Workflow help!

Will James

Will James

Suspended / Banned
Messages
526
Name
Will
Edit My Images
No
Hi all,

I'm still quite a newbie at photography, and I think that now I'm starting to pile up my computer with photo's, I need some tips and advice on my workflow.

The main problem I'm having at the moment is filing, naming and indexing. I've heard this is essential to get efficient, and I just don't know where to start.

At the moment I import using the Canon EOS utility, which then puts all pics in a folder by date (e.g.. 2011_03_21)...but I realised earlier that once I get lots of folders (already have quite a few), I won't know how to find the photo's I want to.

I have Adobe Lightroom 3 and CS5.....and I've read this guide which is good for other workflow steps, but doesn't really include how to categorise and file my pics.

How do you ensure an efficient workflow? Do you file by category i.e. portraits, landscapes, animals, action, transport, days out, etc, or is there a better way? I've read that some people add keywords to their files but I'm not sure how to do this quickly and effectively?

Sorry if this a really basic question but I really would like some adivce in terms of improving my workflow.

In terms of PP'ing, at the moment I import my photo's into Lightroom, make necessary adjustments, export them to another folder, then import each photo individually to make adjustments to CS5, then save a final version, then a resized-for-web version...this seems to be very unnecessary and takes up lots of unneeded time and space on my hard drive...how could I improve?

Many thanks for any help, it will be appreciated.

Will :D.
 
I seem to remember that Julieanne Kost had some good videos on workflow and organising with LR on her website http://www.jkost.com/lightroom.html They might help.
You don't have to export to edit in CS5 you can do it directly from LR, you can also make multiply copies for a B+W version etc.
 
Last edited:
for general walkabout shots i have a folder for the year, then a folder for high res, low res and the originals (raw/jpegs straight from camera)

i have the high res as the edited versions with no watermarks or anything on

then the low res is an 800px <170kb file with a watermark on it.


then outside of the years i have a folder for urban exploration sites which im likely to visit multiple times, and also a folder for my film shots.



i have MEGA ocd with my files on my computer...
 
Will James said:
Hi all,


In terms of PP'ing, at the moment I import my photo's into Lightroom, make necessary adjustments, export them to another folder, then import each photo individually to make adjustments to CS5, then save a final version, then a resized-for-web version...this seems to be very unnecessary and takes up lots of unneeded time and space on my hard drive...how could I improve?

Many thanks for any help, it will be appreciated.

Will :D.
Click to expand...

As you say it is unnecessary and kind of defeats the object of LR3 as a all in one workflow

I just use one folder a year and use keywords and and smart collections to organise them. To be honest less than 5% my images need to leave LR3 for further PP work and those few that do are sent to Photoshop as 16 bit tiffs versions (not exported) then when finished brought back as a 16 bit master file stacked with the original image in the same folder.

Files for sending to the web and the likes of flickr/zenfolio etc are exported straight from the processed raw or master tiff file with no need for unnecessary extra files cluttering every where up. And any you do need to export for something else do not need to be kept as exporting a exact copy again is a simple as pressing a button.

After all that was what LR was designed for, everything from one file and all in one place. Off course every ones workflow will be different but that is the way I use it:)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the tips and advice everyone :)

OlyPaul said:
As you say it is unnecessary and kind of defeats the object of LR3 as a all in one workflow

I just use one folder a year and use keywords and and smart collections to organise them. To be honest less than 5% my images need to leave LR3 for further PP work and those few that do are sent to Photoshop as 16 bit tiffs versions (not exported) then when finished brought back as a 16 bit master file stacked with the original image in the same folder.
Click to expand...

I didn't know you could 'send' them to Photoshop, I always export to a folder then open with photoshop...how do i transfer it from LR to PS? Also how do you bring it back to LR after you've edited it in PS? And what do you mean 'master file stacked with the original image in the same folder'? (Sorry I'm such a newb)

OlyPaul said:
Files for sending to the web and the likes of flickr/zenfolio etc are exported straight from the processed raw or master tiff file with no need for unnecessary extra files cluttering every where up. And any you do need to export for something else do not need to be kept as exporting a exact copy again is a simple as pressing a button.
Click to expand...

By this do you mean you can export it straight to flickr without having to save a copy in a folder?

Once I've edited a photo in lightroom, obviously the file stays in the LR catalogue, but where does it get saved?

Sorry for all the questions.

Many thanks for the help,
Will :D.
 
Right click on thumbnail in LR and select open in Photoshop. when you have finished editing it and close it down it will go back to LR as a version and stacked on top of the original image. Clicking on the side bar will reveal both images, like so. Images edited in PS are saved in the same folder as the original unless you specify different, but you cannot save it as a version if it is in a different folder.
133671828.jpg


You have Flickr uploader already in LR ,you can send them to your photostream or sets by dragging the thumbnails over to them and uploading them after setting the export dialogue box.

133671936.jpg


I suggest reading up on LR as there is much it can do and to much to go all through it here.:)
 
OlyPaul said:
Right click on thumbnail in LR and select open in Photoshop. when you have finished editing it and close it down it will go back to LR as a version and stacked on top of the original image. Clicking on the side bar will reveal both images, like so. Images edited in PS are saved in the same folder as the original unless you specify different, but you cannot save it as a version if it is in a different folder.
133671828.jpg


You have Flickr uploader already in LR ,you can send them to your photostream or sets by dragging the thumbnails over to them and uploading them after setting the export dialogue box.

133671936.jpg


I suggest reading up on LR as there is much it can do and to much to go all through it here.:)
Click to expand...

Hi Paul,

Since I asked the above my workflow has massively imrpoved thanks to your tips!

The only thing that's frustrating me, and I don't know if it's something I'm doing wrong, is that the master .TIF file seems to be around 200MB - although LR is very good as it keeps as least files as possible for many edits, this file size seems a bit excessive and feels counter-productive? Is there a way to change some settings to decrease this file size? Sometimes I've only done a tiny bit of cloning and it will still be a very large file size for the .TIF?

Regards,
Will.
 
I'm guessing that at that file size it is a 16 bit tiff, you could always turn it into an 8 bit tiff, you will lose some detail, but it will be a lot smaller.

With Lightroom raw is the way to go.
 
Hello,

Yes it is a 16-bit - is there a way to have the stacked file saved as a RAW file rather than photoshop automatically transporting it back to Lightroom as a .tif?

If I do want it as an 8-bit, how do I change the setting so this is automatically done when transporting from Photoshop to Lightroom?

Will.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top