Workflow Discussion

[Josh125]

What workflow are you all using, reasons....etc. I'm still stuck doing a pic by pic post which is getting old in a hurry

So educate me a bit if you would, and hopefully others that might be wondering about it.

 

[Anewman]

What workflow are you all using, reasons....etc. I'm still stuck doing a pic by pic post which is getting old in a hurry

So educate me a bit if you would, and hopefully others that might be wondering about it.

What software are you using and when you say "doing a pic by pc...", what exactly are you doing to each pic??

Also are you talking just jpegs, or are you converting raw files?

 

[ukcatfan]

If you are talking RAW, your software might allow you to select similar shots and you could make the same changes to all in the group. For example, all of my shots at the Biergarten needed a white balance fix and the lighting was pretty consistent through the show, so I seleced all of them and changed it together. I then went back and made individual changes to each shot, but I saved the step of doing the white balance. This would work on any aspect that needed the same adjustment throughout a group of shots.

Kevin

 

[Josh125]

I guess the software might help

I'm using Photoshop CS. I usually work in RAW, but sometimes do JPEG. I usually just adjust the white balance, color, sharpness, and saturation. Just the basics.

 

[Gdad]

I recently did my first wedding and it was the first time I went to the trouble of printing out my workflow in CS2 in an effort to be consistent.

Here it is...Mainly geared towards portrait type work.

• Open Image
• Select White Balance
• Adjust RAW Exposure
• Open RAW File
• Adjust Shadow/Highlight (If Required)
• Adjust Levels
• Noise Reduction (If Required)
• Adjust Saturation
• Crop / Straighten to print size – 5” x 7” 600dpi
• Correct facial blemishes
• Correct background issues
• Selective sharpening
• Save Full Size JPG
• Save Web Size JPG – 800 Pixels tall/wide

 

[Anewman]

I recently did my first wedding and it was the first time I went to the trouble of printing out my workflow in CS2 in an effort to be consistent.

Here it is...Mainly geared towards portrait type work.

• Open Image
• Select White Balance
• Adjust RAW Exposure
• Open RAW File
• Adjust Shadow/Highlight (If Required)
• Adjust Levels
• Noise Reduction (If Required)
• Adjust Saturation
• Crop / Straighten to print size – 5” x 7” 600dpi
• Correct facial blemishes
• Correct background issues
• Selective sharpening
• Save Full Size JPG
• Save Web Size JPG – 800 Pixels tall/wide

You do all of that on each and every photo??
How much of that do you do in ACR b4 sending to photoshop, any of the steps in batches?
Any actions(like save/save for web)?

ALSO I notice you crop/straighten to 5x7 @600dpi, that creates a 12.6mp image...

Why did you decide on those numbers, are you printing them all to 5x7 @600dpi?
Depending on original image this downsizes or upsizes, assuming that is not the only size ordered by the couple do you go back to the original image or do you resize the saved file again?

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

I recently did my first wedding and it was the first time I went to the trouble of printing out my workflow in CS2 in an effort to be consistent.

Here it is...Mainly geared towards portrait type work.

• Open Image
• Select White Balance
• Adjust RAW Exposure
• Open RAW File
• Adjust Shadow/Highlight (If Required)
• Adjust Levels
• Noise Reduction (If Required)
• Adjust Saturation
• Crop / Straighten to print size – 5” x 7” 600dpi
• Correct facial blemishes
• Correct background issues
• Selective sharpening
• Save Full Size JPG
• Save Web Size JPG – 800 Pixels tall/wide

I follow a similar process when covering a sporting event using Photoshop CS3 along with a few other utilities. Most of these are batch processes that I run on an entire match or game so it makes easy work of it to prepare a set for viewing on the web or producing a contact sheet to allow clients to decide which prints they want. The only other step that I include is towards the beginning when I make sure the card is backed up to CD in case I do something stupid and need to restore an original file.

Jeff

 

[AustinTed]

For processing raw files I have used either Nikon Capture NX or Bibble Pro. Bibble Pro is definitely worth checking out. It doesn't have the absolute quality of NX, but really does a great job speeding up the workflow.

For posting pictures to the web I have generally found this to be an unbelievable hassle. I have recently found a new hosting provider called Sharpcast that changes all that. You can literally load thousands of pictures at the click of a button. It works work through your directories even if it takes a week to upload everything. They offer a photo archival service as well.

For hosting of individual pictures for the purposes of posting on forums, I use Picasa Web.

 

[ukcatfan]

For posting pictures to the web I have generally found this to be an unbelievable hassle. I have recently found a new hosting provider called Sharpcast that changes all that. You can literally load thousands of pictures at the click of a button. It works work through your directories even if it takes a week to upload everything. They offer a photo archival service as well.

No offense at all, but I really do not see how this information is relevant to the thread. The thread is more about making changes to your images and not how you archive them. It sounds like you are just here advertising for different programs and websites. Also given that this was just your sixth post, it unfortunately makes me question your true intentions here. We sometimes get spammers here and that is very frustrating. If you are not connected with them, then sorry for the questioning and thank you for the information. Also, welcome to the DIS.

