What is your workflow?

[Kaitlyn]

Okay so I am just having trouble keeping track of my photos using an efficient system!

1) So, on camera: JPG, RAW or RAW+JPG?
2) How do you load on to your computer/what structure?
3) What do you use for edits?
4) Do you save your edit or replace the original? What about multiple "versions" of edits?
5) Do you throw away "bad" shots?

I think that.. might be it. Any other information? Include it please!!! :). My basic proces sis:

1) Shoot RAW or RAW+JPG
2) Load pictures manually into M:\Pictures\Dated\yy.mm.dd - Event name. This works most of the time but sucks when I take very few photos or random photos have no place. Also, what about a multi-day event...
3) Photoshop but I end up never doing edits to photos.. doh
4) I often make one-time edits, save to desktop and post somewhere... doh!
5) I prefer to keep EVERY shot, including my original RAW+JPGs... except for ones that are just like COMPLETELY useless...

[Kasakato]

1) RAW
2) Lightroom auto import
3) Lightroom & Photoshop CS4
4) Non destructive editing. If I produce two images I think look interesting, I simply copy and paste it to have two versions.
5) Everything is kept

[Kaitlyn]

2) Lightroom auto import

You just have it import off the camera/card reader directly? What folder structure do you put it into?

[VMalska]

Okay so I am just having trouble keeping track of my photos using an efficient system!

1) So, on camera: JPG, RAW or RAW+JPG?
2) How do you load on to your computer/what structure?
3) What do you use for edits?
4) Do you save your edit or replace the original? What about multiple "versions" of edits?
5) Do you throw away "bad" shots?



1) JPG

2) SD card reader built into laptop and desktop.

3) Don't edit.

4) See above.

5) No. Shots I consider "bad" go into another set of folders, to be left till called for (if called for).

[Kasakato]

You just have it import off the camera/card reader directly? What folder structure do you put it into?

I use the camera if I'm lazy, a card reader if I'm in a rush. I think I have lightroom to copy pics to: Pictures\Year\Month\Day. I also back them up in the identical format on another HDD on the fly.

[N_Raged]

I only shoot RAW now so it's all non-destructive editing.

1. Copy photos to hard drive in separate folders for different events.
2. Import to Lightroom. Flag keepers and obvious rejects.
4. Do initial RAW adjustments on keepers.
5. Export to Photoshop for further editing/actions/automation.



-Heavy edits requiring numerous versions are saved as layers in a .psd file.
-Bad shots will be deleted after ample time has passed and I know for sure that I'll never have to touch that event again.
-Random shots go in a generic folder like 100MSDCF.

[phuviano]

1) Raw and Jpg. Not raw +jpg. I shoot raw if I don't mind editing after. If I feel lazy, I'll shoot in jpg. For example. I went on a vacation to asia for a month between June/July of this year. I shot entirely in jpg. I did minor editing of jpegs afterwards.

2) LR for pictures, and Adobe Bridge to import my video's. I can't seem to download video's through LR, not even sure if its possible.

3) LR + Photoshop

4) I always keep the originals intact (raw or jpg). I'll keep the edited versions too. The odd time, I'll make more than one version of a photo.

5) Sometimes I'll delete the photo if its really blurry and I didn't notice on the camera lcd.

[Kaitlyn]

I only shoot RAW now so it's all non-destructive editing.

How is it non-destructive? If you adjust the whitebalance, crop, etc. etc... have you not lost the settings/dimensions/etc. of the photo you took from the camera?

[jimmy-j]

1. shoot raw
2. import to lightroom
3. raw editing
4. more editing in cs2 (yes the stoneages! lol!)
5. save jpg to separate conversion folder


i save all my pictures from the camera into folders in the following format

2009-10-13 [event name]

[jimmy-j]

How is it non-destructive? If you adjust the whitebalance, crop, etc. etc... have you not lost the settings/dimensions/etc. of the photo you took from the camera?

the original raw file is kept in tact. the adjustments are saved into a separate file and not modifying the original image.

e.g. using bridge creates a (i think) xmb file. if you happen to delete this xmb file, your raw image returns to the original "off the camera" state.

[Kasakato]

How is it non-destructive? If you adjust the whitebalance, crop, etc. etc... have you not lost the settings/dimensions/etc. of the photo you took from the camera?

Non destructive means no changes are made to the actual picture data. Changes are saved to, lets say, a text file. When you open up the RAW data, the image viewer applies everything in that text file to the image. If the RAW data is the body, the text file is the clothes.

