Workflow is the buzz word everyone into digital photography is talking about. This will be a simple concise intro to Digital workflow.
I'll Start at the Beginning, Before Most People, Your Camera.
i used to spend hours and hours doing simple editing on my laptop that i now do "in camera" before i ever take a photo. If you have a decent DSLR, you should be able to specify the basic way you want your photos to look "in camera". it may be choosing from a preset like "vivid" or "portrait" or hopefully you can make a custom profile where you choose the contrast, sharpness, saturation, etc. This is very important to do and change depending on the shoot your doing. if you do this well, and shoot well, there should be very little editing left to do!
Importing to Your Computer.
This is also a very important step. i recommend having a long term plan as to where your photos will go and how they will be organized. Use a software that will not only import for you, but also help you organize and search your photos. Also it's important that it will work with your editing software, allowing you to click on a photo and open it in what ever program you choose. Even better is if it allows you to specify which file types open with which programs. For example RAW files with Capture NX and TIFF and JPG with Photoshop. My choice for this is Abobe Bridge. It's free with any adobe product.
Keywords and Tags
For serious shooters digital photos can not be counted in 100's or even 1,000's. It is no longer practical to "look" for a specific photo. it makes more sense to "search" for it. then "look" through the 100 or 1,000 hits of the search. This is a really fast and powerful way to find what your looking for. However your computer isn't smart enough to know your photo is of "wildflowers" in "japan". its just a bunch of 1's and 0's to your computer, so you have to add Keywords so your computer knows what your photo is about. Adobe Bridge is also very good at this.
RAW Editing
There are MANY reasons to shoot RAW and start your editing from the RAW data. See The Idioimagers Guide to Photography part III for more info about RAW. in short, starting with a RAW file insures maximum freedom and quality. I use Capture NX to edit my RAW files. RAW editing is not quickly mastered, but getting your foot in the door and getting some good results may be easier than you think. Check out my guide to Capture NX, for details and tips on RAW editing. When you are satisfied with your image save it and save a copy as a TIFF.
Finishing Up
The TIFF can be printed directly or used in another program to do some finishing touches and resizing. I use photoshop only for taking out dust (with the clone stamp), resizing, adding text, a boarder or a logo and saving for the web.
Backing Up
Computers crash, laptops are stolen, Hard disks get old and stop working, houses catch fire, etc. so BACKUP! besides buying a really big HD i have some other interesting ideas for backing up your work.
i have a Gmail account just to backup my very favorite photos. 2 GB is free and you should get most if not all of your favorite pics in there. a bonus is i have access to download and print my best photos anywhere in the world.
Multi-task! Send CD's or DVD's to your friends and family. . Don't tell them you are using them as a backup service, ha ha.
Showing Your Work
Hopefully after all that you've got something worth showing. It's so easy now to publish to some kind of web page or online gallery. So you should show your work, it will benefit others and yourself. This a great place to show the world your photos and get great feedback, TrekEarth.
Also consider entering some kind of contest. Here is a list if free reputable contests.
i love how the digital age changed photography, but having a beautiful print in your hands is still the final goal of all serious photographers.
Summing It Up
It's never too early or late to start a workflow. The time invested to get one setup will be repaid with interest.
There are many ideas about the best workflow. i've keep this as generic as possible in hopes it will be useful to the most people this way.
Please check out other parts of idioimagers.org and Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. Thanks for reading,
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