Work Flow

[Edd]

Okay so I'm still new to the post processing of images and wondered is there any form of work flow that I should be sticking to ????

I understand that sharpening should be one of the last things done to an image but what about everything else.

Can anyone offer any advice.

Thanks in advance.

Ed

[davearnoldphoto]

My work flow goes something similar to this:

Adjustments in Camera RAW first. (considering I have a RAW image, if not, I make adjustments in CS3)

From RAW, open image in CS3. Do any cloning of dust, wires, etc. on an adjustment layer, do any cropping straitening, etc. If the work becomes extreme as far as adjustment layers, I save the file as a PSD file in a PSD folder. Once done with that, I flatten and then save the original size jpg photo to a portfolio file. I do not sharpen prior to this. And, some times I do not crop the photo prior to this. The reason is, I want the photo to be available later for any crops I may need for printing.

If I later want to print, it is then that I will crop to a particular size and use a heavy unsharp mask that is consistent with printing. I will save that particular photo to a folder that I designate as ready to print.

If I do not intend to straight away print the photo and just want to prepare it for the web, I begin (considering it is cropped to my liking) with a series of unhsarp masking/incremental downsizing until I get it to the size for the particular site limitations. Of course, there are many debates over the necessity of doing a progressive unsharp as you downsize. I prefer it.

Once I have gotten to the correct size for the web limitations, I will then add my copyright and bingo, I am done. Of course, I am saving it to a "small" folder within my portfolio folder and changing the file name to include the info to a system I would understand (such as adding "wn" to the file name so that I know it already contains my copyright).

Having 5 hard drives with literally thousands of photos, file management is my biggest problem so my file name system is important... the first portion of the file name contains a descriptor of sorts (such as "RMNP" or location name), the second portion contains the original 4 digit file name as given by the camera software, the third portion may contain edit info, such as "HDR". Once downsized, it would contain the "wn" or something that tells me what site it is destined for (like "OD" if submitting to Outdoor Photog). Leaving the original file number somewhere in the saved file, though, gives you the ability to later go back and find the original photo if needed.

In trying to manage files, I have three main folders:

"Photos" are where originals download to, by dated sub-folders. If I've shot RAW, they are separated into a RAW sub-folder under that date. If I do a partial edit of a photo, I will leave it in that folder.

"Photoshop" is where I keep my finished layered files after edits. When it gets too crowded, I will use sub-folders titled appropriately (such as "Colorado", "New Mexico", etc.)

and "Portfolio" where my post-edit original size photos go with a variety of sub-folders for any downsizes/web targets.

While that may help, the bottom line is that you need to customize your work flow to your liking and understanding with the knowledge that even though you have a set flow, you do need to remain somewhat flexible.

Dave

[gldiana]

My photos are saved in a folder called: date, subject. For example: 2009 02 08 - Philips Canyon
The reason why I put the year first and then month and day is because it will be easier to reorganize the folders at any time. When I do "sort by name" they will be sorted by shooting date.

My folders are contained inside other folders so that i know exactly where the photos are. My main folders contain subfolders that contain other subfolders, etc. divided by geography :
Europe
- Italy
......... Sardinia
..........Rome
..........Alps
..........etc.
- Spain
- U.K.
- etc.

North America
- Wyoming
...........Yellowstone
...........Grand Teton National
...........Winter Sports

- New York
- Maine
- etc.

Asia
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- etc.

...that way it's easy for me to find what I'm looking for. But that's only the first step.
After creating a folder I will import the photos on Lightroom 2.2 and at import I will assign keywords and Color Profile (very important to assign ProPhotoRGB rather than AdobeRGB or sRGB, it has the widest gamut). A RAW file does not have a profile assigned, you need to do that on import. Keywording is most important to find files later in an easy and quick way. So the photo that I shot last summer of a grizzly up in Yellowstone will have the following keywords: animal, wildlife, bear, grizzly, adult, female, jumping, omnivore, carnivore, predator, wyoming, yellowstone, national, park, horizontal, copy space, ... etc. The more descriptive are the keywords and the easier it will be for you to find what you're looking for (or your stock agency, if you'll get into one).
Also make sure that you have a preset that assigns your copyright every time you import so that you don't have to do that by hand.

