Workflow

Livin The Dream

Livin The Dream

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Kris
Edit My Images
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I have done a couple of weddings and a few events where I have around 300 images to process. Could anyone offer any advice on improving workflow, are there any decent online tutorials you could recommend? I looked last night on youtube but couldn't see any on-going vids just the odd volume of a series.

I have streamlined over the years and am pretty ok with culling right down in the forst instance. Everyone has their own workflow but would be really interested to hear how yours works for you.
 
How can we advise how to improve your workflow if you don't tell us what your workflow is? :)
 
Photo Mechanic prior to Lightroom is quick for large volumes, as well as "editing in" technique.
 
Depends on what format you shoot, what software you have, what you mean by 'process' (simple colour correction, straighten and crop, or something more involved) and the final format you want to end up with, 6x4, wedding album, larger prints or larger canvas etc. And whether you print yourself or not. :thinking: Sounds like a simple question until you think about it a bit. ;)
 
KIPAX said:
How can we advise how to improve your workflow if you don't tell us what your workflow is? :)
Click to expand...

Good point. I'm specifically talking about taking a volume of photos from scratch to 'ready to show a client' as quickly as possible. I use LR5 & PS CC, shoot Canon FF.

So, what's a reasonable amount of time to process 300 shots? I have seen some state a couple of hours, probably takes me 6 hours at the moment. The basics of culling and general colour correction, cropping, tweaking everything I'm ok with but need to work quicker.

Here's my general flow:

1. Once imported as DNG's into LR, mark anything with an x that is straight for delete. The best of the best I always flag. Usually go through 3 times in total.
2. Synchronise: 0 sharpening, +10 noise reduction [may increase this value in high ISO shots] Question: Do you search for these and how or am I being too clinical?
3. Sync all camera profiles. Have been using colour passport for a while now but maybe need less options here as I haven't found too many differences across different light temperatures though there are obvious differences with camera and lens combinations.
4. Full tonal edit: Basic colour correction, crop, levels, curves.
At this point do people take the odd pic into PS for rework or mark for later?
5. Let's say I do take a pic into PS for work. I always save as a TIFF then go back and 'unflag' the original DNG and flag the TIFF. I do this so that when all are finished I search via 'all flagged' and create a collection of finished lossless files which are the basis for any presentation.

I think one of my problems is the process of taking a pic from LR into PS and creating a file. I prefer to use PS for cloning etc and rarely use the adjustment tool if I'm honest, maybe I'm missing a trick but I do find it a little limited.

The area that I would be very keen to hear about other people's workflow is from here on. If you have your own presets for B&W conversion [I have a number] or your own style, how do you batch process these, all in LR as it's easier? Do you leave LR to do it all? I really don't like the sharpening in LR and do have a few of my own actions set up in PS for reducing files and sharpening, for example, is this being over pedantic? Afterall, there isn't the time for perfection?

Interested to hear your input on the above, many thanks.
 
If you haven't already seen this, it may help you with some ideas http://photographyconcentrate.com/import-export-processing-workflow-weddings-and-portraits/
Note the reference to inclusive sorting in Section 2 ("editing in") as you appear to be "editing out". It's your choice but editing in I suggest is quicker.
Rather than always using PS, you might prefer to refine your LR skills. Reading Martin Evening's excellent book on Adobe Lightroom should help with techniques for portraits etc.
Hope that helps.
 
BrynBoru said:
If you haven't already seen this, it may help you with some ideas http://photographyconcentrate.com/import-export-processing-workflow-weddings-and-portraits/
Note the reference to inclusive sorting in Section 2 ("editing in") as you appear to be "editing out". It's your choice but editing in I suggest is quicker.
Rather than always using PS, you might prefer to refine your LR skills. Reading Martin Evening's excellent book on Adobe Lightroom should help with techniques for portraits etc.
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks Peter will check that out. You're right, I'm fairly competent with LR but I could do with honing it a little. Got most of Kelby's books but not the one you mention, many thanks.
 
Actually I use Nik plug-ins a lot with LR. I only have PS Elements but rarely use it as I much prefer the tools in Nik in conjunction with LR. I find the sharpening tools especially effective.
 
