Basic Workflows

[Bifurcator]

Hi all,

In a thread about RAW vrs. Jpeg Mr. RockDawg expressed a desire to peer into the basic workflows (or procedures) that we use for image acquisition. From the in-camera filetype settings to the final step of archiving - if indeed that's the final step.

I thought I would do a search to see what I could find already posted but the results were pretty scattered. I quoted/paraphrased a few I thought applied here. Hopefully some other people will add theirs too!


sabbath999
I use iPhoto for my image organization, I do critter photos. I have a LOT of pictures to process.

1. On the way home from our shooting, my wife goes through each camera and deletes the obviously bad shots.
2. If in doubt, she leaves it.
3. On the computer I import the files into iPhoto and scroll through the images, nuking most of the rest of them, saving only the best images.
4. I then put those into a folder to be organized, cropped, or any other processing that needs to de done.
5. Then I empty the trash.
6. I end up using about one in every 100 taken.

Newfive
I put my in files accourding to day/month/year, and then back them up on CD/DVD.

1. Every day I shoot I then download to laptop and
2. place in new folder.
3. If I change, clean, cropped or watermarked then I make a new sub-folder to hold them,
4. no original photo folder is touched.

Jon, The Elder
I shoot for money. We shoot 2 day horse events. There is a fairly large volume of shots as my wife and I cover different angles and subjects.

1. I download lets say, a 2Gb card using ACDSee.
2. I cull through and delete unwanted files,
3. I batch rename based on date. I end up with 'Jul 16-0001', etc.
4. This way there is only one with any given date and number.
   A year from now, I can call it up and sell reprints knowing it is the correct photo for the customer.
5. I put all the files from a given date inside a folder labeled "July 16".
6. That folder goes into a folder labeled "2007 Horse shows", etc.
7. Once this is done, I backup to an external hard drive.
8. Periodically I burn a DVD for archiving.

Sw1tchFX
I don't delete anything, because if say, I want to go back and see what I did, I might change my mind on something. I used to delete but I wish I hadn't.

1. I manually make all my folders based on location. All the other info like date, time, whatever, is in the exif data.
2. I then import into lightroom,
3. Do my batch processing,
4. If need be, export the good ones into PhotoShop for the more complicated processing and do each - one at a time.
5. When i'm done, I save the working file with all layers, and save another one resized, watermarked, and bordered for web use in another sub-folder

lifeafter2am
I use Lightroom.

1. I put them in subfolders based on location and date.
2. I use ALOT of tags in my photo's.
3. I sit down and just go though all the photos of the day.
4. I assign each photo that I want to use as final prints, a rating.
5. Then throw them into Photoshop if I need to do major edits, etc.

elsaspet

1. First I back up to two drives.
2. Load into Lightroom. Pull and Develop there. Transfer to PS.
3. Photoshop to browse and find my folder.
4. Pull 30-70 at a time, process them up and save them to a "final" folder.
5. Take file folder and automate to black and white.
6. Renumber and move to finals folder
7. Automate (scale) all to 4x6 by 600 px. Upload to ________
8. Move BW back to BW folder, and burn all three folders (finals, bw, 4x6)
9. Burn for client, and mail
10. Transfer files to You Select it and build albums.
11. Burn album copy for reference (both psd and jpg folders)
12. Upload jpg folder of album images to __________.
13. Done!

WDodd

1. I use location and date to name the folders on import.
2. I use keywording. Lightroom is great in that.
3. I have thousands of photos it is invaluable when I am looking for stuff.
4. I use the automated backup in lightroom to an external hard drive
5. I burn each shoot onto a CD after I am done editing all.
6. HD storage is in "My Pictures" sorted by date and location and sometimes subject.

jstuedle
I use Nikon view to download into a folder labled with the date of download.

1. It renames every image with day,date,year, and -0001, etc. from every card downloaded.
2. I backup my laptop image files to USB powered external after every shoot.
3. At home I burn a disk, and copy to external archive hard drive.
4. When editing, I save to a folder labeled with name of gig and date.
5. I coordinate using a desk calender/blotter with each gig shot written in the calender for future reference.
6. All files are burned and on a bank of external hard drives kept powered down and off-line
7. Recent files are kept on an internal drive until it fills.
8. I then transfer them to the external bank.

