Workflow processes

[rx2010]

Hey everyone,

I am still a very new beginner in photography, as I have only been trying to really improve for the past year. I just had some questions regarding everyone's workflow. I am shooting with a Nikon D90 and do my post processing in Aperture 2, which is the only editing software I have other than iPhoto if you consider that editing software. I am accumulating quite a few photos at this point, as we all do. My question is this; what are your processes as far as storing your photos. Do you edit them, back them up on another hard drive, then delete them from your computer? Do you leave them in Aperture, iPhoto, backup hard drive? Some of my photos are in iphoto, then some of them end up in aperture, I just bought a 500gb Lacaie backup. My workflow is terrible and I am looking for good ideas at how I can get all these organized in a logical manner. Thanks for any help.

[MarcSummers]

I've set my photography folder on my Mac up like a tree. Essentially, I have a folder for each shoot and within that shoot have three folders -- one for the RAW files, one for full-sized JPEGs and one for the small, web-sized images. I tend to organize more by size, housing everything under the same session name. When I'm naming something, I keep the names similar but might add variations based on the size or color of the image (e.g: StephenFULL_123 or StephenSMALL_123 or StephenBlackWhite_123) to avoid confusion.

Because I have Lightroom, I also allow it to archive and backup my files by creating catalogs for each session.

As a rule, I don't delete anything younger than a year, and I never delete RAW files. After a while, those go to an alternate hard drive to free up space.

Organization just comes with practice. Plot out how you want to set up your folders, then do it the same way from here on in. That's pretty much all it takes.

[Austin_HXC]

Mine goes like this (and I have Lightroom 2.3 btw),

Shoot in RAW,
Transfer from CF card to a folder (named by date, ex: 2009.06.22);
Once in the Date Folder I move the RAWs into a subfolder called "Originals";
Then I sort through the pictures and select the good ones and edit them with LR and save them as TIFF in a sub-subfolder TIFF which is in a subfolder Edits;
Then I have another sub-subfolder named JPEG for web-sized jpegs if I choose to send my jpegs to a family member, etc.;
And I never delete any of the "bad" ones;

So it simply goes: CF -> Date Folder -> Originals
(For the keepers) Originals -> Edits -> TIFF

[Trader]

Drive storage is very cheap now a days. First thing I do is download my images from the camera to a portable hard drive and copy them on to my working computer drive. An image has to be really bad for me to delete it at this point. I then make any edits and make a backup copy of the edits to a different portable drive.

Many a time I have been glad I have several copies of an image to go back to.

[Quo Fan]

I have a server that I keep all my photo on. My workflow is:

Shoot >> download via card reader to Lightroom 2.3 >> quickview all photos and delter truly bad, non-savable shots >> apply standard edits to all photos >> pick "good" photos for final lightroom edits >> save full-size jpegs in seperate folder >> print from seperate folder when needed, or upload to flickr/photobucket.

[digishoebox]

Hello! All of the responses to this question have been really good, I especially concur on the "never delete" advice. There are also a few other things that go a long way in terms of workflow that you might not even think of or overlook, like making sure your clock and calendar are set correctly on your camera, making sure file numbers aren't resetting, and shooting at the highest quality possible. I do not shoot on assignment so I do not organize by jobs, but for great organization it's all about filing photos in year and then month folders for me and leaving those originals pristine - if you're shooting raw, that's easy; if jpegs, then you just duplicate things you want to modify and file with a similar chonology.

I hope you check out my book called "The Digital Shoebox" when it comes out in September - it's about a workflow and is about as basic as you can get, meant for everyday shooters and to be a solid jumping off point for those who want to get more technical and get into cataloging with Lightroom or Expression Media or those sorts of things. I wrote it because there wasn't a book on the basic process out there and I spent a few years managing the digital photo collection for AMPAS (the Oscars, etc). For serious professionals, Peter Krogh's "The DAM Book" takes the cake (The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers)! Everyone should get that book too, but if you are just starting out, check out "The Digital Shoebox" (The Digital Shoebox | Home).

best,
SARAH

[Austin_HXC]

@digishoebox

Originally Posted by Toni Morrison

If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it.