Work flow Help :( Which software and Organising

O

oli

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Hi

As i'm getting more into photography, i'm finding my use of software and general organising of files a nightmare due to the number shots and raw files I'm collecting.

I was using the Canon digital software that came with the cam to upload my raw files (it organises them into date folders)

I was using this to merely sharpen, adjust a bit of brightness/exposure, and saturation or making them B&W then converting them to jpeg to what ever size and even cropping them.

This was working fine before but now I'm looking at a bit further than those simple things and started recently on using Photoshop CS2. Problem is I'm having to convert it to DNG files with Adobe's free software. Once I make any changes to save it creates a PSD file as well, so when I convert for jpeg (upload ot to give hi res images on disc)

I now have folders everywhere, raw version, dng version, psd version and the jpeg version!!!!

How do you guys cope? What do you suggest in terms of software I could purchase to make my work flow easier? I was going to look at Lightroom2 as this will keep things organised and possibly do what I need it to do without the addtional DNG file? Or will the later Photoshop/Paint Shop Pro/Elements do what I need it too? (If only CS2 could just open the RAW files that would be great

Any help or advice appreciated!

Thanks

Oliver
 
HI Oli

I could spend ages describing them and then miss something important to you. Put them into google, download the free trials and have a look

stew
 
Lightroom is an excellent piece of software in my mind.

I now plug my memory card into the PC, and import using Lightroom, which will auto-convert to .dng. I don't bother having a duplicate RAW - If it's good enough for Martin Evening (author of some great Photoshop & Lightroom books) then it's good enough for me.

So Workflow is as follows:

- Import into a Temp folder using Lightroom (as .dng) - add simple keywords that apply to all photos at this stage. Don't import obviously rubbish shots (out of focus, shots of self squinting into the lens from 2 inches away etc)
- Go through all the photos and colour label them (red = delete, green = keeper, yellow = needs processing, purple = post processed)
- Rate the good ones (just one star initially)
- Delete the red ones (optionally, delete from Lightroom and not from your disk)
- Create a new folder (Year_Eventname, or 2009_Stock Car Racing)
- Drag the images into the new folder

This structure means I can find pretty much anything now, and quickly!

Reason for the Temp folder, is that I may not be able to finish sorting the photos out, and when I do get the time again, I know exactly where to go to finish off sorting them out.

At my leisure, I can then filter against "yellow" coloured shots to see if I want to work on anything, purple/green if I'm making a book, DVD, or web gallery, or the "one star" shots to further granulate (new word!) the best ones.

One other excellent feature of Lightroom is the export facility. You don't need to have multiple copies of the same images in different formats...
e.g.
Export for Web (change .dng to .jpeg, 600px wide, 72ppi)
Export for 8x10 Print (change .dng to .tif, 8x10 crop, 320ppi)
Export to Work On (no modification, but puts it in a "working" folder)
Export for Photomatix (as above, but in another folder)

I had Elements, and that was just painful. I find Bridge really awkward and annoying. I tried just using Windows Explorer, but my brain wasn't big enough to remember how I'd organised things.

Hope this helps!

-H
 
I use purely Photoshop and RAW, and feel fairly well organised without too much crap everywhere...

1. Download RAW's to date labelled folder
2. Open all RAW's at once into CS3 and have a play
3. Click close and your folder will now contain a load of XML files too, but don't need to worry about them.
4. Open a couple to process properly in CS3
5. Do all work non-destructively and click 'save' which will give you a PSD version in the same folder.

I then have a Flickr folder and a Pixelpost folder where I will save a resized, flattened and sharpened jpeg version of any PSD file. These can be deleted though as necessary and mean nothing as I always have the original PSD and could create another jpeg in about 30 seconds.

I try to upload one from every 'shoot' to Flickr which is then my 'catalogue' and I just search the tags to find something. When I find it, I can see the date shot and easily find the master file. Again a less than 1 minute job.

The only downside I see is if Flickr went tits up!


Edit: Sorry, just seen you said CS2 won't open RAW's so what I have said is just a waste of words. Ooops!
 
