OK, well…technically it was my second. I did a car detail shoot (based on Tim Wallace’s online class) right before I left for Photoshop World, and I posted those shots over on Google+ (here’s the link), but since it was just me in my garage (well, and Brad)…it didn’t feel very “official.”
These are from the Tavistock Golf Tournament in Orlando, Florida which I shot with my buddy Mike Olivella (who is an absolutely ace golf photographer).
I shot two lenses primarily: a 300mm f/2.8 (sometimes with a 1.4 tele-extender on it to get in tighter), and a 14-24mm f/2.8 on my 2nd body, which was a Nikon D3s (that’s one of those wide shots above).
I took a handful of 10.5mm fisheye shots on the 18th tee as the last flight (Tiger’s group) was headed in toward the club house to finish the match, but that’s about it.
I shot in Aperture Priority mode all day, but the sun was in/out of the clouds, so I bounced between 100 and 200 ISO a few times during the day. Even at that, I had shutter speeds up around 1/6400 of a second, so freezing the turf Tiger was digging up was not a problem.
The post-processing was all done in the new Lightroom 4 (no plug-ins or other stuff). It’s pretty amazing how much you can do in LR4 these days.
Here’s another wide angle shot on the 18th green, with some Clarity applied and I desaturated the sky a bit for a bleach bypass look.
As for the D4 — I love it!!!!
The exposure acts a little differently than my D3s, and that took a little getting used to, but I love the overall smoothness and quality of the gradations in tone and color. Plus, it’s just fast as anything, cranking off Raw shots at JPEG speed (and the buffer must be insane, because I never got near filling it).
I also uncovered lots of other little tweaks and improvements to the camera that I hadn’t heard much about in the press, which was a nice surprise. Since these were taken, I also shot at the Sun n’ Fun fly-in, and shot my first D4 Hockey Game, and it performed like a champ. I know this isn’t a full review — just my first impressions, but so far I’m totally digging it. :)
A big thanks to my buddy Mike Olivella for putting up with me (and Braddo) for the day. The weather was perfect (lunch was yummy), and I got to tease Mike endlessly about his totally old-fashioned D3. ;-)
Not sure about the HDR-like effect… but I guess this comes from processing not the camera though. The D4 looks awesome.
— Woods
That’s just the Clarity slider in Lightroom doing its thing. You see this look a lot these days in golf magazines, not just in ads, but quite often on the cover shot.
Hi Scott
The shots are amazing how did you expose the sky and keep detail in the shadow?
The camera has a high dynamic range and LR’s shadow slider does a great job of recovering detail in the shadows.
No issues with any of the golfers being upset with people taking photos during their shots? Or are you just far enough away from them its not usually an issue?
Once they come out of their backswing, you can shoot. However, if you shoot during their backswing, their caddy (and course officials), will pick of a five iron and beat you to death (or at the very least, they’ll maybe give you one warning before they toss you off the course. I’m not kidding about the 2nd part).
Nice post that, I love the wide pano style shot taken from behind Tiger Woods including the other shots as well.
these are just wonderful images! I dream of shooting Pro Golf one day
Would you mind sharing what post-processing you did in LR4? I love the look of these images…thanks in advance.
I lowered the Highlights, increased the amount of shadows, and increased the Clarity quite a bit. That tended to make the photo a bit too colorful, so I backed off the Vibrance on a few of the photos. That’s it. :)
Wow, seems so simple but looks so amazing. Clearly, the D4 in your hands is a lethal combination…
Thanks for the reply!
Did you use any filters on the lenses, like a polaroid filter?
Nice shots
Non-heavy post processed images would be nice to see. These are cool, but most of us working journalists would be fired for processing an image like these,, lol
I moved three sliders —- Shadows, Highlights, and Clarity. Is that over-the-top? LOL!
For my editors…absolutely. They would consider these nice images for a pictorial, but wouldn’t be able to use them as straight-forward news mages. They have a magazine manipulated look to them. Not saying I don’t like them. Just saying that this type of processing (regardless of how many sliders) is just too obvious to be accepted with many agencies.
Still waiting on my D4 from B&H. Very jealous about now.
How’ed the Lightning game go last night? Stamkos is freakin’ amazing!
I shoot Canon but these look fantastic, nearly as good as ur wife’s iPhone lol
Incrível a definição…
Very, very nice, Scott. Glad you are enjoying your new D4.
As an aside, have you noticed too that the Clarity slider in LR 4 is far more “sensitive” than previous versions? It appears Adobe has tweaked Clarity to create a faux HDR look.
Hey Trev: Absolutely! They re-engineered Clarity, and now you can apply more Clarity without having those black glows around your subject. It also seems to brighten things a little, too.
They look great, but I wish I had mine already. The worst part about the D4 shortages (and D800) is Nikon and the stores can’t even tell us when they are coming. Totally frustrating. Even though I shoot Nikon, I would not recommend them going forward. If anyone asks (which, they normally do), due to poor customer service, I have to tell them to shoot Canon. What’s so hard about being truthful to your customers?
