RAWflow (tm:-)
Nikolai
Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
I've been asked about this a few times, so I decided I'll make a
post..
As some of you know, I recently went to a local airshow. Two days, four
hours of shooting each day, 7Gb worth of RAW shots (Canon 30D, 8mp)
total. That makes 700+ pictures. They were all processed and uploaded
promptly, and if I didn't have a rather long meeting with one of the LA
prominent photogs on Sunday after the show, they would all have been processed and
uploaded the same day (OK, I had to process the last 100 pics or so on
Monday, big deal).
Now - how did I do that?
The answer is simple: RAWflow (OK, I made this word up, but I like it:-).
NOTE: I'm using Adobe Bridge + ACR 3.4 + PS CS2 + Star*Explorer combo. If your setup is different - that's fine, too, whatever works...
:
If you don't count display or tarmac shots, which were either static or
semi-static (either still or moving at 5 mph, so I did have time to
frame and compose), the vast majority (80%) of the shots does require
post-processing even if you shoot jpegs. It's next to impossible to
properly frame a prop fighter (let alone a jet one) hauling a$$ at full
speed. Light also changes depending on the angle, so deep blue of zenith
can change to a pale shade of cyan on the horizon within seconds, making
at least one full stop difference if not more.
So, I come home from a show day, with my cards full of shots.
First - upload. That's an easy part. USB 2.0 universal card reader is
fast enough to do the job in just a few minutes.
Now, I have to figure out how to break the load down into more sizable
chunks. This part is also easy - such shows tend to have some natural
sections (WWII planes, modern planes, stunts, etc), so breaking the
plunder up into several folders takes maybe another 15-20 minutes.
Once I figured folder structure, I fire up Star*Explorer (yeah, who would
think of that, huh:-), hit Create Subcategory, and then hit Create
Multiple Albums - this feature alone saves me a great deal of time
instead of hitting New Gallery button several times online...
OK, from now on we need to go into each folder and repeat the scenario
for each one.
First things first - set up the copyright and the keywords. I already
have the my Copyright XMP file set up, so it's only a matter of a few
seconds to apply it to a several dozens pictures in a folder. Keywords
take maybe another minute or so, depending on how many you want.
Next goes culling: I go through all the shots in a quick manner and
either assign one star to it if it's any good or do not assign any if it
has some major flaws, like OOF or bad framing. I'm not a big fan of a
Delete button, since it make thing hard to undo, but if you are - you can
simply leave those you like intact and delete those you don't.
Of course, if an image immediately strikes me as a gem I can go ahead and
assign a higher rating to it, but the main idea at this step is to sieve though
all of them as quickly as possible.
Since I got some long burst series:
I also mark them with some color labels, so I can easily identify them later.
Thus far all our steps were format-agnostics.
Once the baddies are culled out (deleted or not given any stars/thumbs up), I set Bridge (or whatever photo manager s/w you're using) to show good guys only. In my case, I tell Bridge to show only the images rated One Star or Higher, and it's finally time to do some real RAW work.:
I have (or can easily make) a few presets that would allow me to quickly set RAW settings to all/selected images: things like linear curve, all zero adjustments, noise/sharpness combos, etc.
Next I load the images into the ACR (in fact, this is the step where Lightroom or a similar product should really shine, but at its current speed LR is far, far away from the prime time).
First I go by selecting similarly exposed shots and adjust them all together. Later I may tweak a thing or two on each one, but in general this approach saves me gobs of time. I also pay a closer attention to my ratings and either up the image I like or remove the star if the image does not deserve one after a closer look (ACR allows you to tweak ratings and set labels).
I also apply some "mentally reserved" label (I use green) to those that need some extra editing in PS (be it simple touch up to remover the dust spot or a major work).
After the exposure/curve is set - it's time for framing. On the shots like that from the show (remember, they are mostly the same: plane in a sky, or in your case it may be a bike on a track, a horse on the course, a player in the field, etc.) it's really simple - using the ACR's crop tool is an extremely easy routine.
Once the exposure and crop are set, I hit Done and launch Image Processor from the Bridge's Tools menu. It churns RAW files and produces JPEGs in a sub-folder.
As one of the last steps I launch WWMX Location Stamper, free GPS stamping tool from MS, and stamp all the jpeg files, which makes them all show up in the oh-so-nice Smugmug's Map This feature.