Bifurcator
I have two workflows. One for the 3D CG & Film work I do and one for hobby/fun/family. The hobby/fun/family is whatever I feel like doing so here's the work one:

1. I create customer directories by hand.
2. Inside each customer folder is a job folder also created by hand.
3. I use a script to create a huge subfolder structure. (scenes, objects, Object proxy levels, motions, textures, backgrounds, HDR IBL Lights, etc.)
4. I shoot in RAW + JPEG and after a shoot I use the JPEGs to sort by looking.
5. What I need I usually convert into EXR files but it depends. Textures for objects, BGs, and IBL lights are EXR. For reference images I just use the camera's JPEG files, and etc..
6. After I sort and convert what I need I put all original camera images into DNG (digital negative) format and burn 2 copies to 3 DVDs (6x redundant BU) of the DNG and JPG files.
7. I then format my card(s).
8. Further processing and sorting within that subfolder structure occurs as needed.
9. When the project is completed 2 copies of everything is put onto 4 DAT tape BU sets. (1 project is usually over 100 gigs) 8x BU.
10. Then I collect the cash and party!

What's your workflow?

 

[Stranger]

Stranger
1) Dump the folder onto my desktop (I mostly shoot macro and this is that flow)
2) Create a new folder called "working on"
3) Go through the camera folder only pulling out the best of the best and adding them to working folder
4) Take the 4 or 5 keepers in the working folder and drag them into photoshop one at a time
5) Do basic editing and either (both of which are on an external hd and my main)
a) Add them to my gallery folder to be uploaded
b) Add them to my personal keeper folder that are not unique enough for a gallery ( like hoverflies)
6) Save the originals from my "working" on folder in my original macro folder (only keep original images of my public gallery or my personal keepers)
7) Delete both working on and camera folder to keep my desktop perfectly clean

 

[Tyjax]

I have a descending file structure that works something (variations) like this.

1. Shots for metering/framing etc are deleted on camera directly after taking.
2. End of day shots are off loaded by location in a file structure so:

images-
|Bridal Veil <--- Each have the below listed structure.
|-Brecksville shoot.
|-Tinkers Creek
| |Preprocess <-- Raw's
| |
|Prints <-- Adobe Camera RAW processed
|
|Select <-- The one or two keepers for Folio and selling. After PP.
|
|Web/Gallery <-Stuff to show you.
|_Thumbs


of what I shoot. one in Ten make it into this structure.

From the Shoot to Print or display for purchase is an arduous journey.

Durn posting doesnt keep my painfully made ascci directory structure... maybe you can tell anyway. Grrr.

 

[Rogan]

1. Put ALL shots into a folder named Day-Month-YearLOCATION
2. I then let lightroom import all the photos again and do its backups
3. Remove useless photos from the lightroom library
4. Do any basic editing in lightroom and import to CS3 for more major PP
5. In the original folder I end with a folder of edited final photos, lightroom directory of photos that could be used for future referance and all the original photos taken.
6. Finally back up the whole folder to an ext HD

 

[Garbz]

1. Import photos into Lightroom.
2. Do an initial cull of photos, use the Lightroom organising features to mark photos for minor touchup, HDR export, or major photoshop work.
3. Remove all photos not in the final cut from my film strip.
4. Work through all Lightroom settings
5. The selected photos for photoshop (usually the best photos of the day) then get edited, normally go through several revisions each stacked with the initial to make comparison easiest in Lightroom
6. The entire Lightroom folder is finally exported to JPEG with sRGB conversion.
7. A few of the more colourful images are exported with a different filename keeping the AdobeRGB colour space (again to JPEG).
8. Any photos which have future editing potential (very few, i rarely change my mind on these things), are saved as 16bit TIFFs.
9. The lightroom folder is deleted, and the RAWs are too.
10. Exported images are archived in folder on a RAID1 array sorted by "Shooting Location - Subject or Event (Month Year)"

11. Occasionally a file is resized and stuck on my website

 

[Alpha]

For both my personal and professional work shooting film:

1) Scan contact sheet of negatives.
2) Scan favorites.
3) Create folder for images, which has two sub-folders (high res and low res). High-res contains TIFF scans, either 300dpi @ 8x10 inches or archival (negative size at 3000dpi-5000dpi). High-res has a sub-folder called "working" for .psd works in progress in Lab color space. Low-res contains web-sized jpgs.
4) Import folders into Extensis Portfolio as galleries for cataloging.
5) Edit .psd lab color files.
6) Resize for print, flatten, convert to RGB (sRGB for LightJet or Adobe RGB 1998 for Chromira), save as TIFF with _print extension.
7) Backup onto archival gold cd/DVD.

