the comp beforehand and watch carefully as the shot evolves else you lose the rider and end up with an average landscape.

I tried some heavy-handed fill-flash with the D300 and 12-24 but as the experts would attest the flash is going to struggle to fill that space. So I zoomed the flash to 50mm or so and directed it a little to the left where I wanted to comp the shot.

Worked pretty well the sun as the main light from behind and fairly hefty fill-flash - but generally I wasn't particularly excited by it. - back to Strobist and Planet Neil for more practice me thinks.

I'm thinking I'll just go with D-Lighting on the D300 and no flash and see what I get. I read Graham Watson mentioned D-Lighting recently and how it 'has almost made the flash obsolete' - I'm yet to be convinced but a few tests of D-Lighting on the D3 yesterday is very interesting and more experimentation is planned.

I'll follow this up with some chat about the Sunday comp. round on 6th April - I left the 70-200mm at home and went with my 24-85mm. I felt the 70-200 was just a bit too long for such close action. And as I mentioned in previous blog the 24-85 is not particularly the crunchiest nut in the pack, but I was happy with the result. It has inspired me to get the new full frame 24-70mm AF-S VR (don't really need the VR but there it is) to see how it goes. I'll probably mount the 18-200mm DX VR on the D300 and turns things around completely.

bfn.

Last of the 07/08 Summer Crits - Wednesday 12th March 2008

The prep work

The last of the Canberra Cycling Club Summer Criteriums have been run and won and with the early-setting sun this late in the season they were fast and furious. Consequently the photography action was intense - just how I like it.

At recent events I've used what I consider a less than adequate, but just capable, lens - the Nikkor 24-85mm f/2.8-4 (thanks Ken) with neutral UV filter. It's an okay lens but auto-focus is pretty slow, even when coupled to the ground-breaking Nikon D3.


Shooting portraits is really what it's best at - but even then it's a bit average. I'm asking a lot of this little lens - to capture cyclists approaching at 45km/h within 2 metres of where I'm positioned. At that speed the riders are halving the distance in less than half a second so the mechanical focus is working pretty hard to stay with me.

Go the 70-200mm f/2.8

So, this week I committed the whole event to the 70-200mm f/2.8 and does it shine for this sort of work? The super fast Silent Wave Motor auto-focus is extraordinary, especially on the D3, so fast in fact that the pause at AF-ON is almost telepathic --- choose the comp, spot the focus sensor, feather the AF and bang! - right on the money.





But the 70-200mm has a gotcha, just a little thing to remember when working up-close like track cycling, and that is it will only close auto-focus to about 1.5 metres and I do like to get as close as I can safely manage so there's a few shots that exceed it's ability - not the lens' fault of course, just that it's not designed for what I'm trying to do.


The solution is of course to go no closer than say 2 metres or invest in the recently-released Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 and do some serious in-your-face work - now that'd fun.

The closing

These evening cycling events are exactly what Nikon was thinking when they began the D3 spec. - low light, fast action, close-in shooting - it simply excels. ISO above 800 is remarkably clean, but I try and avoid cranking the ISO too far - maybe 3200 at most - and instead rely on a high-contrast focus point to hold auto-focus, a shutter speed as low as 1/100s. and the 32 millisecond shutter response and a steady hand.


Flash is an option too and I nearly always have an SB-800 on hand for these events - but it's not really necessary for the shot, more for the artistic benefits like shutter zoom or when the sky lights up and getting a balanced background is what I'm looking for. I'm also looking for subtle feedback from riders to indicate that the flash is distracting in which case it goes back in the bag and the high-ISO abilities of the D3 get a run.


I've been trawling the web looking for D3 shooters who do cycling photography and they seem pretty quiet - though Moose Peterson has some great advice in his recent D3 post.

So in future posts I'll offer some insight and opinions on how I use the D3 with an emphasis on the auto-focus configuration that works for me. Of course our cycling chums may not care, but I'm chuffed to think that their reflected light is being captured by such an outstanding piece of technology.


bfn