Advice in improving my workflow

[ragu0012]

Hey gang, I was wondering if I could get some advice from those of you who use Photoshop and Lightroom.

I would like to speed up my workflow and take up less hard drive space without giving up image quality.

I am doing wedding and quinceanera photography.

I have Lightroom 2.0 and Photoshop cs3.

My current workflow once sitting down at the computer is as such:
1. load RAW files into lightroom, in subfolder folder titled "digital negatives"... remove all blinks, misfires, etc.
2. Fix white balance and exposure where needed in Lightroom, still working in RAW
3. Export images as TIFF, zip compression 300dpi, renamed by image #, to subfolder titled "edited," so that files can be opened in Photoshop.
4. Run batch action (customized proof action) on all files in Photoshop.
5. Finally, re-open lightroom and export photos as level 10 jpeg to folder entitled "Proofs"

The reason I currently do it this way, is so when clients select the proofs they like, i can go back to the "edited" folder and retouch the high-quality images in photoshop before sending off to the lab.

The problem, those TIFFs end up being 50-60 mb apiece, and when we're talking 500-1000 images, the hard drive size fills up quickly! Plus it takes the computer a long time to export all those photos.

So i just though i'd lay it out step by step, and hopefully one of you do it similarily but better, and can let me know how i can improve!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post, and thanks in advance if you take the time to answer!

 

[adamwilliamking]

Well you could save time and space by not exporting from lightroom until you're ready to process?.. 1 suggestion I guess

 

[ragu0012]

Well you could save time and space by not exporting from lightroom until you're ready to process?.. 1 suggestion I guess

Thanks for responding.

Would you do retouching and any other cloning/etc in photoshop on a level-10 jpeg, which can then be sent right to WHCC? Or do recommend doing that on a TIFF like i currently am, then dropping down to a jpeg when i send for prints?

 

[musicaleCA]

I'm not sure if you can in CS3, but it might be easier with Camera Raw installed to just send the RAW files to CS3 from Lightroom, instead of exporting TIFFs. That'll save you some time. And I'd try to cut down your number of proofs as much as you can before you move to TIFFs and do the heavy lifting in PS. That should save you time and effort. 500-1000 photos for proofs sounds a bit...excessive to me. Unless your clients are specifically asking for so many.

 

[craig]

Unless I am shooting for a commercial client I leave out the Tiff step. Generally I stay out of Photoshop. My models only require jpg. In that case I go: download all photos as DNG. Pick the 4 star photos. Crop and quick edit. Post photos for viewing. Client picks faves. All edits are done on DNG files. Files are then exported jpg.

Now keep in mind that I shoot 500 frames tops. Workflow may take a different turn if you get into the "thousands per job" set up.

Oh yeah. Any and all edits should be done in Tiff or Dng then converted to jpg. When editing you need as much information as possible.

Love & Bass

 

[BeyondMegapixels]

Here is an excellent article on the topic that might help you out
Photo Editing – Process, Workflow and Balance | Beyond Megapixels

 

[Big Mike]

I'm still working out my new Lightroom workflow, but you could assuredly save yourself some space by not outputting all the TIFF files, just to run an action on them and save them to JPEG. You can do that all from Lightroom.

Also, when you go to do the final editing of the images, you can open them directly in Photoshop right from Lightroom using the 'Open with...' command. When you save that file in PS, it takes you back to LR and you have the choice of creating a virtual copy (stacked or not) or just replacing the original image in the Catalog.

Also, if you aren't using Collections in LR, you might consider that. So when you pick your favorites or when the client selects the ones they want, you can take those images and create a collection. You can then easily open that collection in other modules of LR, like print, web or slideshow etc.

 

[ragu0012]

I'm still working out my new Lightroom workflow, but you could assuredly save yourself some space by not outputting all the TIFF files, just to run an action on them and save them to JPEG. You can do that all from Lightroom.

Also, when you go to do the final editing of the images, you can open them directly in Photoshop right from Lightroom using the 'Open with...' command. When you save that file in PS, it takes you back to LR and you have the choice of creating a virtual copy (stacked or not) or just replacing the original image in the Catalog.

Also, if you aren't using Collections in LR, you might consider that. So when you pick your favorites or when the client selects the ones they want, you can take those images and create a collection. You can then easily open that collection in other modules of LR, like print, web or slideshow etc.

Hey guys, thanks so much for the replies.

Mike, I have a question. Do you mean run a "preset" in lightroom, or is there a way to move the file to photoshop without "creating a copy with lightroom adjustments."

Or, is there a way to run a photoshop action without leaving lightroom?

Do you know what i mean?

When i control-E to send a raw to photoshop from lightroom, it creates the Tiff by default anyway, so i actually thought i was saving time by exporting to all those tiffs on my step #3 above.

Thanks for the tip on collections as well.

 

[Big Mike]

Well, what are you doing in photoshop with the action in question? You might be able to create a Lightroom preset that does essentially the same thing.

I'm sure you can't actually run PS actions in LR.

When i control-E to send a raw to photoshop from lightroom, it creates the Tiff by default anyway

You might be able to change that default...I'm not sure.


My main concern is that you are taking the images out of the LR workflow, but then going back into LR to create your proofs. So unless you re-import those images back into LR...you are dealing with earlier versions of the images....which doesn't seem right.

If you are going to use a combined LR/PS workflow, I think you should either do as much in LR as you can first, then output and switch to PS....or use the 'edit in' and take them into PS and right back into LR.