Masters Week Photo Blog Part 2

Today, we look at the editing process and how our editors sort the thousands of images a day to the 30 or 40 that will make it into the paper and online at http://www.augusta.com/masters/multimedia/

We have three desktop Dell computers that all serve an important function. Two desktops are used for editing while the other serves as a backup and DVD burner. They are connected directly to our photo server that allows all the editors back at the Chronicle newsroom to look through the photos to make selections. In addition, we send images to Morris News Service for our sister papers including the Jacksonville Times-Union, Savannah Morning News and Athens Banner-Herald.

Our editors, Michael Snyder, director of photography, and Sean Moores, lab manager take in compact flash cards from the photographers who have placed them in caption bags (envelopes with the photog's initials, date and pertinent info about who or what is on the card) and put in a Disks In box.

From there, the editors copy the photos and use Photo Mechanic to look through, sort, and tag photos that they think will are artsy, dramatic, or tell a good story. Then, they use Photoshop to crop the photos and do minor color corrections, never anything to change the integrity of the image and add captions to each image file using the notes on our caption bags and drop the final photos on our server.

The editors spend the entire day in the "bunker" and never get to see the course, except through our lenses. Sean, in particular has edited over 20 Masters but can count the number of times he's seen Amen Corner in person on one hand. The editors work hard and are an absolutely necessary part of covering an event of such magnitude.

Below is Michael Snyder, right, and Sean Moores, left, hard at work editing Monday's photos during the Masters. At right are the Disks In and Disks Out boxes.