[CSAgent]

I would love to know how many photos each of you can edit per hour considering you are all shooting RAW.

When you shoot a thousand to twelve hundred photos on average for a 10 hours average wedding day, shooting RAW is not an option. Turn around time for myself is 2 weeks on average, sometimes longer esp. during the height of the season.

My flow is simple:

1. Card reader directly into one drive.
2. Photoshop.
3. Save into separate folder.
4. Back up to external drive of the week's take every Sunday evening.

I average about 20 JPGs an hour. I don't believe in cosmetic and skin adjustments for weddings or large events. I only do overall adjustments like colors, white balance, levels, curves, noise and vignettes. I carry a gray card all the time so my WB is rarely off. For me to complete about 800 keepers out of 1200 shots, I will need approx. 40 hours or so give or take - which means 5 business days, 8 hours each straight with no breaks.

Only time I ever shoot RAW is when I am in the studio. Why? Well in the studio, I will shoot at most 100-150 shots in 3 hours. Which is much more manageable as I spend a good 15-30 minutes per RAW file tweaking everything.

When you have the proper tools to measure your surroundings, it eliminates a lot of post-processing work. Sometimes it's also just experience to adjust yourself and your camera on the fly. I would tell you not to rely on RAW too much, because than that just means you're relying on yourself to make mistakes and RAW is your crutch to fix those mistakes later. RAW can never ever fix composition, the expression on your subject's face, the clothes they wear, the angle the photo was taken in.

I can't see myself shooting RAW for everything, that's just too much time in post-processing. And thus far, it has worked for me. Vacations, family gatherings, general shooting - all JPG for me.

As a newcomer to photography, I would advise those people to learn the basics and shoot JPG first. RAW is a little more advanced and if you're fixated on using it so much in the beginning, you don't learn the basics that you would pick up from when shooting JPG.

[ryan_lau100]

I would love to know how many photos each of you can edit per hour considering you are all shooting RAW.

When you shoot a thousand to twelve hundred photos on average for a 10 hours average wedding day, shooting RAW is not an option. Turn around time for myself is 2 weeks on average, sometimes longer esp. during the height of the season.

My flow is simple:

1. Card reader directly into one drive.
2. Photoshop.
3. Save into separate folder.
4. Back up to external drive of the week's take every Sunday evening.

I average about 20 JPGs an hour. I don't believe in cosmetic and skin adjustments for weddings or large events. I only do overall adjustments like colors, white balance, levels, curves, noise and vignettes. I carry a gray card all the time so my WB is rarely off. For me to complete about 800 keepers out of 1200 shots, I will need approx. 40 hours or so give or take - which means 5 business days, 8 hours each straight with no breaks.

Only time I ever shoot RAW is when I am in the studio. Why? Well in the studio, I will shoot at most 100-150 shots in 3 hours. Which is much more manageable as I spend a good 15-30 minutes per RAW file tweaking everything.

When you have the proper tools to measure your surroundings, it eliminates a lot of post-processing work. Sometimes it's also just experience to adjust yourself and your camera on the fly. I would tell you not to rely on RAW too much, because than that just means you're relying on yourself to make mistakes and RAW is your crutch to fix those mistakes later. RAW can never ever fix composition, the expression on your subject's face, the clothes they wear, the angle the photo was taken in.

I can't see myself shooting RAW for everything, that's just too much time in post-processing. And thus far, it has worked for me. Vacations, family gatherings, general shooting - all JPG for me.

As a newcomer to photography, I would advise those people to learn the basics and shoot JPG first. RAW is a little more advanced and if you're fixated on using it so much in the beginning, you don't learn the basics that you would pick up from when shooting JPG.

but but but what if you eff up the exposure with the kiss?
or have some crazy colour casts from multiple lights?
im always too much in a rush to gel or use the grey card so RAW FTW although my hard drives tend to think other wise

[CSAgent]

but but but what if you eff up the exposure with the kiss?
or have some crazy colour casts from multiple lights?
im always too much in a rush to gel or use the grey card so RAW FTW although my hard drives tend to think other wise

Well, I would hope you have been shooting the moments leading up to the kiss so that you know what the exposure will be already. :razz:

Besides, that's what an assistant is for. Chances are, he/she will have captured that moment too. :cheesygri

