Plano West Wolves   v Naaman Forest - September 09, 2005            Page 7
(Double-click on the individual thumbnails to see the full-size photos)
(These photos are best viewed with the monitor set to 1,280x1024)*

In response to an email:

I am using a Nikon d2h camera, Nikon 80-200 f2.8 Lens, and a Nikon sb-800 Flash.

Camera Settings: Shutter priority, 1/250 shutter speed, ISA 800, file capture = RAW mode.

Once the shots are in my computer, I pull them up using Adobe Photoshop 7.0. (One of these days I will spend the money and get the latest version.)

I first crop the shots. Then, I hit image-auto color. If that looks good I move on. If not, I undo it and then hit auto contrast. If that looks better I accept the change. If not, I then go to "levels" and make manual adjustments. Auto-color works most of the time, if not Auto-contrast almost always does the trick. I rarely have to go into Levels.

Then, I use a Photoshop Plug-in called "Neat Image." This software is used to reduce the noise in this late night shots. I only use the auto settings.

Then, I go back into Photoshop and apply a small bit of sharpening. (Unsharp mask 70,1,0)

Then, I reduce the pixel size to 1500x1000 and then convert the files from RAW to jpg to put on my website. All of these steps take only a matter of seconds.

Finally, I have been amazed by how much better I think my shots of the past two games look compared with last year. It has been somewhat baffling for me as I am using the same equipment. It took me a couple weeks to figure out but here goes. The Plano West black shirts now have plain white letters instead of blue. I am guessing (and I mean guessing) that the white letters provide more contrast and give the auto focus sensors on my camera a better target to grab. Hence the photos may appear to be sharper. (That's my story and I am sticking with it.) The use of the Neat Image noise reduction software also helps.

Hit the links below to see more shots.
Page 1        Page 2    Page 3    Page 4    Page 5    Page 6    Page 7
back to Doug's Plano West Football Photos
or, back to www.douglasfejer.com

*Also, if using Microsoft Internet Explorer. Go to "tools: internet options: Advanced: Multimedia" -
 Check the box "enable automatic image resizing."