Photockie Talk: My Photographic Workflow

My Photographic Workflow

With the advent of digital cameras and inexpensive memory cards it's possible to take take hundreds or thousands of pictures over a few days. A Workflow provides a standardized way to process all these shots to add relevant metadata (keywords, geocoding), "quickly" identify the best shots, and post process them to look their best (or at least close).

For me, everything starts with Photoshop Bridge CS4 (included in the Adobe Photoshop CS4 package). I use it to import photos from the camera card, convert the files to DNG format, add metadata indicating copyright ownership, and place them in a "working directory" on my machine. It only takes a few mouse clicks to get this whole process running. (The copyright ownership data is set up beforehand and includes my name, contact information and copyright ownership declarations.)

Once the images are in the working directory, Bridge is used to assign keywords. (I tried Lightroom 2, but its keywording facilities stink. As your collection of photos grows, having keywords make it much easier to find a specific photo later. Bridge embeds the keywords in the photos. If they are ever published on a photo sharing site, such as SmugMug, the keywords go with the photos. SmugMug and many other sites list keywords users can search across making it very convenient for them as well.)

At this point geocoding is added to the photos (assuming it wasn't automatically added when the photos were taken).

From here on out everything is managed in Lightroom 2. I begin by importing the photos into Lightroom 2. The import process takes a couple mouse clicks and away it goes. (Lightroom provides the option to copy the photos into its database, which I do.)

Once the photos are imported it's time to identify the best shots. Lightroom 2 really shines for this. I use the Compare View in the Library Module to identify rejects first. These are the the out of focus, obviously terrible shots. After going through all the photos, the Photo/Delete Rejected Photos... command automatically removes them.

A second pass is made, now looking for the standout shots. The Compare View and Survey modes are the primary tools for this. Often I'm looking at a series of shots of the same subject, trying to find the most expressive, best focus, etc. This is a go/no go decision. I do not grade them as very good, good, not so good, etc. It either makes the cut as a serious contender for use now or it's held in storage. A key point is the no go's are not deleted. They are good photos, but don't fit current needs. The photos that receive the go sign are moved into a "collection" named "Best Shots assignment name". (Note this photo sorting and grading procedure is a modification of the process described by Scott Kelby in his book The Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers.)

For all the shots that make the cut, next up lens distortion correction using PTLens and noise reduction using DFine 2.0 if needed (both are installed as external editors in Lightroom). This is wrapped up with simple corrections with the tools under Lightroom's Basic tab: white balance, tone, spot removal, and red eye removal. This results in a collection of post processed Best Photos with full keyword, copyright and geocode metadata.

If the photo works as is, only two steps remain prior to publication. It's cropped as needed and Sharpener Pro 3.0 is run as an external editor from Lightroom 2 to provide output sharpening for printing or display on the web.

If the photo doesn't work as is, often one or more of the effects in Color Efex Pro 3 does the trick. Another option is to go into Photoshop CS4. A luminosity blend, often a green luminosity blend, is tried to see if it enhances contrast. A color blend may be tried to enhance colors using the "Man from Mars" technique. Other creative enhancements may be applied at this point using Mystical Tone, Tint, and Color. (Note the two blends mentioned were developed by Dan Margulis and are detailed in his book Professional Photoshop.) Then it's back to Lightroom to crop, sharpen and publish as described previously.