If I need to do any more PS work - it can be done now, or later. But the vast majority of the work has been already done. In fact, reading this text, let alone typing it, probably took you longer than it would take me to process 40..60 shots with an outcome like this: http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/1797915
Last step: activate Star*Explorer (or whatever your uploading tool of choice is:-), select the album, drop the files, hit Upload - and onto the next folder.
Now, what are the benefits of RAW here?
Most important - all your changes are "soft". You've done all the work of culling, rating, labeling - and it will stay with you. So do your changes to framing and exposure, in case you ever decide to change it. With jpegs all your exposure and crop changes are permanent. You either need to store the original separately (which makes it double trouble for redoing all the rating/labeling/structuring again) - our you're totally and completely out of luck, since you can't go back. With RAW - it's not even an issue.
Secondly - and also very important - is the praised ability of the RAW files to allow for some decent exposure and white balance adjustment without breaking a sweat. Imagine adjusting exposure and wb on 700+ JPEG pictures - you'd probably dump the idea from the very start. In RAW - sure, why not.
All in all, though I would share some positive experience on the RAWflow :-)
post..
As some of you know, I recently went to a local airshow. Two days, four
hours of shooting each day, 7Gb worth of RAW shots (Canon 30D, 8mp)
total. That makes 700+ pictures. They were all processed and uploaded
promptly, and if I didn't have a rather long meeting with one of the LA
prominent photogs on Sunday after the show, they would all have been processed and
uploaded the same day (OK, I had to process the last 100 pics or so on
Monday, big deal).
Now - how did I do that?
The answer is simple: RAWflow (OK, I made this word up, but I like it:-).
NOTE: I'm using Adobe Bridge + ACR 3.4 + PS CS2 + Star*Explorer combo. If your setup is different - that's fine, too, whatever works...
: If you don't count display or tarmac shots, which were either static or
semi-static (either still or moving at 5 mph, so I did have time to
frame and compose), the vast majority (80%) of the shots does require
post-processing even if you shoot jpegs. It's next to impossible to
properly frame a prop fighter (let alone a jet one) hauling a$$ at full
speed. Light also changes depending on the angle, so deep blue of zenith
can change to a pale shade of cyan on the horizon within seconds, making
at least one full stop difference if not more.
So, I come home from a show day, with my cards full of shots.
First - upload. That's an easy part. USB 2.0 universal card reader is
fast enough to do the job in just a few minutes.
Now, I have to figure out how to break the load down into more sizable
chunks. This part is also easy - such shows tend to have some natural
sections (WWII planes, modern planes, stunts, etc), so breaking the
plunder up into several folders takes maybe another 15-20 minutes.
Once I figured folder structure, I fire up Star*Explorer (yeah, who would
think of that, huh:-), hit Create Subcategory, and then hit Create
Multiple Albums - this feature alone saves me a great deal of time
instead of hitting New Gallery button several times online...
OK, from now on we need to go into each folder and repeat the scenario
for each one.
First things first - set up the copyright and the keywords. I already
have the my Copyright XMP file set up, so it's only a matter of a few
seconds to apply it to a several dozens pictures in a folder. Keywords
take maybe another minute or so, depending on how many you want.
Next goes culling: I go through all the shots in a quick manner and
either assign one star to it if it's any good or do not assign any if it
has some major flaws, like OOF or bad framing. I'm not a big fan of a
Delete button, since it make thing hard to undo, but if you are - you can
simply leave those you like intact and delete those you don't.
Of course, if an image immediately strikes me as a gem I can go ahead and
assign a higher rating to it, but the main idea at this step is to sieve though
all of them as quickly as possible.
Since I got some long burst series:
I also mark them with some color labels, so I can easily identify them later.
Thus far all our steps were format-agnostics.
Once the baddies are culled out (deleted or not given any stars/thumbs up), I set Bridge (or whatever photo manager s/w you're using) to show good guys only. In my case, I tell Bridge to show only the images rated One Star or Higher, and it's finally time to do some real RAW work.
:I have (or can easily make) a few presets that would allow me to quickly set RAW settings to all/selected images: things like linear curve, all zero adjustments, noise/sharpness combos, etc.
Next I load the images into the ACR (in fact, this is the step where Lightroom or a similar product should really shine, but at its current speed LR is far, far away from the prime time).
First I go by selecting similarly exposed shots and adjust them all together. Later I may tweak a thing or two on each one, but in general this approach saves me gobs of time. I also pay a closer attention to my ratings and either up the image I like or remove the star if the image does not deserve one after a closer look (ACR allows you to tweak ratings and set labels).