BrynBoru said:
Actually I use Nik plug-ins a lot with LR. I only have PS Elements but rarely use it as I much prefer the tools in Nik in conjunction with LR. I find the sharpening tools especially effective.
Click to expand...

I've done a few comparisons of sharpening with the LR module and a simple USM in PS using my basic settings and the difference even on web files at 72dpi is huge so although it's far easier to use LR on export it doesn't always warrant it. Had a skim through the link, very informative and helpful, thank you. Autoloader definitely looks a must too.
 
Livin The Dream said:
I have done a couple of weddings and a few events where I have around 300 images to process. Could anyone offer any advice on improving workflow, are there any decent online tutorials you could recommend? I looked last night on youtube but couldn't see any on-going vids just the odd volume of a series.

I have streamlined over the years and am pretty ok with culling right down in the forst instance. Everyone has their own workflow but would be really interested to hear how yours works for you.
Click to expand...

In Windows, under the main user folder, an example would be in Windows XP, that would be My Documents, and so on. I a folder called 'Workflow' and under it I created three folders which are, '1 - In Folder', '2 - Work in Progress', and '3 - Out Tray'. The reason for the numbering is to keep it in the right order, sometimes instead of '1 - In Tray' it would be 'Stage I', 'Stage II' etc.

I import my photos from camera to the first folder (either 'In Tray' or 'Stage I'), then open them in CorelDRAW and work on them, saving them in the second folder (Work in Progress), and when I'm finished with the work, save the file for the final time to the 3rd folder (sometimes I would export to that folder, leaving the original file in the second folder in case I want to work on it in a different way or rework it).

Then from the 3rd folder, they get moved to where they'll stay in their proper folders.
 
Livin The Dream said:
Good point. I'm specifically talking about taking a volume of photos from scratch to 'ready to show a client' as quickly as possible. I use LR5 & PS CC, shoot Canon FF.

So, what's a reasonable amount of time to process 300 shots? I have seen some state a couple of hours, probably takes me 6 hours at the moment. The basics of culling and general colour correction, cropping, tweaking everything I'm ok with but need to work quicker.
Click to expand...

Depends on the shoot. There are jobs I do where they want the files handed over on the day ready to go online. These are pretty straightforward events, lighting wise and I probably deliver 200-300 files on average. They are picked and processed on a laptop in the client's office in about 20 minutes all in Lightroom. 6 hours just isn't happening; one - the client would wonder what the hell I was doing, and where the photos were, and two - I wouldn't be getting paid anywhere near enough to sit there for that long.

Livin The Dream said:
Here's my general flow:

1. Once imported as DNG's into LR, mark anything with an x that is straight for delete. The best of the best I always flag. Usually go through 3 times in total.
2. Synchronise: 0 sharpening, +10 noise reduction [may increase this value in high ISO shots] Question: Do you search for these and how or am I being too clinical?
3. Sync all camera profiles. Have been using colour passport for a while now but maybe need less options here as I haven't found too many differences across different light temperatures though there are obvious differences with camera and lens combinations.
4. Full tonal edit: Basic colour correction, crop, levels, curves.
Click to expand...

I generally sync more stuff at a time. So fully process an image from the start of the "section", that's colour, contrast, noise, profile, everything. Then sync that across them all until the start of the next section - when you moved locations, changed lighting or whatever. Repeat.

I still check each image individually though to tweak and crop as needed. But it doesn't take too long.

Livin The Dream said:
At this point do people take the odd pic into PS for rework or mark for later?
5. Let's say I do take a pic into PS for work. I always save as a TIFF then go back and 'unflag' the original DNG and flag the TIFF. I do this so that when all are finished I search via 'all flagged' and create a collection of finished lossless files which are the basis for any presentation.

I think one of my problems is the process of taking a pic from LR into PS and creating a file. I prefer to use PS for cloning etc and rarely use the adjustment tool if I'm honest, maybe I'm missing a trick but I do find it a little limited.

The area that I would be very keen to hear about other people's workflow is from here on. If you have your own presets for B&W conversion [I have a number] or your own style, how do you batch process these, all in LR as it's easier? Do you leave LR to do it all? I really don't like the sharpening in LR and do have a few of my own actions set up in PS for reducing files and sharpening, for example, is this being over pedantic? Afterall, there isn't the time for perfection?
Click to expand...

