Streamlining my workflow, need help!

[Karebear98]

So I have researched this topic off and on for the past year and have seen a variety of variations. I am getting better about faster editing by just knowing what needs to be done but have yet to touch the idea of batch editing and am also unsure if I am doing everything correctly or at least along the lines as to what most pro's do.

I would love to post my work flow and for ya'll to comment or help me come up with a better way/more efficient way to do things.

After a shoot:
1. Open Lightroom

2. Put SD card in computer and upload into lightroom's library.

3. So far I just allow the date to be the identifier.

4. Hit Develop and begin looking through all the photos after upload.

5. I then star the best...basically that is my culling system.

6. I cull and edit for proper exposure, saturation, blacks (if needed), contrast, brightness, and since I have been liking lightroom's black and white conversion lately, I do that here too.

7. After an image is edited, I export it from lightroom to a folder I created on my desktop. All images are saved at max quality, jpeg format.

8. After I am finished, if I need heavier editing on some images or more creative/specialty editing, those get touched up in photoshop and re-saved back in the folder.

9. I used to save a low-res and hi-res version of each jpeg and watermark, BUT now that I have my Smug Mug...I create a gallery for private viewing and spend like a day uploading my hi res images which smug mug watermarks with my personal logo and right click protects.

Questions: Is having such large files necessary? Should I be batch processing some, most, or all the photos?
Can I create low res versions of all my pics in one fell swoop or must I do that individually?

Am I doing this right? What would you change? What could make my process better?

What do you keep and for how long and what do you throw out from a client shoot and how do you delete it from lightroom?

I know it's a lot of questions but if something is seriously wrong with the way I process or will hurt me in the future, I just want to nip it now and get it right.

[Tom]

Is having such large files necessary?

I keep everything at full res.

Should I be batch processing some, most, or all the photos?

Personal question, everyone does it differently. Some people retouch every single picture, some just adjust WB/Exp.

Can I create low res versions of all my pics in one fell swoop or must I do that individually?

When you export, you can save everything with the longest edge at whatever pixel dimensions you want. Figure out what size you want, then create an export preset for it.

What do you keep and for how long and what do you throw out from a client shoot and how do you delete it from lightroom?

I keep everything forever. I don't delete anything out of lightroom, but I will create new catalogues.

[Karebear98]

Thanks Thomas.....so I am assuming that my work flow is within the realm of normal? Also, and don't laugh if this is stupid but when you say, "save everything with the longest edge at whatever pixel dimensions you want."

What do you mean by "longest edge?"

[Tom]

What are the pixel dimension on your blog? Often it is 600px by 800px. So save all your files at a longest edge of 800px and Lightroom will automatically down-size everything to be 800 pixels on the longest edge. I export every picture at low res, high res (3600px) and full res. Full res goes in my archive and on Smugmug. High/Low res go to customers.

[Bob_S]

Sounds about like mine except I leave everything in either DNG or TIFF format until I export from LR. That is the only time JPEGs get created. Also all of my folders are nested from the original. I also rename the folder in LR by appending a description to the date.

I batch things that can be batched. So maybe a volleyball game as an example. I can pretty much batch edit all of those for WB and exp. Portraits I will do a first batch edit on all in a group but still tweak individual images from there.

For exporting the smaller images, I have saved different export presets and let LR do the work as Tom suggested; jpeg, 800 px longest side, 72 dpi, watermarked, "For Websites" folder etc.

I trash all of the JPEGs only keeping what is in LR, which is my captured and edited work.

[mrsrice22]

I do the same, except now I'm trying to decide if it's better to do a basic run through of images, upload to gallery and have them pick their favorites first, then do a final edit. Right now I edit every picture after I export and then the ones that I'm thinking "OMG this one is winnaaaah!" they go for the pic that I was going to trash. Every. Time.

I do know of one photog that edits primarily in CS5 and ACR.. I haven't used it yet but she loves it and can knock out sessions (weddings, portraits, boudoir) unlike anyone else I know.