One that's done you need to sort between the good and bad images (keepers and not). In this first selection I flag all the photos that I don't intend to delete. Once that's done I will look at them again and flag them again with a color (red, for example, you get to pick). Now I will flag red all the photos that deserve to be printed. Those photos will go into post-processing, it's a waste of time to post-process photos that you will never use.

I will not do any color correction, light adjustment, etc. until I need that photo. To me that's a waste of time and if I correct all the photos now, when the time comes to print I might decide that the correction I did does not match the type of print I intend to do.

For sharpening I use Noise Ninja as a Lightroom plugin, so after all the corrections are done I will run the image through Noise Ninja (if it needs it only, of course, no point in doing any noise reduction on a 400 ISO file from a 5D Mark II or 50D) and tell Lightroom to save it as TIFF and stack it on top of the original file. The reason why I stack it is that when I open those photos in LR I will not see 2 photos (the RAW and the TIFF) but only one (the TIFF). The identical RAW before NR is sitting under TIFF and out of mind until I decide to unstack it. The TIFF will be assigned a AdobeRGB profile if it's going to print to a lab, or an sRGB profile if it's going to the web.

[Bonish Photo]

Luca, you probably just made Edd consider selling all his equipment thinking he's going to have learn all those Workflow options......HA! HA!

Luca is way more into details than I am, but I'll give you the 180 degree opposite side of the workflow scale for what we do with our images.

I'll go through what I did last week after an afternoon photoshoot with a model I shot so she could update her portfolio

Come home and clean the cards onto a Hard Drive. (Side Note - While the cards are taking their sweet time to clean, I clean the gear, recharge all the batteries and repack all the bags so everythign is back where it should go)



I copy all Raw + Jpegs ( what we have our cameras set to) to a externial hard drive in a folder that is named Tammy (The girls name from this shoot) with the date - This folder is created in my Modeling Folder incase I need to go look for it, I know where it is. Notice: I copy the images to the hard drive till I check to make sure they've all transfered without losing any data.

Once I check to make sure everything is on the hard drive, I then format the Compact Flash card back in the camera while another card is copying.

Once I get to working on the pictures, I spend a few minutes rotating all the Jpegs so I can browse through them pretty fast to delete anything that doesnt stand out. Anything that is off, blurry, eyes closed or just a bad shot, I dont even bother with, I just delete both the Jpeg and the RAW file rather than worry about trying to rescue them. The Jpegs are very small, and just a reference so I have something to look at without having to open each RAW file in CS3.

Once I've deleted all the images I know I'm not going to worry about, I open up CS3, and start looking for shots that really grab my attention. Usually when shooting models, I'm shooting in 3 frames per second mode, just to make sure her eyes are open, the look is correct and I have a second chance on a good shot. If all 3 look good, then I usually delete the other 2. There has been too many times where the first one is bad, the last one is bad, but the middle one was the money shot.

This also saves a lot of hassle if you missed the shot and have to reschedule a shoot. Plus, deleting is easy, rescheduleing isnt.

Once I start finding the images I want to work on, I drag the RAW file into CS3 and see if I need any adjustments. Sometimes I might need to adjust the White Balance or bump up the darks or lights or add some vignetting, but hopefully all I have to do is open the file from RAW to a TIFF file to work on in CS3 from ADOBE Camera RAW.

Once in CS3, I remove any blemishes..i.e. Zits, acne, or any facial features that God didnt put on her body. Shot a model that had her nose pierced as a teen, and couldnt get rid of the scar. That took me forever to clone stamp it out of every shot. But that was back with CS before you could do it to multiple images at once like you can in CS3

Once I've finished the image I save it as a large Jpeg to be able to work with and move onto the next image. I know I'm probably making a few Photoshop experts cringe, here, but I almost never create layered files or multiple backups if single images. I guess I'm just too much of being in a hurry to and know I'd end up losing all those backups anyway.

