Digital Workflow

[Roger]

I am still figuring my own digital workflow out, so I was curious to see if any of you digital shooters have some good tips on this issue.

I shoot JPG large, so no RAW conversion step for me yet, since I'm still saving for Photoshop CS.

I usually only apply a little USM, play with the levels a bit (contrast, brightness and color) and save one high resolution and one web resolution file.

I guess that's it for my workflow.  I think the RAW factor would add a lot of work/tinkering.  Or is that not the case?

Roger

[Tonyz]

RAW adds as much workflow as you want.  It can be just a simple conversion or you can spend hours tweaking the image in the conversion before making it a TIFF/Jpeg and playing with it in PS.

For a Jpeg image I will (assuming it is for computer viewing...)

Bring it into PS.
Depending on the shot I may create a duplicate layer and then select the dup.  I will then mask out the subject, eliminating the background.  I will then resize to 1024x...and apply USM until I am satisfyed.  I then bring back the background in the original layer.  If I am happy with the way it all looks I flatten the image.  Then I go in and apply levels etc till I am happy.

If I am going to print I leave out the resize.

[M.M.]

Tony, for the benefit of those of us who have yet to leap (or stumble, depending) into the digital unknown, could you estimate how much time it takes you to perform the actions described for one photo?

I realize it may be hardware dependent, so you may want to mention what system you have.

Thanks,

-M.M.

[Tonyz]

Provided I don't have to do lots of tweaking to the photo I would say about 10 minutes for a photo to go from the RAW image to ready to display on the computer.   On occasion I will spend more time, but by and large if a photo needs that much work I don't find it worth playing with.

For the quick and easy, such as many of the ISAP shots I put up here, I spent just a minute or so resizing and maybe a touch of USM.  At 600 pixels wide and saved for the web you can get away with a pretty crappy photo.  

The most time consuming thing for me is masking the airplane if there is a complex background.

I don't really find a difference in systems in the time it takes to process.   My old system was a 900 mhz Gateway and I have upgraded to a 2.2 gig Hp/Compaq.   The biggest diffeerence is in the speed that Photoshop operates at.  But it is actually the difference between a minute and 20 seconds....

Tony

[Roger]

Tony, what's your method of masking out the background plus, why do you mask out the background?

Roger

[Tonyz]

I make a new duplicate layer, hide the original layer and then use a combination of tools to eliminate the background as much as possible.  Then I sharpen that layer until I have it where I want it.  Then flatten the image.

Just applying sharpening to the airplane makes it "jump out" of the background.  (have to be careful not to over do it...)  It also keeps you from sharpening parts of the background that you don't want sharp.

While I have not done it you can also take out the airplane and then apply blur etc to the background to make it stand out....sort of like panning blur.

[Roger]

While I have not done it you can also take out the airplane and then apply blur etc to the background to make it stand out....sort of like panning blur.

That goes a little too far IMHO...  I like to keep the shot as original as I can while preparing it for web use.  Sharpening, levels and cropping are the only tools I use.

I have no experience with preparing for printing yet, since most of the flying shots are way to small for print.  I have to crop too much away to get the subject full frame, which works for web use but leaves too little resolution for print.

Roger

[Sagar Pathak]

I have just started to really get into this as well and would love to have some of the more experinced photogs write up an article on this very subject.

I personally do just what you do Roger.  A lil tweaking here and there, save it as the largest jpg possible for any printing, and then resize it at 300dpi for web stuff.  But I would love to know more specifics as to what you others use.  

~Sagar

[tvrphoto]

Just FYI, I'm trying to put together something fro Roger to post.  Although the Symposium hinted on digital workflow, many of the pros in the industry are in the position as the rest of us.  After taking what I learned, I spoke to a friend who's a Beta tester for Adobe PhotoShop, he pretty much filled in the blanks.

I'll get something together ASAP, though I'm sure for many of you, shooting style and post production techniques will remain the same with few minor exceptions.

[Tonyz]

I think the line used by one of the people at ISAP was "it is like drinking from a fire hose."
It can be a bit daunting at times.

[Photogal]

I never took so many notes in my life... even in collage!