I was over at the Digital Grin Photography Forum looking for some info on what type of digital picture frame to purchase. It is very closely associated with the photo hosting site I use, www.smugmug.com. I highly recommend both of them. So I was looking at some of the threads there and found one that caused me to pause. The question was basically, how does one process their photos. So I responded with my work flow, after stepping back and seeing what I came up with, I figured I would my work flow here as well.
I am not an expert photographer by any stretch, I take lots of photos hoping to get a good one. Luckily it is my hobby and electrons are recyclable. This work flow is what works for me after a few years of process.
- Shoot lots of photos
- At the end of the shooting, typically the end of the day, download the photos in two methods
- I use Adobe Lightroom to import the photos (copying them in), including a Keyword and Metadata set that is appropriate for the day. I also tell it to convert to DNG when possible. I shoot both RAW and JPG.
- I then copy all the photos/data from the camera to a directory on the computer. All of these files are backed up and kept whether the pictures are keepers or not.
- I print a PDF of a contact sheet of the photos and include that on the backup of the pictures. I then keep the contact sheet on the computer just in case.
- I review the photos in Lightroom and figure what pictures are keepers and what ones are rejects. I then delete the rejects including the original files. (If I change my mind I have all the original photos)
- I rename the files using Lightroom, I typically do a Filename that is a description and then sequence number.
- I then go in and start putting in the keywords, title, and captions. To me the key is to just go in and do it that day so I do not get behind. I learned this one the hard way.
- I then look for similar visual settings and create a smart group (there are lots of ways to do that) and apply an included Develop Preset, see how it looks – undo – repeat as necessary until I am happy with the look.
- Continue until they are all done.
- In Lightroom select Export and set its Post Processing After Export command to run a batch uploader.
- Read various forums while the photos upload.
This work flow works on both Mac and Windows.
It might not be the right one for everyone but it works for me. I figure after 3,000+ photos cataloged and having taken over 10,000 photos with my digital cameras in the past 7 years I have learned a few things.
