Hi Brian
I just read this mail now and I haven't read the replies yet :)
So basicaly I have two softwares for my workflow...
First one is the organizer and batch processer. This is Adobe Lightroom.
With LR you can create user presets for your taste, I have one for basic
processing (little play with exposure settings), one for Black&White
processing, one for Infrared Processing, one for Welding Glass processing,
one for Urban Acidish processing and one for preparing for my more detailed
Photoshop workflow. If you want I can share these presets with you.
But the main advantage of LR is the Import Photos. I organize all my photos
by date. Each day a separate folder. You can set this up under the Import
Photo settings panel. It just makes everything sooo simple for me :)
But to be honest there is much more in Lightroom than you can see for the
first look. I highly recommend http://lightroomkillertips.com/ and
http://www.presetsheaven.com/
As of the more detailed workflow I use Photoshop. There is something that
Lightroom just not capable and it is Layers and Blending modes.
First of all I shoot in RAW. It gives soo much more room to play with
(especially the 14 bits RAW files)
My workflow is based on 3 layers all of them looking rubbish on it's own.
All of them starts from the prepared RAW (basic exposure settings, 0
Highlights, Fill Lights and Blacks, and -50 on Contrast... looks really flat
and really rubbish :D) in LR. I open the picture from Lightroom as a Smart
Object. This is the key for detailed RAW workflow. You can open a picture as
SO from LR by right clicking on the picture, Edit and there Open as Smart
Object in Photoshop.
The 3 layers are quite similar and they are copies of each other (not just
simple layer copies... it's right click on the layer and New Smart Object
via Copy). All of them in Overlay Blending Mode. They are (from bottom to
top):
1. The Bottom: A flat base layer to give the the very basic setup for my
picture. I usually set the Vibrance to +100 and I move the Clarity based on
what I want: more softness or more 'sharpness'.
2. The Middle: A grayscale image that gives all the contrast to my image. I
usuall not touching the Contrast setting I better play with Blacks, Fill
Lights and a bit of Highlight Recovery. Sometimes I also put the Clarity
high. Also to depending on the picture I change the White Balance to make
the picture more 'flat' or more 'contrasty'
3. The Top: The Color Control Cream as I call :) This one often gets a
Gaussian Blur (smart) filter as well. On this one I put the Vibrance down
and the Saturation high. Also Clarity goes -100. This layer controls the
Color Contrast in my pictures. Also it gives me a little play with the White
Balance as it can have a warmer tone without affecting the whole picture
drastically.
Also to increase contrast and sharpness I add 2 High Pass Layers based on
the Grayscale layer. One of them is for finer details (High Pass +5) and the
other one is for contrast (High Pass +25). They are in between the GrayScale
Contrast Controller and the Color Control Cream one... of course Overlay.
Just add them a Layer Mask and you can selective sharpen or contrast parts
of the image.
Now the big advantage of this workflow that I can finetune each details
separately. As I have 3 layers I can edit invidually and the mix of the 3
gives the final results and as they are Smart Objects you can go and edit
them any time. Obviously create an action to prepare all your workflow (If
requested I can share my actions :D) as it can save you loads of time.
But again... what I can say look for tutorials on the internet (I liked Joel
Grimes and Joey L) as many times you can see it's much easier than it looks
like :)
And most importantly... explore and research... your Photoshop is your
laboratory. Find a post process technique that works for you.
Hope it helps,
.t
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Walters" <supera1...@fastmail.fm>
To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <pdml@pdml.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 1:51 AM
Subject: Workflow Quandary
G'day all
First - a confession.
I know it's a bit Kenny boy-ish - but I shoot mainly JPGs.
There.
I've said it.
I feel unburdened somehow.
I know I 'should' be shooting RAW and I do shoot RAW from time to time.
And it's not that I don't understand its advantages, it's just that I
struggle with the workflow. So I'm hoping for a bit of enlightenment.
It seems to me that if you only shoot RAW, you have to have some system
in place to batch process those images. There just aren't enough hours
in the day to process each image individually. I have CS3 and I know
that I can batch process a folder full of RAW images with Photoshop's
File > Automate > Batch command (presumably Lightroom can do something
similar), but here is where things get murky.
So - I'm interested in how others go about the process while still
retaining a measure of sanity. A few questions, then...
Do you point your conversion software at a folder of RAW images and let
it get on with the job while you watch the latest episode (or two) of
Mythbusters? If so, isn't this just handing over the image processing
function to software? Do you go back and 'tweak' the images?
or
Do you look at the JPG previews to decide which images are the 'Hero
Images' (as the late Bruce Fraser called them) and restrict RAW
conversion to those?
If you batch convert the lot, do you convert to a lossless format (TIFF
or PSD)? There doesn't seem to be much point in converting to JPG - you
could do that in camera.
Do you archive your 'second string' images as RAW, or do you convert to
JPG and ditch the originals?
What's the advantages of shooting RAW + JPG? (perhaps one advantage is
that you could keep just the JPGs of your 'second string' images if you
can't bring yourself to ditch them entirely).
In summary - if you shoot RAW exclusively (or mainly), how do you manage
the workflow and still have a life??
Cheers
Brian
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Brian Walters
Western Sydney Australia
http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/
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