Lessons learned

Yesterday was the first triathlon that I was responsible for being the official photographer.  I?m now tasked with editing and organizing about 2,000 photographs.  Yikes!

I have been photographing Dan since we met, but I felt some added responsibility this time and so I wanted to be prepared.

I started by going with Dan to the race site for some recon.  Unfortunately it was a cloudy afternoon and I got almost no good shots.  I should note that for the record I was shooting using the automatic sports option.

Apparently, the was my first mistake.  I have done research in the interim and found out that my camera has some awesome options.  First, is the ability to focus my camera.  The AF-Continuous mode helps with photographing moving images. If I press the shutter release down part way the focus will follow the moving object.  This came in handy as I waited for the cyclist to come into focus!

Additionally, I could select autofocus area and the Nikon D5000 has a 3D Focus Tracking option.  This option moves the focus point and follows the movement of the athlete.  It took a moment to get used to it, but it was worth it when I did.

Therefore, I?m proud to say that I did not use an auto function on my camera the entire day.  I switched between shutter speeds, and preset the ISO not to exceed a certain point.

Additionally I changed my shutter release setting to shoot continuously and if I held the shutter release down it would shoot up to four frames/minute.

Finally, I had 6 SD cards at the ready (2 8GB, 2 4GB, 1 2GB, and 1 1GB)  I filled the 8s and the 4s, netting about 2,000 images.  All of today?s images are from before the race even started!  I?ll share my favorites as I edit them, so far I?m loving the results, I hope the racers love them too!

How did you spend your Sunday morning?