Digital Photography is a two part process (taking photos and working with those photos -“Digital Workflow”). Both parts are important. Although without a good photo to start with the entire Workflow Process is slowed down and your end product might not be top quality. It is a lot easier to move the extension cord from your photo before the shot then in Photoshop after the shot (one minute to move cords and 5-15 minutes to move cords after photo in Photoshop). Well exposed, in focus, clear photos with all distractions removed will do more to expedite your digital workflow then anything else. Enough said about taking photos for now.
“Digital Workflow” is the part of the digital photo process that takes on mystery and is new to most everyone. With film it was easy to drop off your film and pick up your prints. Photo taking has not changed for the most part, but what you do after you take the photo has radically changed. This holds for the professional photographer all the way to the consumer taking Aunt Betty’s 80th birthday photos. And great news the basics are the same for everyone, so what you learn for work you can take home and use for your personal photos. Will Crockett of Shootsmarter University has a definition that I like which sums up the whole process: “Efficient Digital Workflow is the practice of creating, processing and outputting digital files to make clients happy in the least amount of time possible, and it's the real reason pros convert from film to digital – because digital is so much more efficient”. This is even true for non-professionals. We all have gotten so used to having it now and no later!
Create your own directory on your hard drive (i.e. Your Name photos). Then create subdirectories that explain what your new photos will be about (i.e. Sue’s graduation, Grandma’s Birthday, Babies first steps, etc.). The secret here is to name the subdirectories so you can easily look through your files and find what you are looking for. It does not take long and you will have accumulated so many photos you won’t be able to remember what you took, and if you do remember that you took a photo of Great Aunt Betty, you will be able to search for Aunt Betty and find the photos.
- Download digital photos from camera or card reader to your computer. Best to use a card reader or a card reader/CD burner for you don’t tie up your camera and use the cameras batteries to download your photos. With the large memory cards it can take a long time to download your photos.
- Now burn a CD or DVD of the new downloaded photos. This is your digital negatives. It is important to have a good backup of your photos, especially before you do anything to them!
- Browse your new photos and pick out the best shots and put in proper descriptive file (i.e. BillySoccer6-5-05, SueBirthday6-4-05, etc.). You can also rename the photo so you can recognize what you took.
- Adjust chosen photos (color, contrast, sharpness, size, etc.). These steps can be time consuming and will take more instruction from a later Newsletter.
- Now the photos have been sorted and adjusted, it is time to make a second backup CD/DVD that includes the digital negatives and the newly adjusted photos and name the disk a descriptive name-Final then Date (i.e. Billy Soccer Final 6-7-05). You now can print, email and view the adjusted photos and are ready to take more photos.
At first this process might seem to take too much time and it would be easier to just download the photos, adjust them and then view the photos. But after you have thousands of photos to look though you will find the Workflow Process outlined above to save many hours and eliminate aggravation.
If you are interested in improving your Digital Workflow contact Duane Brovan (530) 474-4041 or email Duane@DuaneBrovan.com. Duane has five years experience in digital photography and the digital workflow process to share to help you become more effective with your own digital workflow (saving time, money, and frustration) and help improve your digital photography.
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