I load as PSDs from Lightroom, smaller files than TIFFs. Have it set to stack any edits with the original file, then you don't have to go looking for the raw file later. You can collapse the stacks to just show the finished TIFFs or whatever you like anyway for exporting, slideshows, etc.

I do take "hero shots" into Photoshop if they need it, and some others for a bit of cloning as you say or a quick exposure blend. Generally not if it's a "we need the photos before you shoot them" job though.

Black and white, sometimes in Lightroom, sometimes in Photoshop, depends on the image and how I'm feeling.

I don't use presets for anything, and never use PS for resizing (I just do that on export from Lightroom, including processed PSD files which will be referenced there as well).
 
Hi Kris, I do have my own presets for B+W, I have both lightroom and ACR versions (both essentially the same) and both add a slight warm tone as well. I can't remember the exact settings but theres a curve in there as well.
 
swanseamale47 said:
Hi Kris, I do have my own presets for B+W, I have both lightroom and ACR versions (both essentially the same) and both add a slight warm tone as well. I can't remember the exact settings but theres a curve in there as well.
Click to expand...
And do you just make a duplicate copy in LR and batch process the lot afterwards?
 
I don't very often do a full batch of black and white, usually it's a few here and there in a wedding or whatever. I normally make a virtual copy of each of the chosen pics and turn those B+W keeping the colour version as well (just my way of working) but I have done the full batch using the virtual copy method (I just don't get much call for it)

Maybe a simpler way is to shoot raw and jpeg and set the camera picture style to black and white, then you get a black and white jpeg but a full colour raw, and the advantage? of a B+W pic on the camera screen to see if a shot works in B+W.
 
Major Eazy said:
In Windows, under the main user folder, an example would be in Windows XP, that would be My Documents, and so on.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use any folder on drive C: If anything happens to your system install, there's a chance you lose everything if you are not backed up. I can only assume everyone reading this thread is backed up, but for some, that means only the photographs are backed up, so putting everything back on is major pain.

Your work storage folders should be on a separate drive, so if Windows bails on you, it only messes up drive C:
 
Pookeyhead said:
I wouldn't use any folder on drive C: If anything happens to your system install, there's a chance you lose everything if you are not backed up. I can only assume everyone reading this thread is backed up, but for some, that means only the photographs are backed up, so putting everything back on is major pain.

Your work storage folders should be on a separate drive, so if Windows bails on you, it only messes up drive C:
Click to expand...

Excuse me, I do back up my workflow folder on my C: drive using the Grandfather backup, and I never said I import all of my photos into that folder. Usually I tend to either import the photos I need to work on, or I would import all photos to an external drive where I keep all photos, then I copied the photos to my workflow folder, to work on them. And before you say it, yes, I do back up my external drive too!
 
When I shoot anything I use my standard workflow in LR5.
Here is a rundown:

  1. Import from CF card. I shoot RAW. I import my files using the following protocol. I import in c:\lightroom photographs then make a subfolder based on date and description. As follows; 20121018_beach I set previews to 1:1 and just import.
  2. Once imported I will click on each image and view full screen and any that I get in focus and are good I rate as 1 star by tapping the number one on keyboard.
  3. I will then get lightroom to display only the rated photographs by using the filter in the bottom right corner. Once this is done I go through each photo and crop / straighten them etc as required.
  4. Now I start to tweak the images, as I shoot RAW the images are basically flat when imported into lightroom, so I add some punch. I apply my general a preset to one photo and then sync the all photos.
  5. I will now take a run through my photos in the develop module and rate any photos for my blog with a 2 rating. Then I display only 2 rated images and export them to my blog.
  6. I use an imagemagik plugin for exporting my images from here http://photographers-toolbox.com/products/lrblog.php this adds my name to the bottom of each photo and creates a new blog post and inserts the images in order
  7. I then run through the new blog post online and add my witty comments!!! And hit publish.
  8. I can go from a few hundred photos to 20ish on my blog post in 10-15 mins..
Any questions just ask.

Adam
 
Thanks Adam. You mention your images are flat as standard on import, is that your own preset on import or just the standard settings ie. contrast 25, sharpening 25 etc etc?
 
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