[Lulz]

the one drawback i dislike the "save the changes to text file" way is that 3rd party programs don't see those edits.
I use InfranView and FastStone Image Viewer (sometimes ACDSee too) on my laptop to show pictures.
Like if you go to relatives in another country (or even same country) and you want to show them pictures of people they didn't see for a year, it would be a big hassle to load up each program just so that they can see the edited stuff. Of course you can export the final edit to JPEG, but that means another copy of the file =(

[jimmy-j]

Of course you can export the final edit to JPEG, but that means another copy of the file =(


jpg's don't usually stay around on the drive for too long. they'll be burnt to a DVD and given to whoever wants it.

and i'll spend about 10-15 mins on average editing raw files. then there's no telling how long i'll spend in photoshop for other stuff.

i do it all for fun so i don't have deadlines. i can see how someone who shoots pro will not want to spend over 40 hours editing each and every photo. it gets very tedious but sometimes u gotta do what u gotta do.. it's work, it's your name, it's your business and it's your pay cheque.

[Winkle]

Mine's simple as well...

1) Shoot Raw
2) Import into Aperture
3) PP w/ Aperture
4) Export to iPhoto

I use Aperture to manage all my raws and iPhoto to manage all my post-processed stuff. In terms of keeping my files organized I usually categorize everything into their own album folder.

Edit: Also wanted to add, I do it all for fun as well, so I do everything at my leisure.

Also, I find iPhoto is fantastic for managing all your photos, and it connects directly to your Facebook and Flickr accounts so you can manage your albums there as well directly through the software, it keeps everything simple so I only need to have Aperture and iPhoto open at the same time.

Also wanted to point out that Aperture has not yet added support for D300S and D3000 raws so I am currently using Adobe converter to convert all my raws to dng format... so that slows down my work flow a bit.

[hazman]

1. Shoot in raw - full manual - to maintain all of the image information and not have a computer generated white balance
2. Review and flag in Bridge
3a. Import keepers into Lightroom. save as DNG - date - event
3b. When importing, I also now save a backup to an external drive, so I have the original keepers in a second location until actually backed up
4. Flag images with keywords
5. Edit - batch white balance, exposure as required, colour correction, cropping all in Lightroom
6. Flag updated images to reflect final product
7. Create galleries for posting
8. Delete everything not used

I can shoot an event with 700-800 images and get them down to 70-100 in around an hour with this workflow.
Timelines are really tight and I have developed this over the last couple of years and it works well for me, but that is based on what I shoot and the volume that I produce.

Additionally, shooting in RAW bursts takes fast, fast, fast cards and lots of memory.

[Kaitlyn]

Additionally, shooting in RAW bursts takes fast, fast, fast cards and lots of memory.

I believe SDHC is slower but a class 6 vs the sandisk extreme III, I was only able to get one more raw in burst with the sandisk. Of course, it does clear the buffer much quicker...

[hazman]

I believe SDHC is slower but a class 6 vs the sandisk extreme III, I was only able to get one more raw in burst with the sandisk. Of course, it does clear the buffer much quicker...


I'm using Lexar UDMA compact flash cards and I find a substanial increase in speed from my old lexar cards, but there is also the limitations of the buffer that could be a factor with some cameras.

[rubberband]

-RAW
-Copy to a folder called @IMPORT on my main HDD.
-Sync import folder in LR

my folder structure looks like:

PHOTO
-@IMPORT
-EVENTS
-SPORTS
-WEDDINGS
-TRAVEL
-ETC

then subfolders in each category

--YYYY-MM-DD Event or whatever name

and additional subfolders if required

---PANO
---HDR
----SourceImages


-Pre-render previews (and go get a coffee)
-Drink Coffee
-1st pass: Delete anything redundant, out of focus or otherwise unwanted
-2nd pass: Crop everything that's left if required, add metadata if it's a big batch
-3rd pass: WB adjustments if required (church weddings usually mean more)
-4th pass: Retouch blemishes, sharpening on eyes, that sort of thing
-last pass: Effects, B&W conversions, etc.

When all that's done, I create (using LR) a new named folder in the correct category for the photos, and drag them from the import area to the new folder.

I do everything in LR. I usually think about taking a few favourites into PS, and then change my mind. I haven't loaded up PS in over a year and don't miss it for the sort of work I do.

I find the multiple pass approach to be faster because it kills the temptation to spend too much time editing a photo. Crop or sharpen and move on. Come back later.. it works for me anyhow.

Once all that's done, I export everything to a website sized jpeg and upload it to my website. Anything to be printed gets exported at full size/full quality and copied to a USB stick to take to the lab.

