One of the most important aspects of our craft is a good post-production workflow. A poor workflow can drive you crazy. If you're trying to make money in photography, you can waist a lot of time with a poor production workflow - and time is money. The more efficient you are with your post production, the more time you'll have to do other important lucrative things - building relationships with clients, making contact with potential clients, working on your skills, creating more images, and the list goes on. Being stuck at your computer keeps you away from some very important stuff.
The thing that has streamlined my post production workflow is to pursue capturing everything I possibly can in the camera. I am passionate about this pursuit. If spend the time on a shoot to capture my vision in camera, then I won't have to spend that time later in post. I've found slowing down to fix problems during a shoot is time well spent; while waiting to fix problems after the shoot at the computer becomes a time waster. Its inevitable. Happens every time.
Here's a quick look at my workflow, start to finish. Shoot the images. Copy the images onto two hard drives for backup. Load the images into Lightroom. Delete the clunkers. Then adjust the keepers. And I use the word "adjust" deliberately. Since I've done what I can to get 'em right in camera, I now only have to do minor adjustments to exposure, color, contrast, etc. I usually spend only a couple of minutes tops on an image. After that, some of the images may still require some photoshoping - remove acne, wrinkles, the person walking in the background I failed to notice etc. After that, I save the final images, and done. I recently watched a video of Zack Arias' workflow and was surprised that his workflow is almost identical to the way I've been doing it for a long time now. He utilizes one more program for loading/organizing his images on his hard drives, but then its into LR, a tad of PS, then done. For a more in-depth look at a similar workflow to mine, check out his video HERE. The nice thing about Zack posting his video is I don't have to do a video on it. Thanks Zack!! =)
Having said all of that, I'm continually looking for ways to be more efficient. So ask me again in 6 months, and its likely to be different.
Now, go out and shoot something!
The thing that has streamlined my post production workflow is to pursue capturing everything I possibly can in the camera. I am passionate about this pursuit. If spend the time on a shoot to capture my vision in camera, then I won't have to spend that time later in post. I've found slowing down to fix problems during a shoot is time well spent; while waiting to fix problems after the shoot at the computer becomes a time waster. Its inevitable. Happens every time.
Here's a quick look at my workflow, start to finish. Shoot the images. Copy the images onto two hard drives for backup. Load the images into Lightroom. Delete the clunkers. Then adjust the keepers. And I use the word "adjust" deliberately. Since I've done what I can to get 'em right in camera, I now only have to do minor adjustments to exposure, color, contrast, etc. I usually spend only a couple of minutes tops on an image. After that, some of the images may still require some photoshoping - remove acne, wrinkles, the person walking in the background I failed to notice etc. After that, I save the final images, and done. I recently watched a video of Zack Arias' workflow and was surprised that his workflow is almost identical to the way I've been doing it for a long time now. He utilizes one more program for loading/organizing his images on his hard drives, but then its into LR, a tad of PS, then done. For a more in-depth look at a similar workflow to mine, check out his video HERE. The nice thing about Zack posting his video is I don't have to do a video on it. Thanks Zack!! =)
Having said all of that, I'm continually looking for ways to be more efficient. So ask me again in 6 months, and its likely to be different.
Now, go out and shoot something!
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