How do you seem to find the time?

[zedin]

I guess this is a post about ways to streamline or improve workflow. My problem is I never seem to have the time to finish pictures. Sometimes they come out of the camera perfect but other times they don't and it seems I am always behind in trying to develop the raw files. It may be because I am still getting used to digital and raw and learning my way around the programs but it is still frustrating to have pics I take keep piling up. Do I just need to find more time somehow or are there suggestions to ways to speed up my raw processing (either via programs that make it easier or anything). I am looking into perhaps some batch processing functions but often my pictures fall into different ranges of light (lots of sunny and lots of shade for example) so I am not sure if it would help that much. Currently working with CS2 and Nikon Capture. (damn lightroom only being for macs right now)

So basically any suggestions on streamlining would be great or other suggestions so I can catch up.

 

[PlasticSpanner]

Get it right in the camera and save it as JPEG?

Not helpful I know, but I'm a film shooter and shots that don't come out how I wanted them to just don't get printed!

 

[terri]

I'm a film shooter, too, and I actually think it's an easier work flow process. It must be frustrating to upload all those images and then feel you have to begin a lengthy editing process.

But workflow is workflow. Time is always a precious commodity. I try to develop my film within a day or so of getting it out of the camera. My next step is to make a quick contact sheet so I can review the negatives and think about which ones I'll want to enlarge, and for what process (straight B&W, toned or untoned, hand colored or not) - that can really bog me down, since it involves different developers, papers, etc.

I only pick a few at a time to work on, too. The rest just pile up and wait their turn. :razz:

Finding more time for the hobby is always a challenge, no matter what you're shooting! I get more done on the weekend, when I can plan a set block of time to settle in. The chores & errands just have to take a back seat sometimes.

 

[PlasticSpanner]

Chores & errands take a back seat every time!

You could make more time in the day by sleeping every 2 nights instead of 1.

To be serious now I would recommend slowing down with the camera and concentrate on getting more selective and better shots. This way there won't be as many to edit (not process! ) and they should be so good that there is little editing to be done anyway.

 

[Torus34]

You haven't said if the shots are professional or just a hobby. There's a real difference in how you approach the problem.

 

[zedin]

Hobby all the way. Busy enough in grad school without trying to do photography as a side job.

 

[Torus34]

Hobby is simple. Be critical of your own work. Prune, prune and prune again. And don't shoot anything more until you're finished with catching up with the backlog. In other words, simple self-discipline.

 

[bantor]

In my opinion, a complete oposite to Torus34, is shoot shoot shoot. As far as catching up is concerned, you'll get it when you get it. After you shoot, take a look and see what has to be done to improve foe next time, i.e. camera settings. And like Chris (PlasticSpanner) said, save them in jpeg. CS2 has the exposure and shadow settings that can help for the really under/overexposed shots.

Thats my 2 cents, if it is even worth that.

 

[THORHAMMER]

just process the really noteworthy ones...

 

[Rob]

I shoot in JPG, because life is generally too short. If it's worth processing I do it, but if it isn't then I leave it for a rainy day and usually see what some heavyweight PS can do for it.

Rob

 

[Polygon]

When doing RAW I generally convert them all to JPEG using a script with standard settings which mostly work good. No work from my side here and I have some preview-pictures. Should I find some of them usable for "more" I manually import them in the Gimp and start doing all the postprocessing. I have planned to make some scripts to automate boring tasks like framing, resizing (and the needed after-sharpening which happens to mostly be the same) and saving to a different folder for showing pictures on the web. And should I notice more monotonous but time-eating tasks in my workflow I'll also try to automate them.
That's what I like about digital, the boring repetive tasks can be automated, so why not do so?

 

[markc]

just process the really noteworthy ones...

Amen. My shooting habits are the same whether using film or digital, so my keep:toss ratio is about the same. For every 36 images, I usually have one or two keepers. If I'm really lucky, I'll have something like four. It's critical to be brutal about your own shots. I will usually process a few more than that to see what I can get, but by the end, I'll have pruned them out.

And let's put things into perspective: Garry Winogrand died with over 3000 rolls of exposed but unprocessed film. He had even more rolls processed but never printed. Oi! :crazy:

 

[markc]

I don't find shooting in RAW any more time consuming. I use Breeze Browser to batch convert to TIFF. If there's a diffcult one in the batch, I can always go back and tweak it by hand and reconvert, but that's rare.