Lightroom workflow (example)

kbevphotokbevphoto Registered Users Posts: 110 Major grins
edited August 17, 2011 in Finishing School
I did this for two friends that were asking the same question. I thought I'd share it more broadly in case it proved helpful for others.

Thanks....

Lightroom workflow

1. Importing - Usually, if a shoot is from a single event or trip, I will keyword the location/ venue, and type of event up front on the import window. *For this, I just do the "global" keywords. *I also have Lightroom add my copyrights on import. *I always "copy" my files instead of moving them. * I don't clear the cards until my files have been uploaded to smugmug. *I usually "copy as DNG". *Not That i have a good reason, but it seemed *like a good idea based on what I've read. I generate 1:1 previews, which usually means importing and preview generation may take a while

2. Rejecting photos - the first thing I do is go through and reject my terrible photos. *These are usually the photos that are out of focus, catch someone in an awful pose, or any photo that I think will never, ever be used or missed. Some people like to keep everything, I don't see the point. A photo of your shoe while you were walking with you camera accidentally ON is useless. *To do the rejections, I turn on the "filter unflagged" photos option using the icons at the bottom of the library module. * Then I flip through and hit "x" in the photos that I don't like. *With the filter turned on, Lightroom auto-advances the the next photo if I hit "x". So one hand is on the "advance" arrow and the "x". *This goes pretty quickly. *If there is a reasonable chance a photo might be useful, I keep it. *No false negatives. *When this is done, I do a quick scan by flipped the filter to see the rejected photos. *Then I hit button to delete rejected photos and remove them from the disk.

2b - Rejection with an iPad. *One nice thing I'm playing with is using my iPad in my workflow. *I am typing this on a flight back from shooting a wedding. *Last night, after the festivities, I used the Apple camera connector it to bring all of my raw files onto the iPad. Then I could view fully size photos on my flight and delete the crap. *When I get home in a few hours, I will connect my iPad to mug Mac and have Lightroom import the files off the iPad instead of my cards. On the plus side, this eliminates the need to carry a laptop on short trips and allows me to remove the just without Lightroom. *On the downside, it prevents me from doing more key wording and early processing like I did during a recent trip.

3. Backup time - assuming I am near a broadband connection. * I usually start my Smugmug upload at this point. *For me, Smugmug is ONE of my offsite backup solutions. *I use my awesome Jeff Freidl plug-in (which I gave him money for because it is THAT great) to send photos to a private gallery. *For that, I use filenames that are "YYMM [description]". I will come back to that. *This gallery is never publicly viewable on my site. *For events (eg weddings), I will send people the link or post it on my Facebook page for attendees.

3. Picking winners - Now that the upload is started (or finished, if I started it after an evening event and went to bed) *I go through the gallery and "pick" the photos that I like. *For me, this process is about picking the photos that i am going to share publicly. *If i bursted 7 shots of the same portrait, i try to pick one. *It really sucks when you are going through someone's album and they just upload everything they shot. *I try to keep reasonably high standards on what I share publicly. *I keep the "unflagged" filter on, but instead of having my other hand on the reject button, I have hit on the "P"ick button. *Like before, I go pretty quickly here and try to pick the ones that I really like. *In this stage, I usually don't mind a few "false positives". *I take the ones that are close calls, and often a few shots of the same pose.

3b. Double check - I usually do two passes of picking to make sure I didn't
miss anything that I really like.

4. The Highlander phase - although I never really watched the show, I know "there can be only one". At this phase, I am trying to get rid of the false positives. *Set the filter to "picked" photos, instead of unflagged. * *If I picked 3 shots of a similar pose, this is where the battle will be settled. *Sometimes, I can't decide, and I keep two. *In those cases, I process them differently (e.g one may get converted to black and white or some other effects). *I do a quick run through the the pix to see what I chose and if I still like them. *In some cases, I will flip to "g"rid view to rearrange photos so similar ones are next to each other. *As I flip, I sometimes "u"npick photos. *If there are a few that are similar, I select them all and compare them side by side (to enter compare mode hit "N"). *In here I may do a little cropping so that I can really see how they compare, but in this window I will unpick the ones that don't cut it.