I know, right? I’m dying to get my D800 and give it a whirl. The only person that gets their stuff really quick is Ken Toney, the magical unicorn of Nikon order delivery. :)
“Putting up” with Scott and Brad for an entire day on a golf course is one of the most enjoyable, entertaining experiences one can have. The folks at the Tavistock Group put on an amazing event and I was hoping Scott wouldn’t be able to pass it up, especially after I received my shooting assignment and learned that Tavistock had assigned me to Tiger’s group the entire 2nd day. Looking at Scott’s D4 images, you can see what an amazing eye he has when it comes to not only sports but golf photography. With 6 images he captured the essence of a pro golf event even though it was essentially the first time he has shot golf. Scott thinks I was doing him a favor by inviting him to come, but it was me who got the better end of the deal. Imagine what a treat it was for me to be able to have a two hour lunch with the God of Photography (as I like to call Scott) and the Demi God of Photography (Brad) and pick their brains about software, processing, composition and all things photography. It doesn’t get any better than that..
Brilliant HDR work Scott!!! Ive had my d4 and d800 for two weeks now and love them both, although a grip less d800 with heavy glass is no fun :(.
OK, it’s not HDR. That’s just Lightroom 4. They are single images. :)
I was looking at the shadows and the sky color. Did you shoot with a polarizer for some of those long shots with the 300?
No Polarizer — just a tweak at Lightroom.
Did you (or other pros) try Silent Mode? Only 2 MP but it’s silent. I remember reading about Dave Black (I think) using a Canon point and shoot to get some shots during golfer’s swings that no one else could because of the silent shutter. I was thinking about this when they announced D4 specs.
I didn’t try it (it’s definitely quieter, but I dot think it’s silent enough to keep you from getting thrown off the course, but I’ll have to test it). However, I did try to borrow a Nikon V1, which shoots 60 fps and is absolutely silent, but the one guy who had a loaner had just sent it back the day before. I would have loved to try that out! (especially since now you can get an adapter to let you use regular Nikon DLSR lenses. :)
Hey Scott, I have the J1 (gift from a friend who won it) and have to say that the 60 FPS is amazing and OH SO Silent….
Scott,
Can you find the time to talk about what you uncovered about the D4? Please share. Thx.
Great Shots Scott!
Really nice shots!!
Very cool images. Nice post processing. I’m digging the clarity slider to add a little “oomph” to the images.
Hey Tom — that’s actually a great description of what Clarity does — it’s adds “oomph.” :)
Very nice Scott. Wish I could afford to shoot with 2 camera systems. This looks like a really great tool in the hands of professional.
Wow… I am jealous !! I would love to hear more sbout the specific way you processed these in LR 4. Some almost have a HDR look to them. Beautiful !!!
wow the sky is amazing which is why I think people are thinking there is a lot of post processing. Makes me wish I shot Nikon haha lol
Scott, what where your other settings i.e. white balance…I have a d4 and find the in-camera pic
to be different from d3 to d4, what do you think.
You totally rock on the post work on these images, Scott! They look amazing!
Love the shots, and the LR processing (especially the smooth illustrative feeling of the wide angle ones)!
I can’t believe that was your first time shooting golf (it cannot get more different then shooting “crazy” action hockey), You surely had a great mentor!!:-)
Looking forward to read more about the D4!
Hey Scott, how about telling us more about what you found out about the D4 and how to get the most out of it. Great shots!
All of those shots look fantastic. Those sliders in LR4 are fantastic.
Looks great Scott, some of them seem to have a slight HDR look about them. How did you get that?
Using the new Develop module adjustments in Lightroom 4. :-)
Great Shots! I love youre work :)
Best wishes from germany,
Skaggs :)
Dayam! I’d have to check back, but I’m pretty sure these shots are about 97 times better than the last golf shoot. :)
Awesome Scott, I was on vacation and missed this post. The D4 and 800 are great!
These are some of my favorite Kelby photos ever. I like the look.
Stunning!! You are amazing, Scott.
I thought maybe it was just me, but after reading all the comments, I have to say the processing looks heavy-handed on these.
It’s you. :)
Great shots, Scott! Nice processing and deep colours. Quick question: Is there any difference in terms of processing output, in the full release of Lightroom 4 when compared to the Beta?
Cool stuff Scott. I follow both you and Mike on a regular basis and can only imagine the banter that went on between the two of you (and Brad).
I got my D4 yesterday and it’s as good as i knew it would be, and then some. I’ve mostly tried the film-function, it’s a new medium for me with new possibilities. And it’s pretty amazing how this camera can literally see in a dark room.
These are exciting times for sure.
Great shots by the way, i like the silky feeling in some of them. I’m gonna put my D4 pictures to the test in LR4 tomorrow.
The second shot has very narrow DOF, so the subject is very much separated from the background. Due either to the conditions or processing, the subject and background seem to be lit slightly differently.
There also seems to be a slight halo along the lower part of the right (our left) sleeve of Tiger’s shirt.
This causes the image to look slightly fake / overprocessed
Really don’t get the naysayers…in my opinion these images look superb!
These are great — very exciting what is possible without plugins!
Awesome shots Scott! I find it funny how people think it’s HDR or heavily processed. Lightroom 4 has definitely gotten better and I feel I can just finish the process just in Lightroom 4 and don’t have to bother with any further edits in Photoshop.
Scott, thank you for post. Great shots.
D4 great camera just got mine but it’s unbelievable that it doesn’t come with a screen cover. The $3000 D800 does but the $6000 D4 doesn’t.
Scott, thank you for post. Great shots.
Nice work Scott! I photograph a bunch of golf myself at http://www.cycyr.com