I also apply some "mentally reserved" label (I use green) to those that need some extra editing in PS (be it simple touch up to remover the dust spot or a major work).
After the exposure/curve is set - it's time for framing. On the shots like that from the show (remember, they are mostly the same: plane in a sky, or in your case it may be a bike on a track, a horse on the course, a player in the field, etc.) it's really simple - using the ACR's crop tool is an extremely easy routine.
Once the exposure and crop are set, I hit Done and launch Image Processor from the Bridge's Tools menu. It churns RAW files and produces JPEGs in a sub-folder.
As one of the last steps I launch WWMX Location Stamper, free GPS stamping tool from MS, and stamp all the jpeg files, which makes them all show up in the oh-so-nice Smugmug's Map This feature.
If I need to do any more PS work - it can be done now, or later. But the vast majority of the work has been already done. In fact, reading this text, let alone typing it, probably took you longer than it would take me to process 40..60 shots with an outcome like this: http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/1797915
Last step: activate Star*Explorer (or whatever your uploading tool of choice is:-), select the album, drop the files, hit Upload - and onto the next folder.
Now, what are the benefits of RAW here?
Most important - all your changes are "soft". You've done all the work of culling, rating, labeling - and it will stay with you. So do your changes to framing and exposure, in case you ever decide to change it. With jpegs all your exposure and crop changes are permanent. You either need to store the original separately (which makes it double trouble for redoing all the rating/labeling/structuring again) - our you're totally and completely out of luck, since you can't go back. With RAW - it's not even an issue.
Secondly - and also very important - is the praised ability of the RAW files to allow for some decent exposure and white balance adjustment without breaking a sweat. Imagine adjusting exposure and wb on 700+ JPEG pictures - you'd probably dump the idea from the very start. In RAW - sure, why not.
All in all, though I would share some positive experience on the RAWflow :-)
"May the f/stop be with you!"
0
Comments
Erich
Glad you liked it. :-)
I'm sure I didn't found any promised land here, but if it helps - I'd think my goal is reached
Cheers!
DL Pro to transfer, rename & embed initial IPTC, BB Pro to rate/cull, IMatch to categorize & embed final IPTC, Bibble to convert.
Once you have developed a good workflow (nee, RAWflow) it's amazing how fast you can chew through a large number of images.
http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I remember processing a - much smaller, like 10 times smaller - crop of Sony 828's jpegs from Point Mugu Airshow two years ago. Took me several days. Nowadays I'd be done in half an hour or less (OK, 45 min if you include making and enjoying a martini, mandatory responding to SO's comment on the ongoing TV show, etc).
RAWflow rocks!
For some reason I rarely can figure a correct section to enter this type of posts...:-)
Thanks for taking the time to post this Nik!! I am going to try your forumula, as I really don't have a "proper" workflow and it's driving me crazy!!! I definitely need to cut down on my time spent on the pc and hopefully this will help!!
Glad you liked it!
For me it's been a great time saver for these pro bono mass-shooting things (shows, high-school footbal games)
Cheers!
Nikolai,
Nice write-up; it is always interesting to see how people have instantiated workflow. Do you do any digital asset management type stuff? I have found myself wondering how to deal with ratings, especially with regards to rating the RAW file versus the resulting processed JPG. After all, it is the JPG (or TIFF/PSD) that you will want later. How do you manage ratings and other metadata for a batch of related images generated from a single RAW file? It sounds like maybe you don't keep them around but if you have invested any amount of PS time in it, isn't it worth keeping around? Or is having it on SmugMug enough for you?
With regards to Adobe Lightroom, I do like the fact that it allows these same kinds of "soft" changes on JPG files as well as raws (just as Bibble does). I also really like the curves replacement controls in the Develop module. It will be interesting to see where it winds up in the price spectrum when released.
Thanks!
Thanks, man!
To tell you the truth, since I developed my RAWflow I had it reversed to yours: I only use PS in case I really like the picture, 'cause for most of them Bridge + ACR combo (or smth like Lightroom when it gets fast enough) works just fine.
HTH
Thanks for reading and commenting!
One of the things I like about the RAWflow (and I think I mentioned it in the post) that you do all you DAM stuff on RAW files, and then the combo is smart enough to carry all the "data" - EXIF, IPTC, labels, ratings, keywords, etc - into the JPEGs. My #1 wish is that WWMX Location Stamper would be smart enough to bring GPS data into the RAW files, in which case RAW files would have it all.