5. Triage - at this point, with the picked photo filter on, I am looking at the collection of photos that I plan to publish publicly. * I turn on the "no color label" filter. *Let's assume they are all going into one gallery. *I will come back to how I treat longer shoots/ trips later. *I go through and color-code my picked photos. *Starting at the begining, I flip through and start processing as much as I can in Lightroom. *I really like when I can do everything i want in Lightroom, which is about 80% of the time. *I will usually crop first to get what I want (hit R to enter crop mode. *While in crop mode hitting X to flip the area can come time speed this up too). *Then I fiddle with exposure and levels and so on. *When I am done and the photo is ready for public consumption, I flag the photo as "yellow" (press 7) and it gets filtered off my screen. *If the photo requires some Photoshop help, I flag it "red" (press 6) and it goes away too. *I do this for every photo as I work through my picks. *When there are no photos left, that means that have triaged everything and the color filter has sent them to the Photoshop pile ( red - 6) or the "almost there pile" (yellow - 7)

6. Photoshop time - at this point, I keep the pick filter on and change the color filter to show the Red pictures. *Note that in most cases, the Pick filter is useless, because none of the unpicked photos would have been given a red tag. *In here, I go through and edit copies in photoshop elements which is nicely integrated into Lightroom. *When I am done editing, I have my original red, picked photo and an edited, red, picked photo. *First I "U"npick my original, then I change the edited one to yellow (remember, press 7). *If, for some reason*in the future, *I want to know where the originals were, they will be the unflagged, red ones in the gallery. *As I do this, the number of red photos caught in the filter dwindles. *Once they are all gone, everything is "pick and yellow", and I am almost done.

7. Vocabulary time - Now set the filters to "picked" and "yellow". *I have processed all the photos that are going to be viewed publicly. *It is time to keyword and caption them. *Although the keyword manager is a little cumbersome, it does work reasonably well. *Often I will go to grid view and keyword them photos in bulk. *After all the processing "quality time" I've spent with them, I know what they are from the thumbnail. *Once that's done, I go to the start and start adding captions. *As I do this, I flag them "green" (press 8). *Green photos are ready to be uploaded. *Since the filter is set to yellow, as I flag photos green, the disappear. *When all the photos are "gone", I flip the filter to "green" (from yellow). *Then I select all, and go to the export window.

8. *Upload - I may or may not change the upload file names. *It depends on who might view the picks. *If they may ask for edits, then I usually don't change the name so I can find the pic. *I usually create a private gallery named. "[event name] (Mon YY)" . *Notice that the date is at the end, so I can quickly identify the difference between "Chicago (Jul 11)" and "0711 Chicago" the first is my public, edited gallery. *The latter is my full upload of everything as I shot the visit.

9. Post upload in smugmug - *I usually immediately start the watermarking. *There is nothing more frustrating than cropping all the thumbnails, then resetting them when you add the watermark! *Once that's done, I start the cropping. *Then I add my gallery description. *From here, I normally set the max size just below Original, protect the photos, and make it a public gallery. *Then I pick my feature photo and feature the gallery.

Extra - there is a small variation I use for longer trips and shoots. *For example, I wanted to separate my Spain shots into two galleries: street photos and the bullfight photos. *I kept the whole trip in one gallery on my hard *drive and even uploaded all 1,500 pics to a single gallery in smugmug in my "backup" stage. *Aside from using keyword filters, I used other color labels. *Why? *Well, if you filter for the keyword "bullfight" and do all of this, you end up with a bunch of green bullfight photos. *Fine - you can start the upload. *Then when you go through and do "street", you will end up with both events flagged green and the upload will send the bullfight ones again. *To avoid this, I use another color to flip the pix form green to blue once the upload starts for the bullfight photos. *So in this situation, the blue photos are done AND uploaded. *Green is done, but not uploaded. *Hope that makes sense. *This was hugely helpful for the actual Spain trip, which end up spanning 5-6 galleries in the pubic portion of my site.

I am still working on the workflow and finding ways to improve it. *There are books on it, but they end up getting into the individual steps for each processing step. *I didn't want to get into that, just provide the high level flow that I use. *I like this process because it allows me to do processing over several days and pick up right where I left off without trying to remember much.

Always open to suggestions and questions. *Hit me at Keith@kbevphoto.com. *Lightroom plus Adobe Elements is all I need to get great photo results. *Big fan.