Kevin

 

[Gdad]

You do all of that on each and every photo??
How much of that do you do in ACR b4 sending to photoshop, any of the steps in batches?
Any actions(like save/save for web)?

ALSO I notice you crop/straighten to 5x7 @600dpi, that creates a 12.6mp image...

Why did you decide on those numbers, are you printing them all to 5x7 @600dpi?
Depending on original image this downsizes or upsizes, assuming that is not the only size ordered by the couple do you go back to the original image or do you resize the saved file again?

I did that in CS2 for every portrait and close up of the bride- I did about 1/3 that for the bulk of the images in Lightroom which yes does work in large batches of files but is also limited for touch-up. As for the 5x7 aspect ratio- just a choice as it is a popular print size. Its a closer crop from there to 8x10 or larger than from the original camera aspect ratio.

 

[Groucho]

My workflow has gotten easier and my output has gotten both better and properly keyworded since going to Lightroom... I simply can't imagine doing them one-at-a-time with Photoshop; I'd tear my (few remaining) hairs out and/or never even remotely catch up with all the photos that need work.

I've found very few photos that I need to do anything to that I can't do in Photoshop. Lightroom has a decent dust-removal tool, though the best fix for that is to keep your sensor clean in the first place (but that doesn't help my older photos when my sensor was dirty.)

But with Lightroom, it's all pretty straightforward. I import into the library, keyword them (fairly thoroughly), then quickly flip through them all in the Develop module, adjusting white balance, exposure, fill light, recovery, rotation, cropping, vibrance, etc. During this time, I mark the photos that I'm going to want to upload. When done, I export the photos that will be shared using custom names and sequence numbers, then do a mass export of all the photos to JPGs with the original filename. At that point, the RAWs can be archived away and I have JPGs that are fairly optimized and ready to store for later viewing, if I want to look back for a photo that didn't make the cut to be shared.

The only thing I don't like is that it can't (as far as I know) export the photos and give them a timestamp of when the photo was first taken. I always go back through with Irfanview Thumbnails and have it redo the timestamps to match the photo creation date/time.

 

[AustinTed]

No offense at all, but I really do not see how this information is relevant to the thread. The thread is more about making changes to your images and not how you archive them. It sounds like you are just here advertising for different programs and websites. Also given that this was just your sixth post, it unfortunately makes me question your true intentions here. We sometimes get spammers here and that is very frustrating. If you are not connected with them, then sorry for the questioning and thank you for the information. Also, welcome to the DIS.

Kevin

I was really just trying to be helpful. It was hard to understand what the original poster intended, since they mentioned being "still stuck doing a pic by pic post." Posting a picture? Post-processing? Nobody else was abused for advertising Photoshop and Lightroom. Go easy on us newcomers.

 

[Anewman]

As for the 5x7 aspect ratio- just a choice as it is a popular print size. Its a closer crop from there to 8x10 or larger than from the original camera aspect ratio.

Cool...

A straight 5x7 crop from a the D80 would yield AT MOST 9.4megapixels, assuming it was perfectly straight and framed, if not it would yield even less. 5x7@600dpi=12.6mp, so I wondered why you would upsize each and every image.

I thought maybe there was some kind of special printing going on since you specifically chose 600dpi and most pro labs print at around 300dpi, instead of just keeping native resolution.

 

[ukcatfan]

I was really just trying to be helpful. It was hard to understand what the original poster intended, since they mentioned being "still stuck doing a pic by pic post." Posting a picture? Post-processing? Nobody else was abused for advertising Photoshop and Lightroom. Go easy on us newcomers.

Like I made sure I started it, no offense was intended. It is just that your writing style was very marketing like to me. If you do not work in marketing, maybe you should look into that Also, the OP is talking about post processing, which usually does not include how you store and share your images. As such, Photoshop, Lightroom, and Bibble are very applicable to the conversation, but archival websites really are not. Also, like I said, you are a new member so there was also that chance that you were just a spammer. (It would not be the first time) You have said now that you are not, so I pleasantly welcome you to our board and look forward to your contributions.

Kevin

P.S. I personally thought that it was pretty clear that the OP was talking about post processing and not posting a pic when the thread name is workflow.

 

[Gdad]

Cool...

A straight 5x7 crop from a the D80 would yield AT MOST 9.4megapixels, assuming it was perfectly straight and framed, if not it would yield even less. 5x7@600dpi=12.6mp, so I wondered why you would upsize each and every image.

I thought maybe there was some kind of special printing going on since you specifically chose 600dpi and most pro labs print at around 300dpi, instead of just keeping native resolution.

That is a good point I never really considered too much. I would be curious to hear what size/resolution people finish their work to if you really don't know what may or may not be ordered in the future. I was originally keeping the original camera ratio and resolution which I think is around 4x6- but is seemed like ordering an 8x10 needed heavy cropping.