Once I've finished with the entire folder, I move back through to see which shots I edited. In Photochop, when you adjust a RAW image, it creates another file that saves all your changes, called an XMP File, so it's easy to see which shots you've worked on, as they have this little XMP file beside the Jpeg.

I then create another folder inside the original that I'll name 'Gallery' and put all the adjusted images in that folder.

From the Gallery folder, I upload to my Smugmug site fullsize and dont have to worry about watermarking the shots. Smugmug watermarks the images for you if you decide you want them watermarked. Saves me a ton of time!!!

Once I have the gallery finished, depending how large the entire folder is, I either burn a DVD of the entire thing to a disc and throw it in the fireproof safe, or just burn the Gallery folder with hopes that if I was to lose everything else, as least I know I have the ones that I liked the best. For a shoot like this last one, I shot almost 16gigs worth of images and I dont own a Blu-Ray burner, so I only burn the Gallery folder.

For shoots or events that would normally take a long time to sort through all the different images, I might sub-categorize the folder inside the main folder.

Folder ---------- Tammy
>Sub-Folder - Guitar >Sub-Folder - Black Dress >Sub-Folder - Outside...etc

For events or places that have multiple images of different things like when we just spent the day at the Detroit Zoo, I have the main Detroit Zoo folder, then have >Sub-Folder - Siberian Tiger >Sub-Folder - Polar Bear...etc.

Oh, and I catagorize everything by month. So I have folders of January thru December al the way back from 2003 when I got my first digital. Then inside those folders are each major shoot or event. If what I'm shooting is going to go in my gallery on my website, then I have another hard drive that has a backup of just all these folders, and this is titled just like you would see it on my site, so I dont confuse myself (Its not that hard)...i.e. Travel, National Parks, Modeling, Animals...etc

I know it can all get confusing, but I've been doing it for so long that it makes it pretty fast for Cindy or I to find something if we're looking for a certain image. One might ask "Where was that shot from Yosemite, you know the one of the hike on the Yosemite Falls Trail?"

The answer would be an easy "Look in the June 2008 folder because that's when we visited Yosemite and then look in the Yosemite Folder under Yosemite Falls Trail Hike"

I'm interested to see what others do, as I've streamlined this process a few times by picking up tips from others.

[gldiana]

Tonight on Springer... People with a lot of time on their hands! LOL

[gldiana]

Seriously though, I highly recommend a book called "The Photoshop Lightroom 2 Workbook: Workflow, not Work Slow"

[Edd]

Wow thanks guys for all the tips.

I seem to be moving in the right direction I have organised my files in Elements 6 and they follow the same folder format on the hard drive so I always know where everthing is.

Processed images are saved as TIFF's and stacked (I think) in E6.

I haven't used keywords as yet, so will have a look at that.

Like wise I do take the time to review images as soon as I get home, delete all bad ones, and mark their location where the photo was taken on Elements 6.

Usually not straight away I do look and modify the Raw images and take a look in the editor in E6.

This is my real problem, is there any order for any corrections to be applied. I normally do any levels adjustments (on layers) and then sharpen last. I'm glad to see that a couple of you do things like cloning and dust removal before any adjustments are made, so logically this is where I should be doing it as well.

I'm still reading my "Missing Manual" on E6 and scouring the net for useful sites on post processing.

Thanks for the advice I'll keep reading and learning.

Ed

[Bonish Photo]

Tonight on Springer... People with a lot of time on their hands! LOL

Seriously, Cindy said to me "I'm going to bed!" I replied "Ok, just let me make a comment on this one thread and I'll be there shortly."

An hour later, she YELLS "Are you writing a book!" It was then that I relized man, I am writing a book!

Sorry for the long post I'll try to keep them shorter from now on

[Edd]

No problem here Pat, greatful for the information.

You can go to bed now

Ed