Care to share your RAW workflow??

[roanjohn]

I think I am ready to tackle RAW. I would really like to hear a step by step guide on how everybody handle a bunch of RAW files say from the card to the final output. I usually print most of my photos 4x6 and sometimes 8x10 or 13x19 if its very good.

I will probably be using Canon DPP that came with the XT for RAW conversion and Photoshop for editing JPEG's.

My photoshop skills are all self taught from books and this forum so it is very limited............:oops: :oops: :oops:

All suggestions will be very much appreciated. :D

Thanks in advance!!!

Ro1

[tim]

Here's my idealised workflow, as a hobbyist rather than a pro:
1) Delete obvious crap shots.
2) Adjust exposure compensation, shadows, noise reduction etc in camera raw. Copy the changes to other photos if needed. Complete this step for all photos before moving onto the next step.
3) Move photos into great, ok, and not so good folders. *
4) Batch convert all selected photos to JPG for display on my website.
5) Any photos that need cropping i'll either do individuall from camera raw or just crop the JPG, depending on how I feel at the time.

* Steps 2 and 3 are a little flexible. I might categorise the shots then do the alterations, or if I want to copy settings between RAW files easily I might do the alterations then categorise them.

If i'm doing prints i'll go back and do some additional work on each photo later. For large prints (A2/A1) I might do blended exposures or spend time fixing minor flaws.

[ssim]

My workflow is pretty simple but it seems to work for me.

I create a folder on my desktop based on the shooting date.

Copy from CF cards to this folder.

I use breezebrowser to view the RAW files and get rid of the obvious junk.

Use breezebrowser to batch rename all the files based on my own naming convention

Burn the original RAW files to CD/DVD and also copy them to an alternate hard drive.

Use C1 to edit each image that would be a keeper.

Use Photoshop CS to do the final editing.

The TIFF keepers are copied to the alternate hard drive.

I print at home on a Canon Pixma 8500 printer up to 8.5X11. Anything bigger I send out to a pro lab that I am immensley happy with.

I don't delete the original RAW files from the original hard drive until I really need the space.

[chris.bailey]

am in the process of changing mine a bit having fallen in love with Raw Shooter (RSE) but

1) copy from CF card into date folder (Feb 05) and sub folder RAW inbox.
2) Rename the files according to taken date and sequence number (in CS file Browser)
3) Use RSE to weed out the no-hopers and prioritise those worthy of conversion. RSE allows you to do this.
4) Backup onto external hard drives (I now use Karens Replicator which is freeware) and DVD the RAW images.
5) Use RSE to convert the priority 1 images to tiffs (RSE saves these to a new Tiff from RAW folder)
6) Do final touch up and cropping to size in CS and save out to a folder under the date folder called processed. I append a cropped size to the file name eg050305_005_8x10.tiff
7) Review the priority 2 files in RSE and see if there is anything else worth converting or missed in the priority 1 trawl.
8) Have a beer!!!!

[roanjohn]

Thanks for the tips!!! :-)

I am currently using the software that came with my XT as all the other programs do not have support for this camera's RAW files yet. I have downloaded RSE on my computer so I will dabble on that software once it supports my camera.

My initial impression with DPP is that it has a very limited options on things I can tweak (do you guys feel the same way??)........in fact, much more limited than CS (I tried using my 10D raw files). It also doens't have that clicker where you can click on whites to correct WB...........one good thing is that its fast, not like the previous software that came with the original Rebel. Of course, I just started using it last night so there might be other things I have yet to discover.

So in essence, the 2 most important reason to shoot RAW are:
1. To correct white balance (perhaps the main reason why a lot of people use it).
2. To correct exposure.

Another question I wanted to ask is in regard to noise. Does RAW tend to output less noisy image or does it make no difference??

Thanks again for all the step by step. I will try to use each tip and see which works for me best.

Ro1

[cmM]

this is what i do

•Copy ALL file to the computer, to a folder (by date on a separate partition)
•Open C1, start new session, start going through the files. Delete everything that's out of focus, badly exposed, or just plain ugly. Then go through them again, delete some more shots that I don't like the composition, or I have duplicates/or similar shots - especially when shooting in continuous mode.
•Do Adjustments. I sometimes, depending on how big the batch is and how consistent the shooting conditions were I do adjustments to all the RAW files globally, or each on separately.
•Process the batch
•At this point, all there's left to do is open each file in PS, and do whatever else post processing is needed to the images, resize and save.

[CyberDyneSystems]

- Copy all files to my dedicated photo RAID1 array into a dated folder
- Fire up Breeze Browser to cull (may switch this to RawShooter)

- Conversion,. either was BreezeBrowser to 16 bit tiff with little to no RAW adjustments beyond WB adjustment if needed. One thing I like about BB is playing with applying differing parameter adjustments prior to conversion. Convert to 16 bit tiff.

- OR I used C1 (depending on mood, and file type, C1 lacked support for 20D for so long) With C1 more adjustment was used during conversion leaving less to do in PS. Convert to 16 bit tiff.

- Final adjustments in PSCS include (in this order) crop, levels, saturation/color adjustments, masks/layers for Noise reduction if needed, then final sharpening.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Thanks for the tips!!! :-)

So in essence, the 2 most important reason to shoot RAW are:
1. To correct white balance (perhaps the main reason why a lot of people use it).
2. To correct exposure.



I don't concur with this at all.
These are the two best reasons for corrective use of RAW perhaps,..
But the main reason I shoot RAW is for the control of color in general. A god RAW tool allows for more fluid and natural looking color adjustments before you even get to your Editing app like PSCS,. at which point I maintain a 16 bit filr for the same reasons. There is no way I could punch up the colors the way I do with my RAW and 16 bit tiffs with a jpeg.. not even close.

[roanjohn]

I finally shot RAW yesterday..............I used DPP..........It was a tad limited for me.

Maybe I'm just a little lost............It was still nice to have control over white balance and exposure.

But man......these RAW files are HUGE!!! I really want to know how you guys sort through these RAW files..........I need something quick that can show me all the pics in a slide show..........and the pics are all maximized to fit my screen. It seems a tad cumbersome to browse through them in these little thumbnails.

I'm sure I will get used to this..............Thanks for the answers guys.

Ro1