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Canon 40d Workflow (geek city)
grapejape
Registered Users Posts: 57 Big grins
I'm starting to develop a "workflow", to use the digital photography jargon, in my picture taking and I'd like some comments and suggestions. I do not have Photoshop or any Adobe products, but I do take most of my photographs in RAW mode with my 40D. Since I am a very new photographer, I have quite a few "duds" that need to be quickly deleted. The Canon DPP software does a great job with the RAWs, but it is a very clunky browser for simply culling bad shots because you can't scroll through photos with the arrow keys like in Picasa or other browsers.
Here's what I generally do after taking some photos:
1) connect camera to computer and download RAW images to a RAW folder using the Canon EOS utility - files are stored in a folder by YYYY and then in a YYYY_MM_DD_DESCRIPTION_RAW subfolder
2) use Irfanview with the Canon RAW plugin to browse through the photos and quickly delete the terrible ones that weren't already deleted on-camera. I'd like to just use Picasa (since I use it later in the process), but RAW browsing is very slow compared to Irfanview. I'd also like to use Canon DPP, since I use it in the next step, but browsing with that software is really, really bad, so I stuck with Irfanview.
3) open RAW photos in Canon DPP and make my adjustments for White Balance, brightness (exposure), cropping, picture style, etc . . . do final delete/culls on the ones that don't make the cut. I use the copy/paste recipe function as much as possible during this stage. I save the modified RAW metadata when finished with my edits. I'd like some way to embed custom information into the files, but I have only figured out how to add my name w/ the EOS utility.
4) use the bulk rename tool in Canon DPP to rename the RAW files YYYY-MM-DD_XXXX.cr2 in sequential order since many photos were likely deleted
5) do a batch conversion of the RAW files to JPEG/quality 7 - use the same filenames and folder structure but store the photos in the My Pictures folder, which only has JPEGs. Files are stored in YYYY ==> YYYY_MM_DD_DESCRIPTION folders and are named YYYY-MM-DD_XXXX.jpg, which corresponds to their RAW names in the RAW folder.
6) open Picasa, which monitors the My Pictures folder (but not the RAW folder), and add a location and description to the folders, some individual photo captions if desired, and maybe some B/W, Sepia, or other goofy effects or edits
6) run a robocopy script that mirrors the RAW and My Pictures folders to my desktop computer (I do editing on my laptop since it is much newer and faster). This syncs Picasa on both computers and since I don't use albums in Picasa, it gets everything important to me (folder and photo descriptions, edits, and stars). At somepoint, I will have to get a larger hard drive on the desktop or either stop mirroring the RAW folder.
5) Upload the JPEG folder to Smugmug using whatever method I'm experimenting with at the moment. I have not settled on the best way to do this yet. Photos are organized in categories by YYYY and then YYYY_MM_DD_DESCRIPTON albums with brief descriptions. The Picasa uploader will not add these descriptions for me, nor will it let me use pre-saved gallery options - which is a bummer or I would use it for everything.
Whew - that's about it. I do all of this junk every time I take pictures. What a pain!
I am an engineer learning photography, so I tend to be meticulous about my procedures.
Comments? Suggestions? Therapy recommendations?
- Jason
Here's what I generally do after taking some photos:
1) connect camera to computer and download RAW images to a RAW folder using the Canon EOS utility - files are stored in a folder by YYYY and then in a YYYY_MM_DD_DESCRIPTION_RAW subfolder
2) use Irfanview with the Canon RAW plugin to browse through the photos and quickly delete the terrible ones that weren't already deleted on-camera. I'd like to just use Picasa (since I use it later in the process), but RAW browsing is very slow compared to Irfanview. I'd also like to use Canon DPP, since I use it in the next step, but browsing with that software is really, really bad, so I stuck with Irfanview.
3) open RAW photos in Canon DPP and make my adjustments for White Balance, brightness (exposure), cropping, picture style, etc . . . do final delete/culls on the ones that don't make the cut. I use the copy/paste recipe function as much as possible during this stage. I save the modified RAW metadata when finished with my edits. I'd like some way to embed custom information into the files, but I have only figured out how to add my name w/ the EOS utility.
