Post Processing and Workflow

Hi guys,
How is your workflow and post-processing? Could you guys share how you deal with this?

I haven't decide yet what software should I use, Adobe Bridge, Lightroom or RawShooter.

I don't want spend my entire life behind the computer trying to make my pictures better. I shoot in RAW 90% of the time.

Also,
Could you guys share some photoshop actions here?

Thanks
Mark

For me
1) Load RAW files onto the PC
2) Use FastStone viewer to apprais chuck away the obvious discards
3) Arrange into sub-folders according to categories (subject, ones to share informally, ones for more intensive work (for printing etc)
4) Open in ACR, work on white balance, exposure, shadows, overall saturaction, basic curves
5) Open in CS2 refine any of the above, dodge and burn for detail if needed, anything else that needs to be done
6) Resize for output
7) Save as jpg and run NoiseWare to get rid of any noise
8) Sharpen

Mine is similar to Pete's.

• Download my cards to a folder on my PC. I use Downloader Pro for this.
  
• I rename the files to my convention which is basically number_event_camera body. I end up with something that might look like 28934_sep06_1Ds.CR2. I can keep track of my last number used so my image number is consecutive irrespective of the job at hand.
  
• Using Breezebrowser Pro I go through the raw files and dump the obvious bad shots. Apply keywords if necessary and edit IPTC/XMP data.
  
• Copy the resulting files to one of my external hard drives.
  
• Start RAW editing using C1 Pro (any editor is fine, this is my preference)
  
• RAW files exported as 16bit TIFF files.
  
• Start final edits in CS2. Final output and sharpening levels depends on the image in question and what its destination is, proofs vs prints vs web.
  
• Before posting to a web gallery I go back to Breezebrowser and use its proofing function to make resized and compressed jpgs that will have my watermark in them. It will do this even off of a 16bit file.
  
• Upload the files to the customer and/or web gallery.
  
• Move the final edits to a specified location on one of my external hard drives which all networked together.

• Burn original CR2 files to DVD. Catalog the DVD so that I can find the files later.
  
• Take the 16bit TIFF and using Breezebrowser again I create JPG files to a maximum of 1200px on the longest side and put them into a folder by category (commericial work, wildlife, family, etc). This is a small enough file that you can keep thousands of them. If I want to review them later going throug smaller Jpg's is much faster.

The actual photo taking process varies so much depending on situation, so I'll skip that and start with a card full of images.
1. Put the card in the card reader and copy all files to folder on desktop.
2. Copy this directory to a remote drive.
3. Set the card aside with a small post-it it with the shoot details.
4. Move all the image files to a single folder.
5. Open Bridge and browse to that folder.
6. Batch rename all files in Bridge.
7. Start coding junk files for deletion.
8. Hide flagged files.
9. Second Pass for junk.
10. Put all the junk files in a folder called 'almost junk'.
11. Go through the remaining files and give good, better best ratings.
12. Anything unlabeled gets thrown in the 'almost junk' folder.
13. Combine the good and better and send any that don't make the cut to the almost junk folder.
14. Now I have my initial keepers that are worth developing to find out if they really are keepers.
15. Open in ACR and make general adjustments to WB, Exposure, etc.
16. I often apply settings to many images at once, this is just a quick and dirty raw setup.
17. Open all in ACR and convert to 8 bpc sRGB .jpg in the same dir as the raws.
18. Repeat steps 7-14, except I just flag the good raw file, and delete all the .jpgs when I'm done.
19. Adjust each image in ACR.
20. Let the images simmer for a day, since I'll need "fresh eyes" to finalize ACR settings.
21. Get all the ACR settings finalized, and save as 16 bpc .psd in some large gamut colorspace of my choice, and another folder called dev.
The rest of the steps are actions that point to scripts that are usually run as a batch, unless there is an issue with the edit. I have a a bunch of actions prebuilt that I snap together into one big action for batching groups of similar images. Sometimes, I have to backtrack and change the intensity of an effect, but generally the process is the same and looks like this:
22. Create surface masks, make selection, create layer mask, run noise reduction.
23. Inspect.
24. This is where I clone out goobers, do some controlled burn and dodge using a 50% grey overlay layer, or any other weird editing like this.
25. Inspect.
26. 1st pass of sharpening - I like to use modified TLR Capture scripts for this.
28. Inspect. Sometimes this where the really hard to spot goobers appear, so they get zapped here.
29. If there are any other issues with the picture, this where that gets handled. It's also when I'll convert to L*a*b color mode, if I want to add a certain "look" to the picture, or just to add pop with a Curves adjustment layer. Any other "creative editing" happens at this point.
30. 2nd pass of sharpening - TLR Creative sharpening. Interesting tidbit: in the quest for sharpness, a little bit of gaussian blur in the right places can go a long way. Think "unsharp mask" the hard way.
31. Final inspection.
32. Start the archive process.
33. Basically, a flattened .psd file gets put in about 3 redundant locations - some off-site.
34. Now I can go ahead and reformat the card. I'll go through the 'almost junk' ocassionally, and purge it.
Now I have nice finished, 16 bpc images ready for web or print. Well, not really. Here is the "weberize" process:
35. Using Image>Resize, to 800x533, or some other arbitrary dimension. Use Bicubic Sharper.
36. Convert to sRGB colorspace.
37. Convert to 8 bpc mode.
38. Save as .jpg quality 12.
39. Upload to hosting site.
40. Start a new topic here and keep hitting F5 when on the "Show new replies to your posts" page.

