Your Proofing and Editing process

[thenimirra]

I took a business management course last night and found out that I have been screwing myself as far as time management was concerned. The instructor said that he only does an initial edit of images and then shows proofs to the client. The client then picks the images they want in their album and he edits only those images.

I've been doing everything backwards! :cry I usually edit all of my images before I ever let the client see them. But the instructor said that was wasting my time on images the client might never want. It makes me uneasy showing clients basically RAW photos that haven't had more than some sharpening, noise or light work done on them.

What do you do? :dunno And what is the correct process in this?

[urbanaries]

What do you do? :dunno And what is the correct process in this?

Just like anything, there is no correct or incorrect, there is what's best for you and your clients.

Personally, I've seen a lot of behind-the-scenes galleries of other photographers' work and feedback from their clients. You can definitely tell those that just uploaded everything and while their services cost a premium and their portfolio is to-die-for...their clients are seeing what looks like a whole mess of snapshots. I look at those galleries and feel somewhat let down compared to what I saw in the photographers' portfolio. Certainly wouldn't make me dying to buy.

I feel like my clients are hiring me for my vision and not my ability to press a shutter. PP is a huge part of my "look & feel." I want my clients (and their friends and families) to see properly culled images with BW conversions, my "special sauce", etc. Then when they choose I do blemish removal, sharpening and major cloning if needed.

But what works for me may not work for you. If I didn't have Lightroom....editing before posting would have HUGE implications on my time and workflow.

[thenimirra]

I feel the same way you do Urban. Even though I'm still learning a great deal about photoshop, what really makes my images stand out is the PS work I do. I have LR but I haven't started using it yet. I know you can do some batch editing in PS3, so I may start doing that.

[populus]

The combination of Lightroom and Smugmug's proofing delay provides a very powerful method to streamline your workflow. It allows you to show a customer nice, but not perfect, pictures, and then to do custom touch-up work only on those images the customer orders.

Here's what I do:
1. Batch process images in Lightroom: choose the keepers, batch develop the images, popping up the vibrance and clarity for a professional look (not in portraits). The only blemish I fix at this point is redeye (redeye in a proof looks unprofessional).
2. Create jpegs from Lightroom, sharpening for screen viewing.
3. Upload jpegs to Smugmug, putting a 3-day delay on ordering. Notify the customers that pictures are ready for viewing.
4. When a pic is ordered, I examine the picture in Lightroom, fixing as needed and finishing in Photoshop if necessary, then uploading the final to Smugmug for printing. Use True Color but be sure to sharpen for printing. Or use Auto Color and let Smugmug do the sharpening.

This streamlined workflow allows me to get pix up on my site within a few hours of an event, and minimizes Photoshop time.

Hope you find this useful.

[rsparts]

I actually ONLY use Lightroom 2. I don't even use Photoshop

Populus hit it right on the head

[Stuggi]

I've never worked as a pro photographer, but after dealing with a lot of them I've some insights.

First, I would adjust levels and curves and whatnot, but I wouldn't do any really heavy PS. Preferably I would then batch-process all the similar images using Bridge or whatnot.

Then I would do standard postcard prints of all the pics, but with a translucent copyright-stamp diagonally over the prints. I would then proceed and go through each and everyone of the pictures with the client in a nice relaxed meeting-fashion, if they can spare the time, and go through how many prints they would like of each shot, what dimensions, if they want any major "improvements" done etc.

After that I would PS the shots to my final standards, do all the work the client requested and then order the prints.

This is how I would like to deal with a professional photographer, and it's how I'll do it if I go pro some day. I've met several photographers that do this kind of service, but they are more of the top-of-the-line photographers that advertisers and businesses hire, not the typical graduation and wedding shooters. They are usually also very free when it comes to the manipulation, they do what the client orders, no matter how bad it looks to them.