 

[KhronoS]

Well, here is mine.
I shoot raw.
1. I download the photos on my computer in a folder with the date Year/Month/Day and a relevant words, like Location, or events, etc.
2. I import them into lightroom.
3. I sort them out and delete the failures and those without any interesting subject
4. Copy the photos that remains, on the second drive.
5. In light room i sort the photos that really have some potential, usually like 1-2% of the photos i make
6. I make some retouches on those i like them, than i export them in TIFF, and make some more retouches and finally i keep the JPG in a folder with my best of the best

 

[ernie]

1. download raw files to folder. structure is photos > genre (travel, nature, city, ...) > year
2. delete bad ones
3. rename all good files, starting with a number (001), dash and then name of photo, usually name of location
4. edit good ones one by one in photoshop
5. save big file in seperate folder in case i want to print it
6. resize to 950px in width for web and put border around it, save to another seperate web-folder.
7. upload web photos to internet.

it's a lot of work because i edit every single photo seperately but hey, i like to get as much practice as i can in photoshop.

 

[Battou]

lol I am currently in the process of changing my orginization :lmao: for the longest time it was just scan post and go...but that is seriously messy.

1) flip threw prints find faves

2) Scan faves at all five exposure settings

3) Name file, File is named with it's corrisponding frame number on the roll (EG. Shot 15 of 24 is 015_1, 15_2, 15_3, 15_4, 15_5)

4) Save to subfolder under monthly folder. Subfolder is identified by sendout envelope # (EG. Documents --> My Pictures --> neg scans --> 6_2008 --> 126281)

5) Post Process, drop scan exposure level number

6) Create new subfolder (EG. ... --> ... --> ... --> 6_2008 --> 126281 --> Posted) My post processing takes multiple stages due to inadiquate software so often times every stage of processing is marked with an additional _2

7) Final image is Documents --> My Pictures --> neg scans --> 6_2008 --> 126281 --> Posted --> 126281_015_2_2

8)upload to internet

9) Show off on TPF

10) Repete as many times as needed


It's not as complicated as it looks trust me

 

[Alpha]

What do you mean by scan at all five exposure settings?

 

[Battou]

The Canon Canoscan 2710 has five exposure settings. For lack of a better description it's like leaving the negitive in the enlarger for longer/shorter periods of time to compensate for over/underexposure.

Here is one such set of scans from some time ago

Posted image (Click Image to go to TPF Image thread)


One frame of film used for this shot...It's the only way for me to maximize the tonal range of my film during digitalization because I can't afford a high end scanner that can handle the full spectrum. I still haven't worked out all the bugs in the process yet but I'm getting closer. I'll replace these with a more resent set in a couple days as these are flawed in the process of scanning.

 

[Alpha]

I tried that a few times on a flatbed and concluded that it was an enormous waste of time. But, whatever works...

 

[Battou]

I tried that a few times on a flatbed and concluded that it was an enormous waste of time. But, whatever works...

I would never had gotten this one onto the computer without it.

 

[Alpha]

Although I was initially weary of settings within the scanning software, I found them to be definitely preferable to multiple scans. Exposure curves and white/black point can be set at the time of scanning, which obviates the need for a lot of complicated work in post w/ compositing multiple images. For example, I initially tried several scan "exposures" of this image, but later settled on adjusting exposure at the time of scan and the results proved to be much better.

 

[deudeu]

I use raw developer:
1. move all of my files to a Raw file folder.
2. Convert to jpg and move to a folder named by month and year.
3. Select the very best of my pictures and move the raw file to a specific folder.
4. Delete all the raw files (except the best ones that have been moved).
5. Backup to external HD.