Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

shutterflypro · **Digital Workflow -** 02-16-2005, 11:01 AM

I have researched this for quite sometime now and I was just wondering what the general consensus about digital workflow is and how everyone handles this in their own way.

Personally I shoot in JPG + RAW
I immediately burn everything off of my card to cd
I upload everything into Portfolio 7
I then do advanced processing in Photoshop CS

That is the quick and dirty of my Digital Workflow process

eurotrash · **Re: Digital Workflow -** 02-16-2005, 12:13 PM

I shoot normally in JPEG large and sometimes +RAW, but rarely.
After I get home I go through all the images with ACDsee 7.0 and delete any that are misfocused or the least bit blurry or unacceptable.
I then copy all of the images to my archive folder.
Then I open photoshop and open and edit my favorites,
Last step is to save the JPEGs into a different folder and upload/share the pictures for you guys!

Abel · 02-16-2005, 12:18 PM

1 - I shoot in RAW
2 - copy the images from my card to my external 250g HD
3 - organize them in folders for easier browsing
for instance i have directories set up like such
2005-02-01 - Tiger Shoot
2005-02-13 - The Zoo
2005-02-15 - Mecom Fountains
4 - edit the raw files and save them as JPGS
5 - at the end of every month, i burn the complete month to a DVD

PS: i'll burn the images to cd sooner if they are very important images etc

mattchow · 02-16-2005, 03:24 PM

1. Large Fine JPG or RAW + Small JPG
2. ACDsee v7 to weed out the blurred shots.
3. Run remaining JPGs through my photoshop action of resize, auto level and watermark.
3. upload those to smugmug for quick viewing for others.
4. Make a master folder of YYYY_MMDD-Description
4a. Within that directory i make seperate JPG and RAW directories
4b. Within JPG directory i make seperate JPG and JPG-Processed directories
5. Load that into Picasa for easy search access.
6. Load up the RAW files that i want to mess with into Capture One
7. Export to PS Cs when im done with C1.
8. Burn off directories made in step 4 to a DVD.

shutterflypro · 02-17-2005, 09:16 AM

Tell me this back when we all shot nothing but film would you ever have thought about permanantly altering a negative. Would have cut a part of it off, marked on it, or allow scratvhes on it?

Most of you would not ever dream of it, and would even take extra precautions to prevent it.

So why do you insist on doing this very same thing with all of your digital negatives.

Not to make anyone mad just a small teaching thing.

LoungeLizard · 02-17-2005, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shutterflypro

Tell me this back when we all shot nothing but film would you ever have thought about permanantly altering a negative. Would have cut a part of it off, marked on it, or allow scratvhes on it?

Heck no - but I sure would have liked to have something like Photoshop Album to keep track of them all!

I'm still adjusting my RAW workflow, but what I tend to do is:

1) Download all RAW to a "Raw" directory (a "holding area")
2) Back them all up to another drive (most of the time...you know how that goes)
3) Process the "keepers" using PSCS
4) Save the JPEG to my "album" directory (see below)
5) Archive everything to a backup drive
6) Bring into PSE3 for cataloging, etc.

I use Photoshop Elements 3.0 for my cataloging (I had Album and I really like those features). I keep everything in a directory structure that is:

\pictures\<camera>\yyyy-mm

Where <camera> is the camera used (my Olympus, my DRebel, or my wife's SD110 and yyyy-mm is the year and month the photo was shot.

I have an exact copy of these directories on my backup HDD and my work laptop (as well as on the backup drive for my work laptop!). I also backup the PSE3 album using PSE3's backup tool.

I think this is simple, but I'm still adjusting. It became a lot more complex with the addition of RAW.

Abel · 02-17-2005, 09:29 AM

digital files can be copied over and over and over... hehe

so i keep the original untouched RAW file for backup purposes and edit and tweak working duplicates.

i guess cropping can be looked at the same way. many people crop their files how they see fit in post processing. many pefer to do it out in the field when theyre taking the photo.

i do both. sometimes i nail it in the field and then someimes i see a different compostion in postprocessing that i didnt notice when i took the photo...

the flexibility is almost endless.

eurotrash · 02-17-2005, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shutterflypro

Tell me this back when we all shot nothing but film would you ever have thought about permanantly altering a negative. Would have cut a part of it off, marked on it, or allow scratvhes on it?

Most of you would not ever dream of it, and would even take extra precautions to prevent it.

So why do you insist on doing this very same thing with all of your digital negatives.

Not to make anyone mad just a small teaching thing.

well in my own defense, thats kind of a flawed analogy...

I save all of my images (full res, untouched) on a HDD to be sure ill always have a copy of all of my digital negatives to go back on. Personally i rarely batch images, i only do this if im shooting coverage for something that needs mass quantities, but for my own work and prints, i edit each one individually and save a copy and print from that. film is a totally different story. ill think youll find that a lot of photographers now a days, with the digital revolution, never really got involved with film to the point that they develop and print their own prints. i have and do on a regular basis, i have my own dark room gear and know how to print in color and bw in all formats. from this i would say that working in photoshop, editing a digital picture is more like tweaking the CMY dials on a color enlarger, or burning and dodging certain areas, messing with the focus dials, artificially vignetting, or any of the darkroom tricks film photographers use. cutting the negative and never looking back would imply that digital shooters simply edit the originals and save them from there, which isnt the case for anyone with half a brain. infact i do the same things with my scanned film pictures as i do with purely digital files.

i dont know how comprehendable this is as im working with 3 hours of sleep, but i hope this clears a bit of it up.

shutterflypro · 02-17-2005, 09:35 AM

You have to love the flexibility of digital. I think that is why all of us have made the switch. Once digital was as good as any of our film cameras it was just a mtter of time before we saved our money and switched.

This is where the computer specialist comes into play though. Everyone has a cd burner. You must immediately burn your images to CD or another permanent media source. One that the computer cannot change.

Programs change the composition of the files on a regular basis and without them being permanent you run chances of data loss and in the digital world that is the equivalent of throwing your negative into the sandbox. Might get scratched, might not, but eventually it will get you. Lets just hope that wasn't the one that would have made you several thousand dollars.

Abel · 02-17-2005, 09:35 AM

great points todd, i think u hit the nail right on the head.

eurotrash · 02-17-2005, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abel

great points todd, i think u hit the nail right on the head.

thanks abel.

i need to start archiving my images on a DVDr.

Abel · 02-17-2005, 09:49 AM

todd, the other thing i do that ill add to my list is i keep my final DVDs offsite. meaning i keep the set at my parents home or in a safety deposit box etc in case my home burns down or is burglarized etc

i know thats being a little paranoid but i would freak if i had loast a full years worth of photographs...

just a thought