Workflow after Shoot

[kdthomas]

OK, so I have a pile of RAW files from the wedding, and sit down at the computer.

I have three things to do, right?

1. Copy the images locally, and sort through them and delete the ones where the groom has his finger up his nose, or the one where the bride has one eye closed, lenscap on, etc.
2. Retouches to get rid of zits, boogers, ear hair etc. (Photoshop)
3. General adjustments like white balance, color effects, etc. (Lightroom)

Which one do you guys do first? Seems like I would do them the way they're listed, and do Lightroom last, since the settings in LR would apply to many images, rather than just a few.

Can you guys share with me how you work?

 

[ronlane]

I've not snot (shot) a wedding but I would do the following.

1. Download images to LR and go through them as a first cut, getting rid of the nose pickers, closed eyes, out of focus and crappy images.
2. I would go through the remaining ones a second time and this time flag (Pick) the ones I really liked and wanted to edit further.
3. do basic adjustments for wb, lens correction.
4. take those into PS for finish editing and retouches.
5. send them back to LR and then export jpegs for the couple to look at.

again, I'm not a wedding photog and don't want to be but this is what I would do for a family that I shot portraits for and is what I do with my own images, except for the sports ones.

 

[The_Traveler]

Load into LR, sort, cull
basic color or exposure corrections,
export best to PS for any bit level corrections
export from LR to jpegs for viewing.

imo doing skin level stuff before basic correction is backwards (and certainly against the workflow that LR/PS was designed for.

 

[kdthomas]

Great! Great input ... do you guys do the conversion to DNG?

 

[The_Traveler]

I don't but out of laziness and ignorance rather than any actual reason

 

[ronlane]

Great! Great input ... do you guys do the conversion to DNG?

No, i keep mine in .cr2.

 

[D-B-J]

Load into LR, sort, cull
basic color or exposure corrections,
export best to PS for any bit level corrections
export from LR to jpegs for viewing.

imo doing skin level stuff before basic correction is backwards (and certainly against the workflow that LR/PS was designed for.

Pretty much my flow. But add in a backup to 2 separate HD's.

 

[tirediron]

Okay, everyone here has missed the NUMBER ONE workflow step: BACK UP YOUR FILES! Before you do anything else: COPY, not cut, not move, but COPY the files off the card to your primary working drive, then to your primary back-up location. I tend to do second-level backup (DVD) at this time, but depending on the number of files you may want to leave that 'til later for time-management purposes.

 

[D-B-J]

Okay, everyone here has missed the NUMBER ONE workflow step: BACK UP YOUR FILES! Before you do anything else: COPY, not cut, not move, but COPY the files off the card to your primary working drive, then to your primary back-up location. I tend to do second-level backup (DVD) at this time, but depending on the number of files you may want to leave that 'til later for time-management purposes.

See my above post [emoji106]

 

[tirediron]

Okay, everyone here has missed the NUMBER ONE workflow step: BACK UP YOUR FILES! Before you do anything else: COPY, not cut, not move, but COPY the files off the card to your primary working drive, then to your primary back-up location. I tend to do second-level backup (DVD) at this time, but depending on the number of files you may want to leave that 'til later for time-management purposes.

See my above post [emoji106]

Well... yeah, okay... but you didn't make it the first step, so there!

 

[D-B-J]

Okay, everyone here has missed the NUMBER ONE workflow step: BACK UP YOUR FILES! Before you do anything else: COPY, not cut, not move, but COPY the files off the card to your primary working drive, then to your primary back-up location. I tend to do second-level backup (DVD) at this time, but depending on the number of files you may want to leave that 'til later for time-management purposes.

See my above post [emoji106]

Well... yeah, okay... but you didn't make it the first step, so there!

Ok.... Fair enough...

 

[Alexr25]

If you have your LR import set up properly it will automatically backup your images to a secondary location on import. I have mine set up backup to NAS drive which I then periodically backup to DVD discs.

 

[Rick50]

Okay, everyone here has missed the NUMBER ONE workflow step: BACK UP YOUR FILES! Before you do anything else: COPY, not cut, not move, but COPY the files off the card to your primary working drive, then to your primary back-up location. I tend to do second-level backup (DVD) at this time, but depending on the number of files you may want to leave that 'til later for time-management purposes.

I don't make it my 1st step either. I figure it's no sense in backing up files I toss so I wait till I've done my processing (which is pretty fast)
then I plug in my remote hard drive and export the ones I want to keep from LR. I do not back up my JPG's produced after processing, just the RAW files.
I have a friend that never deletes her originals off the card. Just buys new cards. To me, this is crazy as you now have a pile of cards and no reasonable system.
Not that your system is a bad one. At least you do have the backups. I guess I'm a space saver. Sometimes, if I don't really have any good ones (happens) I don't back up anything.

 

[Scatterbrained]

Okay, everyone here has missed the NUMBER ONE workflow step: BACK UP YOUR FILES! Before you do anything else: COPY, not cut, not move, but COPY the files off the card to your primary working drive, then to your primary back-up location. I tend to do second-level backup (DVD) at this time, but depending on the number of files you may want to leave that 'til later for time-management purposes.

Well, for a lot of people it's kinda a no brainer. Lr won't let you cut or move the files off of the card. It copies the images off the card to the selected drive. In my case that's an external RAID array. After that, an automated system maintains an online backup.
Personally, I don't see the point of importing and then culling. I do a first cull during import. Get rid of the obvious tossers, import the rest. Then a second cull where you flag the shots you think could be keepers. Then (if needed) you can use colors to break the day down into different locations/lighting/sessions. Then you can do you global/syncable edits to each color group separately (or you can use smart collections and keywords to break down the day). From there you can use the star ratings to select the best images from each group to send off to Ps.

Of course I don't shoot weddings so take this with a rather large grain of salt.

 

[KmH]

My backups are set up to be done when I upload to my image editing workstation.
I upload using a basic keyword template and a metadata template that has all my IPTC information.
Keywords are critical to effectively using an image database management application.

I do 2 culls - 1st quick and dirty, 2nd with a more critical eye.
During the second cull I rate each photo using a 3 star system - 3-stars = great, 2-stars = good, 1-star = usable.
I add appropriate additional keywords during the second, critical cull.

Photos made using the same lighting conditions get put together in their own collections so they can be batch processed.
(LR, CameraRaw, RawTherapee, Capture One, whatever flavor Raw converter you use.)
Note: I edit in the Raw converter using the ProPhoto color space and in 16-bit color depth.
In Photoshop I first use 16-bit depth tools. Then I do edits (if any) with tools that can only be used in 8-bit depth color mode.

Basic Raw converter global edits get done first - Set WB, white point, gray point, black point, capture sharpen, NR (if needed) initial image presence adjustments (clarity & vibrance)
Do gross local parametric (non-destructive) edits.

Open in Photoshop if retouching needed. Photoshop has more precision tools, with more options and controls, and more retouching capabilities than Raw converters have. In Photoshop, and on Adjustment layers when ever possible, I do local/artistic sharpening, dodge & burn, local contrast adjustments, Curves adjustments, Levels adjustments, spot healing, cloning, yada, yada, yada, until all the retouching/edits are done.

Last steps - like output sharpening, setting the color profile, setting the color space, rendering intent, etc. are determined by how the photo will be used.