I will be taking sports photographs for our local newspaper for the upcoming High School sports season. What work flow works best keeping in mind deadlines and the possibility of scrambling for the closet wifi hotspot to meet them?

The first step for me is to ingest the image files into PhotoMechanic where I select the ones that will ultimately be FTPed to my client.

Prior to uploading, I caption each image, again using PhotoMechanic. Then I use Lightroom or Photoshop to do any processing that might be required (cropping, sharpening, etc).

During a typical halftime of a college game, I can use this workflow to process and FTP 10-15 shots.

Originally Posted by KMCC The first step for me is to ingest the image files into PhotoMechanic where I select the ones that will ultimately be FTPed to my client. Prior to uploading, I caption each image, again using PhotoMechanic. Then I use Lightroom or Photoshop to do any processing that might be required (cropping, sharpening, etc). During a typical halftime of a college game, I can use this workflow to process and FTP 10-15 shots.

Where within PhotoMechanic do you go to edit the photos using LightRoom or Photoshop?

Originally Posted by photodad1 Where within PhotoMechanic do you go to edit the photos using LightRoom or Photoshop?

There are a few ways you can do it. You'll need to go to the preferences and setup one program to be the editor.

Here's my workflow:
1) Chimp on the field (lock the photos I want to send)
2) Ingest into Photomechanic (copying only the locked files and applying the IPTC template in the process)
3) Quickly look at the shots and make sure they are sharp and in focus.
4) Select all and right click to Edit (there's a keyboard command that escapes me right now).
5) Doing #4 for me brings up Lightroom's import window.
6) Import the files, do any quick edits, crops, etc and export to a separate folder as JPGs.
7) Open the folder with exported JPGs in Photomechanic and caption and transmit.

Originally Posted by photodad1 Where within PhotoMechanic do you go to edit the photos using LightRoom or Photoshop?

Editing is not done within PhotoMechanic. After selecting and captioning in PhotoMechanic the saved files are opened in Photoshop or Lightroom.

Do you recommend anything that I can do ahead of time in PhotoMechanic to make my workflow smoother and faster? Since I'll be photographing High School sports, I really won't know the rosters until just before game time. With this, do you take photos of the rosters?

Originally Posted by photodad1 Do you recommend anything that I can do ahead of time in PhotoMechanic to make my workflow smoother and faster? Since I'll be photographing High School sports, I really won't know the rosters until just before game time. With this, do you take photos of the rosters?

You can use the PhotoMechanic Code Replacement feature to speed up the captioning process, but as you say you'll need rosters. In my experience, most high school teams have their rosters posted on their web sites.

Originally Posted by KMCC You can use the PhotoMechanic Code Replacement feature to speed up the captioning process, but as you say you'll need rosters. In my experience, most high school teams have their rosters posted on their web sites.

The highschools in my area are horrible about rosters online. I normally go up to the press box before the game and take a picture of their roster book. That way I can compare what they have on their website vs what they have at the game.

For football games, where do you go to send your game photos? Press box? Car?

One important question to ask your newspaper is when they want the shots? Do you need to submit live? within an hour after the end of the game? This will affect your workflow.

My workflow is similar to the above: Ingest (photomechanic), cull and caption (photomechanic), --> Lightroom for editing and converting to jpeg-->Rename and FTP (photomechanic).

Originally Posted by photodad1 For football games, where do you go to send your game photos? Press box? Car?

Depends on the deadline. If I have enough time to make it home or somewhere I can get comfortable to work, I'll go there. Otherwise (for high school) it's in my car.

Photomechanic to select top pics, then to edit ITPC with code replacements (assuming I have the data), Rated images dropped into PS for editing, saved the FTP'd to the Sun-Times FTP server.

Using either cell phone tethering, cell hot spot, school or McDonalds/Starbucks where necessary.

Which application do you recommend for editing? Lightroom or Photoshop? Is one faster loading then the other?

I'm not a photoshop user (but learning because of Getty). I normally use lightroom to do quick edits, but it keeps getting slower and slower so I may begin just using photoshop.

there is no one way to do it. Whatever workflow you are comfortable with and can turn out photos quickly will be fine.

Originally Posted by xchangx there is no one way to do it. Whatever workflow you are comfortable with and can turn out photos quickly will be fine.

Good point!

When I go to edit in Lightroom and make my changes, how do you save it back into Photomechanic?

Originally Posted by photodad1 When I go to edit in Lightroom and make my changes, how do you save it back into Photomechanic?

Post-processing in Lightroom or Photoshop is independent from PhotoMechanic. PhotoMechanic is just a program that allows you to view and manipulate image files, arrange and caption them, and append metadata to the files (among other things).

There is no unique file PhotoMechanic file type. Just use it to access any image file, pre- or post-processed.

Originally Posted by KMCC Post-processing in Lightroom or Photoshop is independent from PhotoMechanic. PhotoMechanic is just a program that allows you to view and manipulate image files, arrange and caption them, and append metadata to the files (among other things). There is no unique file PhotoMechanic file type. Just use it to access any image file, pre- or post-processed.

When I want to edit a photo in Photomechanical I right click and click on edit and it takes me to Lightroom. From there I edit but how do I save it?

Originally Posted by photodad1 When I want to edit a photo in Photomechanical I right click and click on edit and it takes me to Lightroom. From there I edit but how do I save it?

Lightroom is non-destructive, meaning that all changes are reversible and thus there is no actual 'save' function for an imported photo. To save you have to use the export function to make a new file. I use this opportunity to choose the appropriate file size. And anyway, since I shoot RAW I need to convert...

But maybe you are asking how you get the exported file back in Photo Mechanic?? One system is to have PM monitor the folder to which I write the exported photos. Other options are to just drag the folder into a new PM contact sheet, or just FTP after export. Normally I do not use PM after I do the final edit and conversion to jpeg; they're ready to be FTP'd.