DIGITAL WORKFLOW

Omar´s Nature Photography!

DIGITAL WORKFLOW

This is roughly my current Digital Workflow.

On my desk I have a TFT Samsung Syncmaster 213T 21" monitor that is calibrated with Eye-One Display2, Gretagmacbeth and a Lacie 22" CRT monitor to put the Photoshop and Photoshop palletes on. If you have one monitor you can hide/show the palettes with the Tab key.

With two monitors: I open Bridge on the calibrated TFT Samsung, click on a thumbnail to convert the image, RAW converter opens on the TFT, converted picture opens on the TFT. After I have made alterations to the picture and saved it, I click it away and directly I have access to Bridge on the TFT, this is because I have Photoshop on the CRT monitor and the palletes. You can easily drag the windows from one monitor to the other.

After a day in the field I transfer my two Canon 1D Mark2 (N) or Canon 20D RAW files from my Sandisk Ultra 2 or extreme card to the computer with a USB2 card reader. Then I copy all the files to a new folder with the date and location. First folder has the name RAW_digital_2004, all RAW pictures taken year 2004. Next subfolder is dvd_2004_001, when it reaches about 4.5 GB I burn a DVD disc as a copy. Then I create the next subfolder with the name dvd_2004_002. Next subfolder, for instance 20040531_kranke tells me the date and location, Krankesjön is a lake in Sweden. This folder contains the RAW files. As additional backup I use a Maxtor 250 GB OneTouch external hard drive, Maxtor Onetouch III 500GB 7200RPM 16MB cache FireWire/USB-2 and a Lacie d2 BIG DISK 500GB USB 2.0.

I open Photoshop and press ctrl + shift + o and the File Browser in Photoshop will open or I can open the Bridge in CS2. In the File Browser (or Bridge in CS2) I open the new folder that I created (20040531_kranke) and the File browser creates a small thumbnails for the RAW files. I mark all the pictures (thumbnails) with ctrl + a and then go to the Batch Rename in the File browser. I add location and date to the original filename. If I have 100 pictures but 20 Osprey pictures I mark them and I go back to batch rename and adding the name osprey to the pictures.

After the renaming I take a look at the pictures in the preview window and delete those I don’t like. So my digital archive are in RAW format so I only convert the pictures when I need them for clients, printing and web publishing. If I want to find a specifik image I just use the search engine in the File Browser.

By clicking twice on a picture the photoshop raw converter will appear. Normally I don’t change the settings here, sometimes I change the exposure and contrast. I use Adobe RGB (1998) as colorspace, 16 bits/channel and 300 pixels/inch. To check the sharpness and details I press Ctrl + Alt + 0 to get a 100% image in the raw converter and to move around in the picture I press space bar and will get a Hand that I can move around with the mouse.

The picture will open in Photoshop after converting. I click ctrl + 0 and the picture will fit the screen. Then I run Neat Image www.neatimage.com to reduce noise, I use the Neat Image 5.3 Pro+ edition that works as a plugin filter in Photoshop. Sometimes I do selektive noise reduction with Lasso Tool or with Magic Wand Tool, look under for more information. The reason for this is to retain detail on object, and just decrease noise on background, like the sky.

I try to improve my image with levels (Ctrl + L) to enhance the contrast and color saturation.

Before

After

To further enhance saturation and contrast I sometimes use curves (Ctrl + M) and makes a small s-shaped curve.

To really boost the color like Velvia film I sometimes use Fred Miranda Velvia Vision www.fredmiranda.com

I may test if I can further improve the image by altering in Brightness/Contrast option under Image -Adjustment.

When I am satisfied with the picture it need some sharpening. For now I am using the Smart Sharpen or Intellisharpen 2, Canon 1D Mark II CSpro plugin from Fred Miranda. The Canon 1D Mark II CSpro plugin sharpening tool works best if the picture is in 100% so I click Ctrl + Alt + 0 to get a 100% image and run this sharpening tool. I do sharpening as the last step in the workflow.

Sometimes I do selektive sharpening and I using the Lasso Tool in PS just around the object that I want to sharpen. If you have several objects, press shift and use the Lasso Tool again. This is beacause I do not want to sharpen for instance the background or sky, sharpen those will often increase the noise (grains) in those areas. If I have a flying bird against a clear sky I sometimes use Magic Wand Tool and click beside the bird and then do a Inverse and then sharpen it with Smart sharpen/USM or other. After that I Deselect CTRL + D and only the bird is sharpened and not the sky to avoid increase of noise. Up to the left in PS I use the option "Add to selection" and just click on those areas that I want to select.

For web publishing I normally (crop if needed), resize, adjust the picture, sharpening, change to 8bit per channel, convert to profile sRGB, and then save the image in jpeg.

If You crop and want the same ratio as the original picture just mark the hole picture with the Crop Tool and then press Shift Key and use the mouse to drag in the corners to desired crop.

I have made shortcuts i Photoshop to speed things up.

F2 Key: Resize to 600 pixels (for web)

F3 Key: Neat Image (noise reduction)

F4 Key: Velvia Vision (color enhancer)

F5 Key: Smart Sharpen (sharpening)

F6 Key: 8/bits per channel

F7 Key: Convert to profile. Like going from Adobe RGB (1998) to sRGB for web use.

F8 Key: Save as

How did I make these shortcuts?

You could go to Edit then go to keyboard shortcuts, alter shortcuts there.

You could also create a action in Photoshop CS!

Just go to the Actions palette in Photoshop and click on the "arrow" to the right and you get a menu and then click on "new action". Name the action and assigne a F-Key, then click Record. Then go back to the Action palette menu and click "Insert menu item" Then for instance click on the Unsharp mask (under filter in Photoshop) and then click OK. To stop the Action click on the square button (left) in the bottom in the Action palette.

Now you are finished.

Speed it up i Photoshop

In my opinion you need a rather fast computer to make the "Digital workflow" enjoyable with Photoshop.

For now I am using:

Microsoft Vista 64 Ultimate

Motherboard

Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe, nForce 590 SLI, Socket-AM2, DDR2,2xGbLAN,ATX, 2xPCI-Ex16

Memory

Corsair TWIN2X 6400C4 DDR2, 2048MB CL4, Kit w/two 1GB Dimm's, E.P.P Technology X 2= 4GB memory

CPU

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.2GHz Socket AM2 2MB

Graphic card