HTH
You're obviously an IMPOSTER! There never seems to be any blue sky when I go to the Point Mugu Airshow :cry
Thanks for sharing your RAW workflow. Nice write-up.
I guess you went last year? That was a huge overcast, I got a warning and didn't go...
My pleasure, thanks for reading!
In my workflow, yes. I basically use IMatch as a central point to work from. I have several scripts that help integrate all the rest of the tools. For example, I still prefer BreezeBrowser's slideshow, so do my rating/culling there--and run a script to import them to the DAM db. Then, based on those ratings, I run another script to build a Bibble work queue & develop the better images. The RAW files get categorized first, then the devloped JPEGs get ingested and another script transfers the categorizations to those. Finally, a last script processes all that information and some EXIF information, and dumps it to IPTC. Soon, a final script will be used to shove the best stuff to my Smugmug site (another IMatch/Smugmug user is developing it using the API-REST interface, I'm making life hard by asking for the world).
http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/
gin
No can do... For some reason gin is one of the (very few) alcoholic beverages that I can't consume
I didn't know you could do that, and I think that one thing alone will save me considerable time. I'll have to do some more exploring in the various Bridge menus and see what else I missed!
Thanks again.
Thanks! Glad you found something useful!
I knew about the Image Processor for a while, but I really started to see the Bridge as more than just a "file open dialog on steroids" fairly recently, after I read a very nice book (written by your namesake, Matt Kloskowski):
The Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic: Automating Photoshop to Get Twice the Work Done in Half the Time.
Awesome book! Gives you ideas :-)
Cheers!
Matt
What a pita but for weddings I have to do this.
1. Take all flash cards and dl into computer.
2. Burn DVD's of all raw images "I have failed to do this for awhile now.
3. Use Breeze Browser to tag and remove images I don't want.
4. Do the same for 2nd Shooter images "in a different folder" a few day later after I receive them.
5. Combine both folders & renumber from 0001 to how many there are.
6. I then use Bibble 4.8 Professional Workflow "I also have Capture One Pro "I like bibble so I switched." I make my ajustments and batch them all to jpegs.
7. Upload to SM using Star Explorer.
Owner/Photographer
Expose The Moment
Had a list of gear, now its to long, so lets say I have 2 bags and 15,000 worth of stuff.
This is the kind I wish I had read before starting working with raw files.
I use the following when working with raw :
– direct upload from the CF card to a folder named from the shooting date ;
– import to Iview Media Pro for the selection thing ;
– open the images in Camera Raw / photoshop CS ;
– save the result in Tiff files.
I should use Bridge a little more some automation processes, I know.
Sounds about as efficient as you can get with all the right tools for quick processing.
http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/
I just added to more tools.
After I make my Jpegs. I use Noiseware to remove digital noise. Then I use PK Sharpner to sharpen images, then I upload.
Owner/Photographer
Expose The Moment
Had a list of gear, now its to long, so lets say I have 2 bags and 15,000 worth of stuff.
This is the part that I've been struggling with. I find myself twiddling the images individually when obviously I should be working on a set at a time. I guess it's just part of the RAW workflow learning curve.
Until recently, I've shot JPEG almost exclusively and have been pleased with the shots straight out of a D30, 10D, 300D, 350D and 20D (first two were my work's cameras, the rest I've owned) and because of this, never decided to venture down the RAW path.
I recently purchased a 1D Mk I and am trying to learn a RAW workflow. I even read "Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2" cover to cover (it's a very good book).
Exactly the reason I've been making the effort to make the transition.
Thanks ExposeTheMoment for bumping the thread. It was a good refresher on the topic.
RAW does make you to think and act differently.
I mean everywhere.
Before shooting, while shooting and after the shooting.
Yes, you do need to have more space on your cards and on you HDD, you do need a faster media and you do need a faster computer.
But as a result you end up having way more freedom that you could possibly dream of in JPEG land...
You know, sometimes I look back at the first 35 years of my life that I spent in USSR under the reign of the communist party, and I wonder how could I (and we all) believe we were living a good life...
Nowadays I'm looking back to my jpeg-shooting days (which ended up just a little over a year ago) and I'm wondering the same thing...
Nikolai,
How do I get this free GPS stamping tool, please ?
Can I have a clue ?