Comments

  • kbevphotokbevphoto Registered Users Posts: 110 Major grins
    edited August 7, 2011
    Sorry for the random asterisks. I cut/pasted the note from my iPad. I guess typing long notes should NOT be part of my iPad workflow... :- (
  • John HendryJohn Hendry Registered Users Posts: 12 Big grins
    edited August 8, 2011
    Nice, some excellent popints here thanks
  • dbvetodbveto Registered Users Posts: 660 Major grins
    edited August 8, 2011
    I have not read all of it yet but I have found that generating 1:1 previews after Importing is complete.
    Dennis
    http://www.realphotoman.com/
    Work in progress
    http://www.realphotoman.net/ Zenfolio 10% off Referral Code: 1KH-5HX-5HU
  • zoomerzoomer Registered Users Posts: 3,688 Major grins
    edited August 8, 2011
    Wow that sounds complicated. I am sure it is a great process though, keeps everything nice and categorized.
    I went a different way.
    I download all my pics into Lightroom.
    I go through and Pick tag my favorites, then I hit Flagged photos.
    I process all those. I do 99% of processing completely in Lightroom.
    Download all those flagged processed photos back to my computer.
    Pick all my favorites, download to Smugmug.
    All my galleries are public viewing so all my photos are completely processed.

    It is so interesting to see how each persons work flow is completely individualized. I will read through yours again tonight and see if there are any bits of your process I can use.
    Thanks for taking the time to post all this info.
  • kbevphotokbevphoto Registered Users Posts: 110 Major grins
    edited August 8, 2011
    zoomer wrote: »
    All my galleries are public viewing so all my photos are completely processed.

    Part of what I use Smugmug for is offsite backup. So In addition to the 3 physical backups I have home, i have one "online". If I were only doing uploads of my favorites, I'd do it your way too.

    Thanks in advance for reading it and providing feedback. I agree. Everyone does it differently, and I figured this would start a dialogue I could learn from.
  • dbvetodbveto Registered Users Posts: 660 Major grins
    edited August 8, 2011
    kbevphoto wrote: »
    Part of what I use Smugmug for is offsite backup. So In addition to the 3 physical backups I have home, i have one "online". If I were only doing uploads of my favorites, I'd do it your way too.

    Thanks in advance for reading it and providing feedback. I agree. Everyone does it differently, and I figured this would start a dialogue I could learn from.
    I am glad you started this thread, I am panning on posting my workflow after all we can all learn from each other.
    Dennis
    http://www.realphotoman.com/
    Work in progress
    http://www.realphotoman.net/ Zenfolio 10% off Referral Code: 1KH-5HX-5HU
  • eoren1eoren1 Registered Users Posts: 2,391 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2011
    My LR workflow
    Thanks for sharing/starting this thread. Read through your workflow and thought I would share mine.
    For background, I shoot 70% my kids to share on Smugmug with parents/in-laws and 30% landscapes that go on Smugmug and/or my Wordpress site.
    I did this for someone who was brand new to LR and copy/pasted it here with some editing.

    Importing
    Start Lightroom
    Insert card and wait for dialogue
    Top should say 'Copy' arrow To [destination]
    Right side:
    File handling
    Render previews standard; Check don''t import duplicates; Uncheck make second copy
    File renaming
    Check rename files
    Template: 50D_1(Filename number suffix) - this way i can tell which camera shot it and keep a running shutter count. the 1_ changes to 2 at shot 50D_19999 and so on. I never saw a reason to put in the date in the file as that resides in metadata. This renaming allows me to minimize chance for duplicate image names now and in the future as I doubt I'll keep each camera beyond 99,999 shutter actuations
    Extension: leave as is
    Apply during import
    Develop - none
    Metadata - I have preset with city, state, copyright info
    Keywords: Apply all relevant for that shoot
    I usually put in at least city, state where taken
    Destination
    Into subfolder
    By date
    2010/12-18

    Click Import and wait

    Library
    Double click first image
    I rate with left hand on 1-2-3 and thumb on X
    Right hand on arrow keys [can hit caps lock which auto-advances when rate]
    Most images are 2 (okay), 3 (good) or X (reject and will delete); 1 is for photos to be used in panorama/HDR (ie the -1 and +1 exposures) They will later be stacked together with the resulting image
    X for out of focus, eyes closed, unsalvageable shots
    Finish rating
    Click on bottom Filter: and select the white flag and empty flag to see only images rated and hide rejected ones
    Now apply relevant keywords (ie people in some but not all pix) - I do this in thumbnail or Grid mode (click G to get to it)
    Now run through pix and hit P for picks that will be processed
    Click on empty flag on Filter: so that only have white flag highlighted. These are pix you want to develop and post.
    I also will use color flags selectively
    Yellow for my son's best of that will later go to a end of the year Blurb book
    Red for daughter's "
    Blue for my website's 'to be published'/archived shots
    Green for my website's published sites so I can find them quickly if someone wants to purchase a print

