PC Workflow Help

BKphotography

BKphotography

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Hi Guys,

Looking for a bit of help or at least, some ideas.

I've just bought a new PC as my old machines was really struggling to edit the large amount of files that a wedding produces.

I have an internal 256GB M.2 SSD + 2TB 7200 rpm hard drives that came with the machine. I also have 2 mirrored 6TB external drives for backing up files.

A couple of questions... what do you find is the best configuration for a fast workflow?

Do I need more hardware?

Where should I install programs, LR catalogues, etc?

My older machine will handle, admin, music, internet activities etc. The new machine is pretty much just for editing images and video.

TIA!

Cheers,
BK
 
I have a similar set up except I have two 256 gb SSD,s ( my PC was built with one (256gb) but I had a spare out of my previous PC
So
256 gb SSD-Programmes+Win 10 ( its half full)

256 gb SSD LR Catalogue and processed pix to upload to Zenfolio

1Tb 7200 HDD-photos, downloads , music ,videos etc

1TB ext HDD for backups-This backs up everything on the PC using Acronis

1*128gb USB Stick.The LR Catalogue backs up to this when LR closes

In your case I would put the LR catalogue on the HDD unless you want to buy and have the space for another SSD.

For workflow I download photos from Camera to a folder on the HDD, import that into LR and when finished editing export the pix to the SSD for upload/Printing /Copy to Tablet etc

Hope this helps
 
[suggestion]

Pictures on 2Tb HDD
LRCat on SSD
Dump Folder on SSD

- Copy/Paste from all cards into Dump Folder after a shoot
- LR "Add" the Dump Folder.
- Curate Dump folder, deleting crap/oof
- When happy, move pics from Dump folder to organised location on HDD
- Backup set to copy pics from HDD to Backup drives OnFileChange so you don't need to do anything.
- Do final edits at your leisure knowing that it will get auto backed up. Shoot in raw for quick backup (only the xmp files will be updated) or dng for slow backup (the whole pic will have to be replaced)

[/suggestion]

Edit to add that I have my pics and my LR catalogue on an HDD and it's acceptably fast for me. This is just how I would do it if I had the disk space.
 
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My main desktop PC where I do my photo processing and archiving runs Windows 10, 64-bit.

  • I download raw files (Canon .CR2 in my case) from the camera to a \work directory.
  • I use FastRawViewer to do my basic trawling through them and to delete the non-keepers. I like it because it is fast - as it says on the lable! - and easily switches backwards and forwards between 1:1 and fit-to-window viewing. The images I delete are moved to a "rejected" subfolder and can easily be shifted back if I change my mind.
  • Once I have whittled them down to the ones I want to keep, I use exiftool to move them to my archiving folder. This is a command line tool which reads the EXIF info from the RAW file and makes it available for other processing. So, I have set up a .bat file - I just have to run this batch file and what it does is to read the "Date taken" from the RAW file and uses it to move the image to a subfolder in my archive named "\<year>\<month number>\<day number>". The archive folder is on a 1TB external USB drive. So IMG_0611.CR2 taken today will end up stored as "PhotoArchive\2018\08\12\IMG_0611.CR2".
  • I uses digiKam to catalogue the archive. I use it to add tags for things like the species photographed, the name of the locality, etc., I also use it for geotagging and, finally, I can add ratings (1 to 5 stars). I can then use it to search the archive (currently about 20K images taken over 15+ years) for a subject taken at some place on some date and also anything from the EXIF data - like what camera or lens I used.
  • I use GIMP 2.10 for post processing and usually Nufraw (included with the GIMP build) or RawTherapee for RAW development.
  • Finally, I use Qimage to print finished images to an Epson R2880 photo printer.
So my workflow mostly uses Open Source software - although FastRawViewer and Qimage are both shareware for which I have bought licences for pretty trivial amounts.

I think that the other thing you need to consider is your backup and disaster recovery strategy - but that another topic!
 
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