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Home: Video University Forums: Digital Photography for Videographers:
A RAW workflow..for those with lots of files

jt53787
Novice

Dec 6, 2005, 3:32 PM

Post #1 of 2 (436 views)
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A RAW workflow..for those with lots of files	Can't Post

This is just My RAW workflow...not THE Definitive RAW workflow.

This workflow requires that you have Photoshop CS2 and Bridge(comes with CS2)

I do all of my RAW editing in Bridge.

First off, Setting your Camera RAW Defaults.
I use the default settings for all of my outdoor shots.

Open one image in Camera RAW.
Setting should be set at:

'Adjust' tab:
Exposure: Auto
Shadows: Auto
Brightness: Auto
Contrast: Auto
Saturation: 0 (feel free to bring this up if you usually like them more saturated)

'Detail' tab: Leave as is
'Lens': (adjust this if you wish, my settings are..)
Vignetting:
-Amount: -80
-Midpoint: 37

'Curve': Medium Contrast
'Calibrate': ACR

Oh, I also make sure before saving the raw settings that the 'workflow settings' (bottom of camera raw dialog box) are set to:
Space: sRGB
Depth: 8-big
Size: I bump my images up one setting (I'm on 6MP though, D70)
Resolution: Mine is set at 240 by default, but i'm sure 300 is good too. (not sure if it makes a difference)

Ok, now right above all of these settings is a small arrow. Click it and choose "Save new Camera RAW Default"

This will now be the default setting applied to RAW files when they are opened.

Now for an Indoor Setting:
Everything is the same except:
'Adjust'
Exposure: Unchecked (don't move the slider)

Click the same small arrow button and choose "Save settings..."
name it 'Indoor Settings' and make sure it is saving it to the 'settings' folder. (it should by default). Click Save.

Ok, now click 'cancel' in the camera RAW dialog.

So when bridge builds your thumbnails it will now use the 'Camera RAW defaults' that you saved to create the thumbnails.

Next step is to select all of your indoor shots in Bridge and then ctrl-click (right click on windows) the selected files and you should see 'Indoor Settings' listed in the menu (if not try restarting Bridge). This will apply these settings to all of those files.

Now make sure to clear your cache (Tools>Cache>Purge cache for this folder) so that it will delete the old thumbnails that it built and now use your settings (auto and indoor) to create the thumbnails.

This should set you up as a good starting place to start fine tuning your RAW images. Go through and adjust the ones you need to adjust and delete if you wish.

Then once you're done you can save them all to jpegs using the image processor option (Tools>Photoshop>Image processor) You can choose the folder you want to save the jpegs in and set your image quality (10 for me) and you can have it apply an action if you wish. I have mine apply an unsharpen filter action that I have recorded in actions.

From this point I delete down to the final files I want and rename them all as I wish.
Then I sort out into event category folder for pictage (my first folder is 01_FAVORITES, which would be empty at this point)
Then I view each folder in Bridge and copy (not move) my favorite images to the 01_Favorites folder. (Usually 60-80 favorites from entire day)
These are usually the only files that I actually open and work with in Photoshop. I make these files look spectacular since these are most likely the ones that will be ordered.

Once I'm done with those I upload the entire event and backup all of the jpegs to DVDs and hard drives.

Once Bridge builds all of the thumbnails (with indoor settings applied to indoor shots) at the beginning step then I can usually crank through 250-300 shots per hour.

WOW...I'm sure I missed a few things, but I hope that helps you out.

This doesn't cover going back and fine tuning shots. I'm hoping you already know how to do all of that. If not let me know.

I hope to create a short video tutorial that covers all of these steps visually. You'll have to give me some time to pull that off though.

JT

Jefferson Todd Photography
http://www.jeffersontodd.com

Jeko
Enthusiast

Dec 6, 2005, 10:05 PM

Post #2 of 2 (421 views)
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Re: [jt53787] A RAW workflow..for those with lots of files [In reply to]	Can't Post

My RAW processing is only when needed. I usually use them for fine portraiture and large prints.... as I market towards digital albums, these are less frequent. However, I thank you for the guidance, and a fine starting point. This will be quite helpful when my CS2 arrives in a few days....

After initial review I do see two things I wonder about though, based on a link I think Daremo posted before regarding the use of RAW ("why to shoot raw..."):

1. Are you using an 8-bit color depth for your RAWs? I think one of the advantages of RAW is that you can use the 16-bit. This vastly increases the number of colors available.

2. sRGB setting. If I am not mistaken, this is a more limiting color depth than the aRGB. May warrant a bit more investigation as it may be color limiting as above.

Jeko

Sony VX2100's, iRivers, M-audio 24/96, Canon 5Ds/20Ds (and too much glass), Vegas6, PhotoShop CS3, Lightroom, etc.