    Develop photos (I do 90+% in LR)

    Now File - export to send to destination (I use Jfriedl's Smugmug plugin to post kid pix). To harddrive for the Wordpress site

    When done and exported and confirmed all backed up, I delete rejected photos. Menu - Photo - delete rejected photos

    Then I move the flagged and unflagged photos to my external and back that up to a second external. I use a folder schemed such as:
    Kid name/2011/02 2011
    or
    Country/State/City
    This way, I can find images easily later - though I more often use LR's filter/search system to find pictures.

    Hope that all makes sense/helps
  • CindyCindy Registered Users Posts: 542 Major grins
    edited August 12, 2011
    Lightroom Sharpen?
    Do you do your sharpening in lightroom & if so can you share how, based on, etc?
    I used to do all my sharpening in PS via USM but would like to get comfortable doing it in lightroom... just doesn't feel right yet.
    Cindy Colbert (Utterback) • Wishing You Co-Bear Love, Hugs & Laughter!!!
  • paddler4paddler4 Registered Users Posts: 976 Major grins
    edited August 13, 2011
    Sharpening is quite good in LR3, although not as flexible as the range of options in CS5. It's also simple. My approach:

    --I import with zero sharpening
    --When I get to the sharpening stage, I set the amount to the max
    --I then pick a radius setting, usually in the range of 1-2
    --I then decide on a masking amount. LR will show you the mask on the image if you hold down one key, I think it is alt, as you move the slider. (I do this often enough that it is automatic, so I forget which key.) I often end up with a mask of 40-60%.
    --I then back down the amount to the level that is pleasing.

    One problem is that LR shows the changes at 100%, and I like to look at the amount at a lower magnification, so I have to switch back and forth a bit.

    I find this works fine for the great majority of my images.

    LR does output sharpening separately, at the export and print stages.
  • sean000sean000 Registered Users Posts: 21 Big grins
    edited August 17, 2011
    Similar workflow.
    I follow a similar workflow, but with a few differences:
    • Upon Import I will set common characteristics like copyright, location/sublocation, etc.
    • I will backup the folder before I delete the rejects. Later I will sync my backup so those rejects are also deleted from the backup, but for awhile I can always go to the backup if I deleted a file by accident. I store a backup drive at the office and another on-site (rotate them).
    • Next is to delete the rejects. I follow a very similar approach to your own. The iPad thing intrigues me. I could see doing that from the comfort of my sofa even... so for personal photos my wife can help me.
    • The next thing I do is keyword the photos.
    • If the photos are to go into a collection, I will create a collection set with two collections: One that includes all photos (after rejects have been deleted) and another for the picks. Sometimes I will use just a single collection and filter the picks using flags, but for large collections I like to flag my picks and then move them into a separate sub-collection for picks. From there I can flag again to narrow things down. I will also rate the photos using the stars. Ratings and labels are important since they are global, while the flags are just for that local collection. Flagging isn't always necessary...just depends on whether I need to narrow things down a bit more for a special shared gallery or just for prints.
    • I use green labels when a photo is fully processed and ready for sharing or printing. Red labels for images that need a lot of work (possibly Photoshop). Yellow for works in progress. Blue for photos I want to process in Color Efex Pro, and purple for images I want to process in Silver Efex Pro.
    • Once I have my picks processed I will publish them using Smugmug and Facebook.
    • For photos I plan to print I will put them into a special Workflow collection called "To Print."

    For me the big things are to back up, keyword tag, rate, label, and use workflow collections so I don't forget to print something or work on it. Seems to work for me, as I can always find photos quickly by subject, location, etc. I can also quickly find my best photos for a given subject. I try to be pretty ruthless about deleting rejects, but I also try to be good about rating my best shots 4 or 5 stars so I can quickly locate them in a sea of other shots that might be perfectly good but not great.
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