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/
> >
> >
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> >
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