Thanks, Peter for that detailed description - and thanks again to all who replied. The feedback is appreciated.
Cheers Brian ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Brian Walters Western Sydney Australia http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/ On Wed, 01 Jun 2011 01:04 +0300, "Peter Zalabai" <tim...@clancode.hu> wrote: > 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/ > > > > > > -- > > > > > > -- > > http://www.fastmail.fm - Same, same, but different... > > > > > > -- > > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > PDML@pdml.net > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > > follow the directions. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Access all of your messages and folders wherever you are -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
