I was lucky to be able to get a sideline pass to shoot D-1 lacrosse for four years including an NCAA quarter final. I began using shutter priority like so many have advised. But after talking to a number of real pros and doing some research, I switched to aperture priority at wide open or f4 to separate the player from the background. Set your ISO high enough to get to 1/250-500 and fire away. The best shots include the player's face and a ball in the frame. After I made the switch, a lot more of my images were published on the University web site and people began to ask me how I did it.

My wife and I did the same trip last year in May and it was fantastic. I had a Nikon D800 (full frame) and found that I used the following lenses 24-70 (70%), 16-35 (20%) and 70-200 (10%). Be sure to visit Dead Horse Point State Park when you are in Mohab, it was one of the most spectacular.

If you get the Globe Trotter, it comes with their own Q2 ball head. I left it overnight with a D800 and 70-200 2.8 on it and it didn't budge. I am very happy with it. I bought the carbon fiber model because I travel and hike a lot and found I was leaving my tripod in the car. The aluminum model adds about 1/2 lb but saves around $150. Cloud teaser gave good advice and remember the rich man buys once the poor man buys twice (this is my third). I suggest calling B&H and do read Thom Hogan's advice although it is dated as to current models.

Check out the MePhoto globe trotter. I just bought it for travel and it works great. Highly recommended by B&H.

In lightroom go to "Photo", "Edit In" and you should see it in the dropdown box. If not go back to the site and look for the instructions as to how to get it into lightroom

Try Frame Destination, http://www.framedestination.com/ , the B&H of framing and matting. Custom sizes. I just bought a custom 28 X 19 metal frame Nielson profile 99 black, and 8 ply matt for $108 delivered in 7-days. I use them for shows all the time.

I set my circular polarizer to max polarization and then mark the outside ring with a silver sharpie. Also, mark the 180 degree point also as this will also provide max polarization. In the future, turn the ring so that the mark points to the sun, put your hood on and you are done.

Yes it is sticky but it is intended to compensate for a bright monitor which, in most cases, is constant and not to account for exposure differences.

I print from LR not PS so I don't know your transition problem. However even with a fully calibrated monitor and appropriate color profiles prints were coming out darker than expected from my Epson or a color lab. After researching the issue I found that many of us prefer a brighter screen which is not recognized in the calibration process. When we print the finished product looks darker. To over come this, the LR print module has a final adjustment to account for the difference. Mine is +20. When sending a jpeg to a lab I select "Print to JPEG rather than to Printer in the Print Job section of the Print Module. That way the file reflects my compensation for the screen brightness.

I agree with all of the comments about sturdy tripods and I have one. However, because it is heavy (7-8lbs) with the ball head and somewhat bulky (29 inches) even if I did take it on a trip, it usually remained in the hotel room unused.
I recently bought the carbon fiber Mefoto globe trotter which is 3.7 lb. with the supplied ball head and folds to 16 inches for travel (highly recommended by B&H). My heaviest rig is a D800 with 70-200 2.8 lens. The tripod is plenty stable (unless you bump it) and the ball which has a fine and gross tension adjustment held my camera in place overnight without droop.
You can save $150 by going with the aluminum version at a cost of less than 1 lb. Also the mefoto tripods convert to a monopod which is really handy.
Don't trust the "load capacity" rating on any tripod, you need at least 3 0r 3 times the weight of your gear.

It depends on the situation. In the studio or with controlled subject placement I use manual and adjust light output as required. When outside and/or when the subject or model is not stationary, I use TTL. For example, taking portrait with sunset in background I (1) meter the scene in aperture priority, (2) hold the exposure and switch the camera to manual and (3) turn on flash in TTL and bingo a perfectly exposed photo. Yo can play with flash compensation to fine tune the exposure. I usually start with -.7 EV flash compensation.

I use Velvet Fine Art 13 X 19 almost exclusively for my work. It is currently on backorder at B&H, Adorama and the Epson store. I have called Customer Service at all three and nobody knows anything. I can switch to Canson BFK but it is 50% more expensive. Does anyone know when Velvet Fine Art will become available?

I once went to shoot the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island and took about 400 shots of people in costume. When I got home I put my card in the reader and was so excited to see the images as they appeared on the screen. Since I had another shoot planned for the afternoon, I grabbed the card out of the reader, put it in the camera body and reformatted it. The only problem was that in my excitement to see the Mermaid parade images on screen, I forgot to hit the import button in LR - all images lost.