I think I got it all. If I missed something big, let me know and I'll fix it. I do realize it is a somewhat radical workflow, but it is cantered around quality at every step. Too bad I can't get more quality at the "press the shutter"step.

40. Start a new topic here and keep hitting F5 when on the "Show new replies to your posts" page.

love it

shoot images
put CF/SD cards into monitor (built in card reader)
put images in imags HD, name something that makes sense
Open Picasa2 while its downloading, watch to make sure it sees the new files
Browse the images
star the good ones
right click to open in PS CS2 / Raw converter of choice (lightroom or ACR)
edit
save as PSD or Tiff
print or upload or make gallery / slideshow

Now I have to tell mine.

I still learning how to do my workflow and post-processing. I want the fast as I can.

My process is:

1- Create a new folder to download my pix for CF
I have my folders organized like that:
Year -> Month -> Event

2- If those pictures are clients or important, burn a dvd with my RAW
3- Correct Temperature and Tint on Adobe Camera Raw, using my WhiBal card
http://www.rawworkflow​.com/products/whibal/i​ndex.html
4- Correct exposure
5- Delete bad shoots
6- Rating 1star good, 2star better, 3star great shoots
7- Delete more bad shoots
5- Using Image Processor wit my action to save as PSD all my 2star and 3star that I need to print (only what I need to print or publish online).

I have a action that I use with image processor, so that action create a new layer, add saturation (+8) and sharpening. So I don't need to apply manually. I use smartshap 0.3/150%, but because I applyed in another layer I can delete if I don't like.

It's easy to remove than add.

Step number 6 I didn't built my workflow and PProcessing yet, I am working in different ways. I will come up with something in a few weeks.


Mark

1. Shoot Images
2. Format Card

Saved tons of time in PP

I am no pro and am still working on improving my workflow.

I am mac based, but here is the jist of what I do:

- Put card into card reader
- Open Adobe Lightroom and copy them to Adobe Lightroom library (/username/Pictures), organized into either my business's folder (if the photos are for a client - organized under year-month (explanation) so for example 2006-10 (Mitchel Skateboarding)) or my personal folder (if they are for me - organized under year-month-date (explanation) so for example 2006-10-10 (Party)).
- Burn the entire directory to a DVD and label the DVD and archive.
- Go through photos and rate them on a 1 - 5 rating scale (no rating means junk)
- Organize photos from highest rating to lowest rating, not including no rating and create a web gallery of them using Adobe Lightroom. Upload web gallery to mydomain.com/eventname
- Go through the top rated photos and do some color correction and basic adjustments such as saturation and contrast (all in lightroom).
- Pick my favorite photos (most highly rated - usually 4 or 5 of them) and do some real editing in PS.
- Get top 4 or 5 printed out as 4 x 6's to show to customer what I am capable of doing

The last couple points vary from customer to customer, but usually this is what is done.

Once I am done all editing and uploading to web gallery, I move all the files to an archive on my external harddrive, reburn the DVD as event-edited and format the card.

What do you guys think? Any suggestions/comments?

I don't use LR in my workflow yet, but that looks pretty good. The important question is whether it works for you. One question - where do you add your basic metadata and keywording?

Hoping LR improves metadata and keywording. I like the heirarchical catalogueing of PSE.

My workflow is therefore (currently RSP and PSE3 based - hopefully LR in due course)
RSP
1. Download from CF to 'unprocessed files' folder using RSP downloader (only shoot RAW)
2. Assess in RSP slideshow and discard obvious trash.
3. Rename using 30D00#### filename template in RSP.
4. Move files in batches of 200 to my My pictures/30D/Images/##​01-#200 directory using RSP drag and drop
PSE3
5. Import to PSE3 Catalog
6. Keyword RAWs by file type and directory
SyncBack
6. Backup RAWs to 2nd internal drive
7. Backup RAWs to external Drive
RSP
8. Process and convert to max qual JPGs in /converted subdirectory of original Images folder
PSE3
9. Import converted JPGs into PSE3 Catalog
10. Keyword JPGs by file type and directory
11. Keyword both RAWs and JPGs by subject
12. Embed Tags in IPTC
Syncback
12. Backup PSE3 Catalogue
13. Backup .RwS files and converted JPGs to intenral and external drives
Firefox
14. Upload converted JPGs to smugmug in mirror of images directories (ie batches of 200 per gallery)

As necessary
PhotoBackup
15. Burn to DVD.

It would be great if LR could do everything except Syncback in one process!

I add the metadata on import. In LR, it has the option to add a specific metadata profile, so I load it then.

And it definitely works for me, I love LR. Even though it is in Beta, I find that (other than the speed), it is pretty much perfect for what I need. I can't wait until the Universal Binary CS comes out and the full LR. Then I'll be in heaven.

I do like the standard metadata import of LR for naming copyrighting etc but can't use that to keyword images for cataloguing.

EOSAddict wrote in post #2105892
I do like the standard metadata import of LR for naming copyrighting etc but can't use that to keyword images for cataloguing.

I'm with you Al. The functionality is too limited in LR at this point.

What would be great if I could import and use the heirarchical structure in PSE Organizer... even if it uses IPTC embedded keywords and recognises them into a heirarchical search structure. I love the ability of PSE to search by any combination of nested tags on an AND/NOT basis (ie for example finding "Converted JPGs of mountains but not waterfalls" requires 3 clicks)