Workflow

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bozwellox

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Edit My Images
Yes
First off, apologies if this has been covered before, but I wanted to start a thread to see what other people do when it comes to their image editing workflow.

My routine these days is something like this:

1. Import all photos into Lightroom and get rid of the rubbish.

2. Get the basic raw edits done here (white balance, exposure tweaks, a tiny bit of sharpening, noise reduction if necessary, lens correction)

This is where I decide on which photos I want to send over to Photoshop for more tweaking.

Now, when I get them into Photoshop, this is where I'm not sure what the best approach is. I tend to get my edits done, then resize the image for the web and apply smart sharpening, then "save for web" (I don't tend to print much). However, I want to keep a full size version without having the large PSD file on my HD, so I tend to click undo a few times (back to before I resized and sharpened), then run the smart filter at the full size and export that as a full size JPEG.

The reason I do this is that I understand sharpening should be the last thing you do, and it should be done after any resizing. However, it is a rather laborious process (even though I have saved an action in PS to resize, create a new layer and apply the smart sharpen filter) and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for a better way to end up with:

1. Web sized, sharpened version for screen

2. Full size JPEG, sharpened for print

Or do I just have to do exactly what I'm doing, and stop moaning?!

Thanks!
 
One thing you could do different when you get your picture how you want it,
Image
Duplicate with layers merged
Resize and sharpen the duplicate and save for web

Only sharpen if and where necessary, quite often not all of an image needs it

Then you still have your large version unsharpened to save as you wish without lots of going back and forth - does this help?
 
Yes it does! Hadn't thought of that, thanks!

Also (and this is aimed at anyone who cares to listen), do you usually keep your PSD files, or do you commit to the edit and just export JPEGs? I used to keep all my PSD files but they eat up HD space like nobody's business, so I only tend to keep them if I really think I might want to come back to them at a later date.
 
On a related note - if you are saving a full sized version for printing, would you apply sharpening at all, or just save it as is and let the printers do it (I'm talking about regular photo prints at Photobox and the like, nothing fancy)? Do the printers apply sharpening before printing, potentially sharpening an already sharpened image?
 
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