Just got a Mac, Now how what should be my workflow??

[dharmit]

Hi all,

I just got my new Mac Book pro yesterday and I am excited (I had heard this a lot of times before and always thought what is it to be excited, but now when I have one, I know what is it to be excited for - more on it later)

Previously I had my Windows Laptop and my workflow used to be

1. Shoot in RAW
2. Download using DPP (I have Canon EOS 450D)
3. Correct White Balance in DPP
4. Correct Exposure in DPP
5. Export it in jpg
6. Edit it in Gimp (If I need to)
7. To send it to friends, resize it and then make a Picasa album to share

I know that for most of the work, Windows/Mac doesnot matter.

My question is, If I have to do it properly (as pro's do) and I want results like pros (on screen and in prints), what is the workflow?

iPhoto, is it good? Can it be used in place of DPP as it has many features that DPP has and more. iPhoto has Shadow recovery which DPP does not have (for eg).

It would be greately appreciated if some more light is thrown along the lines of colour calibrating monitors, colour profile etc.

Thanks

[spencer28n]

Here's my bad workflow on my Macbook that I should probably fix:
1. Download pics using the Canon downloader.
2. Drag through Imagebrowser picking out average to best shots, opening them in RAW image task.
3. Fix exposure, white balance and sometimes contrast/saturation depending.
4. Save as JPEGs.
5. Open great shots in Photoshop CS2.
6. Save as PSD then when finished editing Merge layers and save as Jpeg while keeping the PSD as well.
7. If it's a real fantastic shot upload it to my site.

I'm probably going to buy Adobe Bridge CS3 or something. That probably would make my life easier.

Good luck.

[Trader]

Backup and Backup!

The very first thing I do is make a backup copy of my original untouched work to a portable drive that is kept strictly for that. After I make any changes I make another backup to a different portable drive.

[dharmit]

I have to say that DPP's new edition 3.6.1 and it showed highlight and shadow recovery. I have yet to use these two functions to see how they work and what is the output like.

I will post my experience tonight when I get some time.

What software do you use to cataloge images. (iPhoto, Picasa, something else?) I dont want to spend too much and if open source can do the job, I will prefer it.

[digishoebox]

Hello there,

My favorite ingesting and browsing software has been Photo Mechanic (which can embed metadata, browses with speed, and has labeling and rating capabilities), then cataloging in Expression Media (for setting up categories without moving around original files) and editing in Photoshop.

I like using a card reader to ingest photos and then (for personal photos) organizing by year and then month. On the other hand, if you have clients, when I was managing digital photos for an organization that shot hundreds of jobs a year, 100s of thousands of raw photos, I organized photos by each job in quarters and years. (And always back up!)

If you just want to simplify things and be able to browse, catalog, label and rate, and edit all in one, maybe Lightroom is the way to go for you? A few hours of instruction on Lynda.com would probably have you going in no time.

But first and foremost, know your filing structure for photo files, I advise against letting apps like iPhoto file your photos for you (which it will do if you don't tell it not to!) because it might be complicated to get those photos out of that filing structure in a reasonable manner down the line should you want to upgrade to another browsing or cataloging software.

But If you want to reeeeaaaally want to use iPhoto.... I think you should just make sure to take a few precautions: 1) in Preferences, General, select "Connecting camera opens: no application" because that way you can more easily just use a card reader to ingest your photos into your own filing structure that you choose, like year and month, or by job; 2) in Preferences, Advanced, uncheck "Importing: Copy items to the iPhoto Library" - that way iPhoto will just refer to your original filing structure instead of creating its own structure when you dump photos into iPhoto, BUT, keep in mind that any modifications you do will still be in the iPhoto library (in Users > You > Pictures > control click iPhoto Library > select Show Package Contents > Modified > the year > the day the photo was taken... see how unintuitive that is?). Not to mention, because iPhoto keeps a "Modified" folder with every photo you bring into iPhoto, regardless of whether you edit it or not, means that you are (I would say) unnecessarily using up space on your hard drive; 3) If you want to export photos as JPEGS from iPhoto (File > Export) and you have added keywords to those photos in iPhoto, make sure in "File Export" that you check the box for "Include: Titles and Keywords" or else those keywords won't be there.

That's just a few tips I think are important - and that's talking about iPhoto '09 8.0.4. But I'd check out Lightroom - or Expression Media for Mac. And backup is a whole 'nother matter! Make sure you do that!!!!

Have fun with that Mac!

Best,
SARAH

[emtab]

Lightroom revolutionized my workflow. Everything from import and download all the way through catalogs and organization, to color correction, limited retouching, sharpening, export to web and even printing. I would highly, highly recommend demoing lightroom. It does almost everything I need in one place for a very low price.

I can't speak highly enough about it.
emtab

[dharmit]

Thank you all for the support,

I guess there are two problems for me to move from Picasa to other software (like Aperture, Lightroom, iPhoto)

1. I have my 2,000+ photos tagged in Picasa which I think none can import. If I have to do it all again, it will be too much work
2. Picasa is Free compared to other softwares and is available in mac version.

So thanks for the support and I know that I can always rely on this website and its strong support of pro members for help.

If you know of any software that can turn Picasa tags into generic tags that can be used for any software like (Aperture, Lightroom, iPhoto) please let me know.

Till that time my workflow will be as follows

1. Shoot in RAW
2. Download using DPP (I have Canon EOS 450D)
3. Correct White Balance in DPP
4. Correct Exposure in DPP
5. Export it in jpg
6. Edit it in Gimp (If I need to)
7. To send it to friends, resize it and then make a Picasa album to share

Well I guess, Mac or Windows does not matter in this case.