Harlequin - I like your workflow. I'm going to probably make a LR2 purchase tomorrow and if you dont mind I'm going to borrow your workflow as it makes alot of sense and I would like to start with some structure and funnily enough LR2 seems to fit the bill with the ability to do more editing.

I also found out about mogrify - watermarking and borders http://timothyarmes.com/lr2mogrify.php

So appreciate your help!!

68lbs - No I think if I had CS3 I'd probably have done something as you've suggested and seems easier going and working on stuff on the fly as well as being organised! thanks for the tip - I will look at Lightroom if not as CS4 is out I might be able to get CS3 cheaper.

THanks
 
You'll be happy with Lightroom.

One small point about workflow - you might find it better to use flags instead of colours for picking rejects. (pressing x will flag a photo as rejected, pressing p will flag a photo as picked). That way you can still use the colours for other purposes (e.g. I use the colours for labelling different types of photos - e.g. green for landscapes, red for wildlife, purple for people etc)

You'll find something that works for you, but if you're going to mark something as rejected using the 'rejected' flag seems a no-brainer!
 
boabbruce said:
I would agree with the lightroom suggestion, it really is perfect for what you need by the sounds of your original post. Out of interest have you updated the Adobe Camera Raw version for CS2? you may find that an update will allow you to open the RAW files.

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=39&platform=Windows
Click to expand...

Hmmm.. I was pretty sure that was the first thing I done. and I still got the 'incorrect format or something' message pop up, hence why I downloaded the DNG converter. That was going from a quick google search though so I will double check the RAW update file version for CS2 I have and give it a go again.

Would be great to have that working as well.

cheers for the suggestion..(y)

markrichardson said:
You'll be happy with Lightroom.

One small point about workflow - you might find it better to use flags instead of colours for picking rejects.

You'll find something that works for you, but if you're going to mark something as rejected using the 'rejected' flag seems a no-brainer!
Click to expand...

Ok I'll adopt that into the workflow. really appreciate the time taken to post these suggestions guys. I just need an idea of where to start as I want to do get results quickly and one way is better then none :)
 
Another vote for Lr.

It works great for me! I've been using it for about 6 months, and have added bits of workflow from different people. You end up creating your own workflow to fit your style of working.
Flagging and ratings already have a place in my workflow. I haven't done much with color coding yet, but I like both Harlequin's and markrichardson's ideas on how to use.

For those of us who can't afford Photoshop (yet), Lr is a great beginning point.

Question for everyone though -- Do you convert to DNG simply for CS3?

I've been leaving as raw in Lr and convert when exporting.

What's the advantage of storing as DNG?
 
Another vote for Lightroom, I've been using it about 2 years now. I have a slightly similar workflow to the one above, although I don't bother with a temp folder, everything just sorted into capture date folders by Lightroom.

I also use the flags system of working through my images, but I'm sure every Lightroom user has a different was of sorting and categorising their images.
 
What's the advantage of storing as DNG?
Click to expand...

For me it's the simplicity of being able to work with my files at college (never the same workstation), work (never the same workstation) and home without making sure I've got the right version of ACR plugged into Photoshop. As I have a 50D and CS3, I'm stuffed, as the latest version of ACR only works with CS4. Previous versions don't support the 50D unfortunately.

Also, .dng files can be viewed in Windows Explorer without the need for the bespoke plugin from Microsoft.

As to flagging as rejected. I did do that, but started having problems deleting them (the fault was between the chair and the keyboard). I find a red colour still gives me flexibility to manage them in the same way as other files. It's easy to change from red to another colour and/or add stars etc.

-H
 
Harlequin565 said:
As to flagging as rejected. I did do that, but started having problems deleting them (the fault was between the chair and the keyboard).
Click to expand...
It took me a few seconds to understand that phrase, but I like it... might have to 'borrow' it!

Harlequin565 said:
I find a red colour still gives me flexibility to manage them in the same way as other files. It's easy to change from red to another colour and/or add stars etc.
Click to expand...

And that illustrates both the best and hardest thing about Lightroom (and indeed Photoshop) - there are about 37 perfectly good ways to do anything!
 
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