What's your workflow (for PC)?

RockDawg

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Believe it or not, I've searched this topic quite a bit, but it entails so many different things that I can't get many ideas on the perspective I'm looking for. I am speaking strictly of software used and file format/management. I'm not looking for info on what post processing you perform on files, I want to know what formats you use and keep, and what software you use to perform each step. Only software that can run on a PC please as I don't have an Apple and don't plan on buying one.

For example: Starting with a RAW file on SD/CF card. Do you view/cull from the card or transfer all files to your hd? What software do you use to transfer and which do you use to view/cull? After that, what software do you use to PP or catalog your file? Do you use an intermediate file format (TIFF, DNG) or do you just PP the RAW files? Do you export all file as jpg or only as needed? Do you keep RAW, TIFF, and JPG of each photo?

I hope that explains what I'm looking for. Just trying to find ideas on whats the most efficient/best workflow.
 
- I shoot only RAW/NEF
- Dump all pics to my "to be backed-up" folder
- Using View NX, cull the ones that I do not want to work on
- Use Adobe CS3 and convert the ones that I consider keepers.

In CS3, I:
- change white balance if needed
- remove vignetting if needed
- smooth skin features if needed
- sharpen either all or parts of a pic if needed

After that, it all depends on what the needs are:
- Composite pics
- Collages
- vignetting work
- frames
- watermarks
- etc...

It is hard to put a time to anything... some pics take seconds, others take hours. Actions are big time savers in PS, the one I use the most is the action I created to output the final product to a high quality JPG.
 

Thanks! I never saw that thread turn up on a search. Still, not many mention specifics in that thread.

Do most of them convert the RAW to TIFF or DNG to PP or do they post process the RAW?
Do they use anything to db or organize their photos?
Do they export all or some finished images to JPG format for common, everyday use?
How many formats do they save/keep?
 
Last edited:
Lightroom to import, Lightroom to sort and cull, Lightroom to process (mostly with the occasional switch to photoshop for more grunt work), export all to high quality JPEG and delete the RAWs since I have no need to keep them now that my editing is done. Only the JPEGs are kept and they have their original file names "DSC_xxxx.jpg" or if they were very colourful and would suffer a quality loss when converted to sRGB I leave them in AdobeRGB and label the files "_DSC_xxxx.jpg"

Lightroom can also catalogue but I've never used this feature. I sort mine into folders based on "Location - Shooting Topic [Month Year]" for example "Mt Cootha Lookout - Brisbane dusk shoot [May 2008]"

Processing in RAW only happens in the original RAW converter. You can't process a RAW file in Photoshop or any other program that does more than simply list the changes it made in the way the data is rendered. As in per pixel changes, or layers etc.
 
Thanks for the input guys. It's greatly appreciated.
 
Lets see.. for me it's

Import with Nikon Transfer

Cull out the ones I don't want through View NX. (I wonder how well this is gonna work with my new computer running 64 bit vista..)

Then, if I want to edit them,

If they are jpeg (and usually they are) I convert to TIFF and edit them (I use GIMP)

If they are NEF/RAW (which they aren't usually) Then first adjust them with ufRAW and then do the destructive editing in GIMP.
 
  1. Shoot all raw.
  2. Cut obvious failures on-camera, keep anything on the edge or better.
  3. Transfer automatically to folder on my desktop via Nikon Transfer NX (or whatever it's called).
  4. Rename folder YYYY-MM-DD - Basic Subject of Folder
  5. Immediately backup desktop folder to my home server. (key is back it up somewhere before you start messing with it)
  6. Use Adobe Bridge to batch-rename files with appropriate names for easy searching later. (I don't use keywords, though I probably should)
  7. Go through all images and color correct/sharpen/etc. Save copies as JPEG in a folder called ADJ under the root directory of the images in question.
  8. Delete any redundant images once I'm sure I have the ones that are acceptable. (if I have 4 exposures of the same subject doing essentially the same thing, I pick and keep the 1-2 I like and huck the rest)
  9. When done, I use Tools->Photoshop->Image Processor within Bridge and have it execute a series of pre-defined actions that I recorded previously. These create low-quality 400x pixel previews of each image in the folder and save those to a directory called PROOFS off the root.
  10. I upload all the proofs to a web based gallery that I can later use to search to find whatever I need.
  11. Copy all JPEGS up to my web gallery software on my home server (I use an archaic app called IDS).
  12. I keep all RAW images so I can go back and re-correct later if needs be.
  13. Eventually burn entire folder off to archival DVD media, which is a huge process in itself because I create an index text file of the images I archive off, and move the web gallery into a folder named in the same way as the DVD name so I can find it easily later on.
  14. All media gets stored in a fire-proof safe.
 
  • Shoot in RAW
  • Copy from my card to my hard drive
  • Import to catalog in Lightroom
  • Rename the photos
  • Correct exposure, color, sharpness
  • Do selective edits in Photoshop if necessary

I just keep the raw files, and then export them to jpegs or tiffs if I need to.
 
1a. Create a new folder within the appropriate section (for work or play or events or concerts, etc)
1b. Import RAW images from SD card via Lightroom and convert to DNG
2. Make necessary edits.
3a. I store all photos as DNGs until I need to do something with them outside of LR.
3b. When I am ready to print, resize, share, etc. I export as 300dpi TIFF. For sharpening and other edits, I export as 300dpi TIFF and edit in Photoshop CS3.
4. For Flickr, I usually export the TIFFs, then resize images with FastStone Photo Resizer to fit within 800x800px and JPEG format, then add a small border in PS.
5. Photos that I think are exceptional are exported as TIFFs and stored in a separate folder for future sharing and/or printing
 

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