Everything gets backed up to an external drive.

[greenmoon]

Okay so I am just having trouble keeping track of my photos using an efficient system!

1) So, on camera: JPG, RAW or RAW+JPG?
2) How do you load on to your computer/what structure?
3) What do you use for edits?
4) Do you save your edit or replace the original? What about multiple "versions" of edits?
5) Do you throw away "bad" shots?


1) JPG Basic. That's quite enough for me. I find that setting white balance in camera before you shoot, checking exposure and correcting on the spot works fine most of the time.

2) Load everything into iPhoto. Most of the shots get stored using the default "events" - basically sorted by date. I also have several custom albums for collecting photos based on whatever criteria I want (such as particularly nice shots that I might print large). On the back end, these custom albums do not actually save duplicate photos, so it does not use any more space.

3) iPhoto's built-in edit functions are enough for about 90% of changes I make, for the other 10% I use Photoshop. Usually, the worse my camera, the more likely the photos to get Photoshopped (such as photos I snap on my cell phone - they need a lot more help to hide the fact that they were taken with a ****** cell phone camera ;)).

4) iPhoto stores both the original and the modified version, plus lets you adjust the changes in the future without degrading quality further. You don't even have to think about it. It's a pity that I cannot have the same access to incremental changes if I have to edit with Photoshop, unless I save as a .psd, but they are much more pain to manage, so I just stick to jpg.

5) I try to remove obviously bad shots right after shooting, but often have no desire/time to sort through my shots on the go. Every couple of months I'll raid my iPhoto library and trash everything really bad (like way off exposure, out of focus, uncroppable bad composition), but how much I delete depends on my mood at the time ;).

[cuecas_red]

1) taken in JPEG...I will probably try out RAW just to see if I would consider it down the road
2) import to computer, sorted into a YearXXXX folder
3) I might edit some pictures and save copy of that picture using the same name but with an "a" at the end
4)Backed up on a External HD
5) uploaded to Flickr and sorted into different categories and sets there to share with others

[twotterdhc6]

1) I used to only use RAW in non-ideal conditions to give myself more room for error, but I have since used RAW for the majority of my shots ever since I started using Lightroom.

2) I copy to HDD with card reader, then save a redundant backup copy on my NAS. I find that a flat directory structure is the most effective method: "PHOTOS\YYYY-MM-DD - Description".
For multi-day events: "PHOTOS\YYYY-MM-DD to YYYY-MM-DD - Description"

3) Import from HDD to Lightroom collection. I pick out the keepers to perform the usual adjustments if required:(WB, contrast, curves, saturation, crop and level, sharpening), and leave the rest

4) All original files are saved; edited photos are saved as another copy

5) I only throw away definitively unusable shots, ie: out of focus, heads cut off etc. I tend to keep everything for the record :D

[Kaitlyn]

1) I used to only use RAW in non-ideal conditions to give myself more room for error, but I have since used RAW for the majority of my shots ever since I started using Lightroom.

So to clarify - what do you do once you process the raw and generate a JPG out of it? Does it go side-by-side? Another processed folder? Are they somehow linked?

[Borbor]

Okay so I am just having trouble keeping track of my photos using an efficient system!

1) So, on camera: JPG, RAW or RAW+JPG?
2) How do you load on to your computer/what structure?
3) What do you use for edits?
4) Do you save your edit or replace the original? What about multiple "versions" of edits?
5) Do you throw away "bad" shots?

I think that.. might be it. Any other information? Include it please!!! :). My basic proces sis:

1) Shoot RAW or RAW+JPG
2) Load pictures manually into M:\Pictures\Dated\yy.mm.dd - Event name. This works most of the time but sucks when I take very few photos or random photos have no place. Also, what about a multi-day event...
3) Photoshop but I end up never doing edits to photos.. doh
4) I often make one-time edits, save to desktop and post somewhere... doh!
5) I prefer to keep EVERY shot, including my original RAW+JPGs... except for ones that are just like COMPLETELY useless...

For sports assignments it's usually RAW + Jpeg, but I've been getting lazy lately and it's usually JPEG
2) CF to harddrive and caption via Aperture. Folders are named accordingly
3) I don't edit for sports editorial, photoshop for my creatives
4) RAWs in one folder, work in progress (16bit psd) in one directory, tiffs in a sub directory
5) If they don't make the cut for submission, I usually junk em. The stuff in my port is usually stuff I submit. For creatives, I usually keep everything and then slowly thin it out over time.