Workflow from capture to finish?

[steery1]

Have recently started shooting raw and noticed how long it takes to PP my images.
I have Adobe Lightroom and PSE 3. Heres my current system...................

1. Import images from CF card into Lightroom, copying to a folder on my HD at the same time.

2. Process images in Lightroom and save to a folder on my HD.

3.Edit and enhance these in PSE 3 and save to a folder on my HD

Although I like the control I have processing myself Im finding it tough going. Especially if I go out for the day and shoot a couple of hundred pics.
Im dreading having to PP all my Disney pics when I return from my up-coming July trip

Anybody have any views on how I could speed up or improve my workflow, I seem to be spending more time in PP than actually shooting. Now that cant be right can it?
TIA

 

[Anewman]

Anybody have any views on how I could speed up or improve my workflow, I seem to be spending more time in PP than actually shooting. Now that cant be right can it?
TIA

Well typically I only manually process images that will be printed larger than 4x6, the rest I just set the converter on AUTO and convert to a folder for printing. So pretty much with a touch of a button I have all my shots in a folder ready to be uploaded for printing, IF I took say some indoor and some outdoor shots I may manually convert one from each group and apply the white balance settings to the rest in that group b4 running the batch conversion.
Either way I am looking at about 5 secs per shot in the process, generally I consider these just proofs anyway. If I am going to print a 12x18, I may take a minute manually converting and possible other work in Photoshop.


I cant imagine every shot needing PP in photoshop.

Also do you archive each image times 3? I just keep the single RAW file which is what I would go back to anyways. The jpegs I send in for printing are deleted.

 

[ukcatfan]

Have recently started shooting raw and noticed how long it takes to PP my images.
I have Adobe Lightroom and PSE 3. Heres my current system...................

1. Import images from CF card into Lightroom, copying to a folder on my HD at the same time.

2. Process images in Lightroom and save to a folder on my HD.

3.Edit and enhance these in PSE 3 and save to a folder on my HD

Although I like the control I have processing myself Im finding it tough going. Especially if I go out for the day and shoot a couple of hundred pics.
Im dreading having to PP all my Disney pics when I return from my up-coming July trip

Anybody have any views on how I could speed up or improve my workflow, I seem to be spending more time in PP than actually shooting. Now that cant be right can it?
TIA

Tell us more of what you are doing on each step. I recently spent the time to learn curves and it has really sped up my process. I used to spend more time trying to get the histogram to look like I wanted with levels, highlight recovery, fill light, etc. but once you learn curves, you can really get what you want quicker. I do that from within the RAW converter. My only steps after the conversion are noise reduction and sharpening. Also, try to keep any post conversion work as TIFF instead of JPG and only go to JPG for the last time you save it off. I end up keeping my JPGs on my pc and archive my RAW files.

Kevin

 

[photo_chick]

I usually just stick to lightroom for my work. I only end up using CS2 anymore if it is an image that needs something beyond color, contrast, exposure type adjustments. I print straight from lightroom now also so the only files that actually get converted to jpg are ones that I post online or the rare occasion where I send stuff to the lab for printing. I also only work with the files I want to print or share.

 

[steery1]

Tell us more of what you are doing on each step. I recently spent the time to learn curves and it has really sped up my process. I used to spend more time trying to get the histogram to look like I wanted with levels, highlight recovery, fill light, etc. but once you learn curves, you can really get what you want quicker. I do that from within the RAW converter. My only steps after the conversion are noise reduction and sharpening. Also, try to keep any post conversion work as TIFF instead of JPG and only go to JPG for the last time you save it off. I end up keeping my JPGs on my pc and archive my RAW files.

Well,

1. 1. Import images from CF card into Lightroom, copying to a folder on my HD at the same time.

2. Process images in Lightroom and save to a folder on my HD.

(What I do here is usually tweak the curves and maybe the exposure value if necessary, reovery, fill light. Basically whatever I think it needs)

3.Edit and enhance these in PSE 3 and save to a folder on my HD

(Cropping, contrast hue,saturation. Again, I just tweak until I think is as good as I can get it with my limited abilities.)

 

[Master Mason]

I am waiting for Lightroom to come, so I'm not sure how that will play out.

My current process is shoot Jpeg + Raw.

I upload the jpegs to one file, the raw to another. I open the jpegs in bridge, and cull the bad ones. I then apend the meta data with copyright info, and batch rename. In this process I have usually looked at each photo 3 or so times. Before the final batch rename I write down the numbers of anything that I really want to PP. I then open the RAW file from bridge, process and then upload everything to smugmug.

 

[photo_chick]

(Cropping, contrast hue,saturation. Again, I just tweak until I think is as good as I can get it with my limited abilities.)

You can do these things in Lightroom as well. Might save you a step.

 

[mabas9395]

I am waiting for Lightroom to come.

I don't think you have to wait for the disc to come in the mail. Just download the free 30day trial and start using that tonight. Then when your disc comes with the activation key, just enter it and you'll be good to go. Thats what I did.

 

[steery1]

Also do you archive each image times 3? I just keep the single RAW file which is what I would go back to anyways. The jpegs I send in for printing are deleted.

Pretty much, yea. At each stage I save a copy, so, a RAW file at import, a tiff file after processing in Lightroom and a jpeg after editing in PSE 3.

 

[steery1]

I don't think you have to wait for the disc to come in the mail. Just download the free 30day trial and start using that tonight. Then when your disc comes with the activation key, just enter it and you'll be good to go. Thats what I did.

Me too. I didn't wait for the free trial to finish before I signed up. After about 2 weeks I knew it was for me and bought the disc. It really is intuitive.

