Workflow Xlll

So where do we stand now in all these informations.

you should be able to figure out things by now and build up a good system. Still there are all the software to take a look at. That will have to wait.

i am though going to give you a round up of how I do things now that I have taken Lightroom in to my workflow.

First I take the image.

Importing the image.

Then I import the image into a folder on my hard-drive. This folder is in the pictures folder named Raw. In the raw folder I have a folder of the month and there come the folders of each day.

so today I would create a folder with the name 19040701. In that folder go the images from the first card I import this day. If you have been reading my earlier post you will under stand this.

Next step is to import the images into Lightroom. While importing the images I do put all the metadata to the images that I can. Even keywords. I have not done thorough description of this process but I am in the middle of writing it so it will come soon. Any ways I think there are tons of writing about this already on the net.

Sorting

After the importing of the images I sort out those that I do want to keep and those I want to trow away. This I do to save space and help in the continuity of file naming.

Rename.

only when I am sure that I am not going to throw out any more images I rename the files. Then I back up the .cr2 (Im using the Canon) files.

Now I take all the images and do color correction and apply the profiles and all that stuff in Develop mode.

When Im done with the preparation for developing I do all the Metadata. Keywording and description and what ever is needed in those fields.

Now I can take the raw file and export it as DNG files. Why do I do that. It is because I want the development settings and all the Metadata to follow the raw file and I do hate sidecars.

After putting away on backup the DNG files, I can now export the tif files. My stock agency and my clients like tiff above any thing else so that is the way I work. Tif is also going to be with us for a while. Also all the Metadata information go with it.

Now that I have exported the images as tif I erase them from my hard drive. and out of Lightroom.

I now have the images in three formats two of them with all the metadata. Therefore even though we will go through lot of changes I should be able to retrieve all the information and work on my files after 20 years.

Now I import the images into Portfolio. the get into the category work files. From Portfolio I can open them up in Photoshop and once done working on them I move them to the category finished or where ever i like.

Now that I take the images to Photoshop I do all the final touch up. Even if I have been lazy I do farther Metadata.

When done with this all my images get imported into Portfolio (if not imported before). I use portfolio because I have been using it for a long time and it was the simplest and best one when I started out. I know how it works and what doesn't work so there is no need to change (still who knows). There are few others that are out there and also are good. the most popular on now being IviewMedia Pro.

With all my images in Portfolio and all the metadata I can find what ever I like. I can also put extra information to my images. I sort them and send them and what ever.

I have 3 external hard drives in the truck and need to switch between them once in a while. Even swap the drives inside. This is easy as I can always see through Portfolio where my files are. Be it Raw or tif.

As you can see I do not use Lightroom as my cataloging software. It wasn't made as such and having a lot of images just slows every thing down. Having lightroom as the first step is just the way I like it.
Photoshop of course still is with me and will be for a while. You just cant throw out your darkroom can you. I changed it to a digital darkroom and I need that one. Lightroom is no Photoshop and god forbid that the developers start to take it to that direction.Things are just about fine as they are.
Portfolio is the cataloging software and if you have tens of thousands of images you need it to be separate from all the other things.

Three software is all I need and can do my work with. It is simple and easy if you just prepare your workflow. you can automate the most of it and sit back, relax and enjoy life.