4) use the bulk rename tool in Canon DPP to rename the RAW files YYYY-MM-DD_XXXX.cr2 in sequential order since many photos were likely deleted
5) do a batch conversion of the RAW files to JPEG/quality 7 - use the same filenames and folder structure but store the photos in the My Pictures folder, which only has JPEGs. Files are stored in YYYY ==> YYYY_MM_DD_DESCRIPTION folders and are named YYYY-MM-DD_XXXX.jpg, which corresponds to their RAW names in the RAW folder.
6) open Picasa, which monitors the My Pictures folder (but not the RAW folder), and add a location and description to the folders, some individual photo captions if desired, and maybe some B/W, Sepia, or other goofy effects or edits
6) run a robocopy script that mirrors the RAW and My Pictures folders to my desktop computer (I do editing on my laptop since it is much newer and faster). This syncs Picasa on both computers and since I don't use albums in Picasa, it gets everything important to me (folder and photo descriptions, edits, and stars). At somepoint, I will have to get a larger hard drive on the desktop or either stop mirroring the RAW folder.
5) Upload the JPEG folder to Smugmug using whatever method I'm experimenting with at the moment. I have not settled on the best way to do this yet. Photos are organized in categories by YYYY and then YYYY_MM_DD_DESCRIPTON albums with brief descriptions. The Picasa uploader will not add these descriptions for me, nor will it let me use pre-saved gallery options - which is a bummer or I would use it for everything.
Whew - that's about it. I do all of this junk every time I take pictures. What a pain!
I am an engineer learning photography, so I tend to be meticulous about my procedures.Comments? Suggestions? Therapy recommendations?
- Jason
0
Comments
Breathe in, breathe out.
I used to have a similar process, though I did it through Photoshop CS3. I'd drag (browsing to the CF card, no utility. I find it's faster that way) my CR2s to a -RAW- folder within an appropriately named directory (e.g. P:/Vault/Travel/French Polynesia (2007)/-RAW-), and then drag 20 pictures at a time into Photoshop (the memory management in Photoshop is terrible, so doing many more than 20 seemed to bog me down after a few sets).
I must note that I generally bracket +/-1 stop on every shot. I'd cull the incorrect exposures and bad photos within the Camera RAW workbench, and then move on the the next 20.
When that was done, I'd start again, 20 at a time, making my adjustments. I'd find the right WB for a given situation and apply it to all applicable photos. I'd play with the black point, saturation, vibrance, etc.. When done, I'd write everything out to .DNG files (which store the RAW image, the original settings, and my post processing) and delete the .CR2s. In batch, I export everything to JPEG up one level (e.g. P:/Vault/Travel/French Polynesia (2007)
I'd then drag my new photos to an external hard drive for backup.
Breathe in, breathe out.
I recently started using Lightroom, and it is pretty good (it has some annoyances), but I mainly like the fact that I can load up hundreds or thousands of RAW exposures at a time (at least, I can see PREVIEWS of that many), and that greatly simplifys the culling process. I have access to all the Camera RAW functions for post processing.
If I had to make one recommendation, it would be to give Lightroom a look.
Jason
I do not see anything in your process for adding meta data to you photos such as ratings, locations, keywords, copyright information, or personal identification (which may be critiical given the orphan works issue).
If you only take a few pictures it may not be an issue but if you like to shoot a lot of pictures you'll hit a critical mass where having some sort of rating/keyword scheme is worth the trouble.
I hit that critcal mass about two years ago and still have not figured it out......
When you start adding ratings/keywords, then picasa falls apart. The Picasa "star" rating is compatible with nothing, it does not recognize IPTC core 1-5 ratings from other programs such as lightroom, and the implementation of IPTC keywords is non-standard/braindead (try to enter CTRL K and enter a keyword such as Swimming Pool, or Fourth of July, or San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and see what you get).
But picasa is fast, works with raw jpeg, video, and uploads nicely to smug-mug. The program is so close to being great, it's too bad it's been years since google showed it any significant love.