 

[ukcatfan]

Well,


(What I do here is usually tweak the curves and maybe the exposure value if necessary, reovery, fill light. Basically whatever I think it needs)


(Cropping, contrast hue,saturation. Again, I just tweak until I think is as good as I can get it with my limited abilities.)

Any reason that you are not doing the crop, contrast, and saturation in the RAW converter? That would save some time by not opening each file individually in another program.

I batch my noise reduction and sharpening after conversion, but most RAW converters can also do this. I know that those methods are not the best ways to do it and I will go back to do individual work on the shots with the most potential after the batch. For general sharing and 4x6 printing purposes, I feel like the benefit in time savings outweighs the fact that I am not truly getting the most from those two steps.

Kevin

 

[steery1]

You can do these things in Lightroom as well. Might save you a step.

I know but I feel PS just gives it something else, a little punch. Heres one I processed in Lightroom only ......................

Heres the same one with editing in PS3.......................

 

[steery1]

Just a little note on the examples above. This was the first time Ive tried selecting a part of the image to work on. What I did was select the mole so I could blur the background slightly more. Im pretty rubbish at PP ao its not very good and the mole has a noticeable halo but if done correctly I think it improves the image greatly from the Lightroom only version.

 

[Anewman]

Just a little note on the examples above. This was the first time Ive tried selecting a part of the image to work on. What I did was select the mole so I could blur the background slightly more. Im pretty rubbish at PP ao its not very good and the mole has a noticeable halo but if done correctly I think it improves the image greatly from the Lightroom only version.

While I do agree that the Selective blurring may improve the image in some cases, I dont think it is a fair comparison with the Lightroom example you posted. You could do the same exact crop in Lightroom

 

[steery1]

While I do agree that the Selective blurring may improve the image in some cases, I dont think it is a fair comparison with the Lightroom example you posted. You could do the same exact crop in Lightroom

True. I prefer to crop at the end just before saving as jpeg though.

My problem is Im processing each image in Lightroom then Im editing each image in PSE 3. I need to try to start batch converting. Lightroom allows this but PSE 3 will only allow auto settings for multiple images. Maybe I should give it a go. Trouble is auto probably wont be just how Id like it.

 

[Anewman]

True. I prefer to crop at the end just before saving as jpeg though.

My problem is Im processing each image in Lightroom then Im editing each image in PSE 3. I need to try to start batch converting. Lightroom allows this but PSE 3 will only allow auto settings for multiple images. Maybe I should give it a go. Trouble is auto probably wont be just how Id like it.

You are right, but depending on print/display size you might not be able to see much of difference anyways.

I understand perfection if you are printing a poster size for framing, or if you want to enter the DIS board photo contest. I just cant see "myself" sending each and every shot to photoshop.

 

[Master Mason]

I don't think you have to wait for the disc to come in the mail. Just download the free 30day trial and start using that tonight. Then when your disc comes with the activation key, just enter it and you'll be good to go. Thats what I did.

That's a great idea, thanks. Just got the confirmation that the order is accepted and being shipped. I am sure my son will love his new software, and will be happy to let dad learn it too

On a side note, he is getting pretty good with photoshop from his digital photo class at school. They don't teach much about taking pics, but very good coverage on photoshop

 

[photo_chick]

Pretty much, yea. At each stage I save a copy, so, a RAW file at import, a tiff file after processing in Lightroom and a jpeg after editing in PSE 3.

You don't need to save the changes you make in lightroom. It saves the settings for you for each image. It is non-destructive editing so it will not write it over you original RAW files, it is a profile type setting it saves for the library. It does this already for you. Then just tell it to open the file in photoshop for editing. When i use CS2 I have both it and lightroom open at the same time so I can just jump back and forth easily.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Post processing? Don't you just hook up your camera to your printer and print???

Seriously, I use lightroom for most of my file transfer, keywording, and post processing. I sometimes jump into CS2 to work on an image that requires something that LR can't do. I also batch up images and run Neat Image on them via CS2 at times as well. I love the fact that LR saves just the metadata on the edits, so I don't have a ton of space taken up by 35 meg PSD files.

I store my files on a pair of RAID 5 NAS. I also do a monthly backup using Archive Creator to DVD. I write a pair of DVDs and store one at home and one at my office.

I know but I feel PS just gives it something else, a little punch. Heres one I processed in Lightroom only

It is nice to be able to do selective sharpening and use plug-ins, but other than that I can do just about all of my basic pp work in LR and I can do it much faster. If I'm going through a set of 500 shots from a soccer game, I'm not going to mess with PS. If I'm working on a single 11x14 print, I will. It's all a trade-off between time and quality.

As for cropping last, I actually crop first. In LR, it's non-destructive, so I can always change it later. The reason that I do it first is that it allows me to concentrate only on the pixels that I'm keeping. That's especially important when adjusting things like exposure or saturation. If I've just cropped out the brightest part of my photo, I can increase the brightness of the remaining parts and get more dynamic range.

 

[Groucho]

I hate to say it, but my feeling is "hey, we're all going to die some day!"

The actual taking of the photos is maybe my favorite part of photography. This means that I have a lot of photos to go through. (I think I've currently got 300+ that are still on memory cards from just the past week or week and a half.)

I'm not going to be on this planet long enough to go through and tweak each and every photo I take to its maximum potential.

My workflow generally is to convert the RAWs to max-quality JPGs (adjusting nothing but the white balance when necessary), then look at them all in Irfanview, and the pictures that I'll want to put on the web and/or share in some other way, I'll crop as needed, resize to 1600x1200, and save them under a somewhat meaningful name (usually the topic or subject with a number - like WDW2007-001, WDW2007-002, etc). If I'm being responsible, I'll also go in and do some basic keywording with Irfanview Thumbnails.

If a particularly good shot cries out for more serious tweaking, I may go back and play with it a bit. But ultimately, there's just too many photos!