Pedrosa: Digital Workflow

Albert Pedrosa
Photo mania

EVERY photographer has his own workflow that fits his style and requirement. The workflow starts from downloading the images to output either for print or web. It may look very simple but from the many photographers I’ve met, it is surprising to know that there are a number of varieties they use to achieve almost the same output.

Clearly, the objective of having a workflow is efficiency. The less time you work in your computer, the more time you can shoot. Whether you’re shooting for a fee or just as a plain hobby, a workflow is a must. One way to test your workflow is to measure the time spent to finish processing a batch of photos.

A workflow normally includes importing and backup, sorting of photos, photo editing, retouching and lastly exporting. There is a number of software available to cover the different tasks. There’s Adobe Bridge, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Aperture and iPhoto by Apple, and Photo Mechanic by Camera Bits.

There are more applications coming from the camera manufacturer themselves, but
oftentimes these are neglected. Canon has a very good software named Digital Photo Professional, while Nikon has the Capture NX2. Phase One, a medium format camera, has Capture One.

In my case, I normally use Lightroom to import my photos and sort them under library module. I do my editing and global color correction using the develop module. If the photo needs retouching, I use Lightroom to launch Photoshop together with the file. I do the nitty-gritty in Photoshop and save it, which automatically appears back in the Lightroom catalog without importing it again.

In cases where photos do not require retouching, I normally stay in Lightroom. Whether I go to Photoshop or not, I always end up in Lightroom when exporting my photos as JPEG or TIFF file. It’s actually faster exporting photos coming from different formats, such as layered PSD file, TIFF or Raw.

A photographer that I know uses Bridge as his browser and sorting application. He then edits his photos using Adobe Camera Raw and does his retouching in Photoshop. While Lightroom is a much more efficient application, some photographers find it difficult to adapt to. So, they are more efficient using software that matches their competence.

No matter what application you use, the bottom line is efficiency. However, there’s one application that really caught my attention when it comes to speed, Photo Mechanic. This software made by Camera Bits is specifically for browsing and sorting photos only. The new version now offers cropping.

This software is blazingly fast. While Lightroom and Aperture is still loading the application itself, Photo Mechanic already shows you the Raw file ready for sorting.

This application is designed for photographers shooting tons of photos with very short turnover time. I think that wedding photographers and maybe photojourns can benefit from this software.

Review your workflow and improve them by exploring other applications out there.

Keep on shooting, everyone!

(photography@grp.ph / www.grp.ph)