For the first culling phase I've started to use something called fast picture viewer http://www.fastpictureviewer.com it's faster even than picasa, does 100/300 % zoom and looks beatiful in full screen. Unfortunately they want you to pay $$$$ for the version that does RAW but for JPEG the program is free. One nice thing about fast picture viewer (besides being fast) is that it will do Adobe/xmp compatible ratings and color labels.
Peter Krough has a nice book on Digital Asset management (DAM). He's wrapped around a few products which limits some of the usefulness of his DAM book but the basic concepts he talks about are sound. Here's a little writeup he did on keywords and ratings:
http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2006/02/24/keywords-and-metadata.html
A more colorful PDF can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/articles/ch2.aspx
There is some debate as to what the best long term archival format is. Adobe is pushing DNG.
I'd save my jpgs at higher quality than 7
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Lightroom does look quite nice, but it is $300 that I simply don't have right now - especially given that I just dropped over a grand on this new camera.
Who knew that this hobby was so $$$. My other hobby, building custom golf clubs, can get pretty $$$ also - but I think that this one has it beat since I already have the basic tools to do the clubmaking stuff.
- Jason
I am interesting in the information you have presented, especially now that I'm getting up there with the amount of photos I have stored on my computers. This year, I finally took the time to organize everything by year/date/description and add some Picasa folder descriptions. However, I'm less than pleased with how the Picasa stuff ports over to other applications and to Smugmug. I really would like to know how these things will pan out in 10, 20, and 50 years. I have not used any keywords or IPTC stuff (not even sure what that is), but I'd like to learn more.
Currently, I use the search function in Picasa to search for words in my folder descriptions and individual photo captions. It works pretty well for that, but only within Picasa.
- Jason
You are exactly right - $$$ is the issue. I have a 2 month old baby and supporting a new hobby is not as high on the list as it could be. There are also some essential photography items (more lenses, external flash, extra memory and battery) that I need to get before I spend money on software. As of now, I only have the 28-135mm kit lens, one 4gb memory card, and an Adorama Slinger bag as "extras" (well I have a $10 wal mart tripod as well).
Regarding the JPEG quality, I have zoomed into the photos very deeply and could not find a difference between 7 and 10. Perhaps I am missing something, but I enjoy the much smaller file size of the Q7 photos and can't tell what I'm missing out on.
- Jason
But what you are disposing of is the possibility of larger prints in the future and further image editing. What you throw away to get to level 7'ssmaller size, is gone forever, unless you save a copy in a higher quality setting.
Just a thought. I have images from 5-7 years ago, that I wish I had shot in RAW and saved now that I know better how to process them. Image editing just keeps getting better with the passage of time, so be careful what you dispose of now. You may miss it in the future.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
I think you underestimate the value of good software. Most adobe programs have free 30 day trials. check it out. almost every picture can be improved--the exposure is not quite right, the color balance is not quite right, the cropping can be improved. Adobe also has student discounts if you have a student in your world.
Nice thing about photography is you can make money at it. I am upgrading my gear out of money made in photography
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This is something that I still can't wrap my brain around. My understanding of exposure is that it is a product of the "triangle" of ISO+Shutter Speed+Fstop. However, when I edit my RAW files in the Canon Digital Photo Professional software, there is a slider on the RAW tab called "brightness" that many folks refer to as being the same as "exposure". Also, from some Adobe screenshots I see where you are supposed to be able to adjust exposure on RAW files from within their software. What gives here? Obviously, magic elves aren't going back in time to change the camera settings at the time of the exposure.
When I have my camera in Av mode, and I do an EV compensation - I figure that the camera fudges the calculated shutter speed from the light meter reading to make the photo a little brighter or darker. Same with being in Tv mode, I thought that the camera fudged the calculated apeture value to make the photo brighter or darker. I don't see how the software "exposure" settings can do this - so they must be doing something else.
Perhaps there is a thread on this somewhere.
- Jason
that magic elves can't take a really bad shot and make it great, but they can take a shot that pretty far off and make it usable, and can take a shot that is almost and make it spot on. Of course, you are always better off getting it right in the camera. ACR gives you the opportunity to lighten just the shadows, just the highlights, or overall.
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