I forgot to mention a few things:

I shoot everything in RAW format and all settings (WB, ISO, Shutter, etc.) is done Manual. (I shoot with a D3 primarily.)

When I said raw, I meant "raw as in unedited straight out of the camera" images.

Sorry if I caused any confusion.

Hello all. I thought I'd chime in on my method of workflow.

Day of event:

Sync camera times.

Shoot event; delete trash photos on the fly when possible.

At event upload into Aperture on Macbook Pro and on to two Western Digital 1TB portable hard drives. (3 copies of raw images at this point.) If possible upload every 75-100 images.

Delete card. (Usually I won't unless absolutely necessary. I do not count this as a copy of the images.)

Home process:

Export from Aperture the event on to two more Western Digital 2TB hard drives. (5 copies of raw images now.)

Edit in Aperture basic tweaks.

Export onto the last two 2TB drives and delete the raw images on one drive only. That way only the keepers are one of drives and then the second drive has both raw and keepers.

Edit in Photoshop CS4.

Again refresh the two 2TB drives.

Burn 4 separate DVDs. Here are where they go. 1-On site copy. 2-Client copy. 3-Off site copy (safe deposit box at bank) 4-On site safe.

Upload keeper images onto Windows Skydrive (free). 1 account is always for my business. Then make an account with password to give client for immediate viewing and download once payment is delivered.

Delete raw images from the first two 1TB portable drives and delete CF cards if not already done.

Delete project from Macbook Pro.

My workflow (using Photoshop CS4 or CS5) is to bring in the RAW images as smart objects, and whatever sharpening is needed becomes a smart filter. Colour edits if needed are done in camera raw, otherwise, I've preset white balance. It's a habit I've had for a long time. Although auto-white-balance in the cameras works better these days, I never trust it, I manage that myself for predictable results.

If I need to edit contrast, I just drag the black/exposure sliders while holding ALT. You can see when detail is blown out or too dark quite easily.

Dust spots, if I need to do anything with them is simply adjusting the black slider in Camera Raw to around 50 or 60, and then dragging the image about in a circular motion (100% size). Dust spots are easy to see like that - and you can then use the dust removal tool in camera raw to get rid of them, and then reset the black slider when you've finished. But generally I don't have too much problems with dust - I keep the sensors clean with blowers or otherwise, for nasty dust spots, I'll clean it properly the same way Nikon does themselves. It's not too hard - just scary the first time.

I don't normally need to do much editing of my images in Photoshop - they are pretty good right out of the camera. And I hate editing things in Photoshop - it's a time consuming but necessary evil and I'd prefer it takes as little time as possible.

Even better, Vall, is how you can highlight multiple photos in develop and sync all or part of the settings to all of the selected photos. Here's a list of tips/shortcuts I wrote to one of my friends who was just starting with Lightroom:
D to go to the develop window
G to go to the library window
L to cycle through light dimming settings
F to cycle through window settings (fill, I guess)
shift+Tab show/hide all menus
1-5 rate picture
Use the target button for hue/saturation/lightness: you click on the target, then click and drag up or down on a pixel of the color you want to change.
Use the dropper for white balance by clicking on a gray spot on the image after picking up the dropper.
hold down alt as you sharpen to see the sharpening in black and white. Also (one of my favorite features), hold it down while changing the sharpening mask to see what you're actually masking from the sharpen.
to sync settings, you highlight a group with the one that has been edited superselected (if that's the word I want), then click "Sync..." at the bottom and choose which settings to sync.

Thanks a lot for all the info, really useful clues here! (yeah, digging out the old topics)

Do you keep profiles for shooting condidions (for example, you often shoot concert lights, in a specific place - still lightning conditions, etc?

I just shot a family party and are digging through the RAWs slowly.One thing I found great in Lightroom is that you can actually copy your develop settings and paste them to another photo. Then just tweak the settings you need and you're done!

Very informative. Thanks!

NikoDoby said:
Like, Zoinks Scoob!

[jonny rolls eyes]
Yes, lightroom should be plenty, especially the production version that corrects geometric distortion (the beta already corrects CA).

DxO: and I would have gotten away with it, Niko, if it weren't for you meddlin' kids. (couldn't help myself)

Welcome to the forum, scooby.

Like, Zoinks Scoob! You don't need to run every photo through DXO. Lightroom alone will do just fine. Download the free Lightroom 3 Beta and try it for yourself.

Well I haven't started a "work flow" per say but I am wondering what people would think about the following:

1. Use NX2 to open the files and adjust any camera settings that I might have messed up then transport to LR 3
2. Use LR to finish processing and have DXO as a plug in to correct lens and chromatic problems (according to DXO website it can be used like a plug in but would love to hear from someone that uses this setup).

My question is if DXO is used as a plug-in to LR will it have all the features or will I miss something. Am I better off using NX2, send to DXO, then finish with LR. My main question would be if DXO can open the file that NX2 has put out. Maybe I am thinking to hard but any advice it appreciated.

It is a process I prefer more to simply downloading CF cards, jonny, and while I don't particularly enjoy doing the darkroom work nearly as much as I do shooting my film, it still gives me a little bit of a connection with my photographs :)

I have to admit that reading your workflow makes me think I'm missing some kind of connection to my photos, Chris. It makes me nostalgic for working with slides on a light table with my dad as a kid. If I am ever filthy rich, maybe I'll buy a darkroom, etc. (not for chromes, probably... ;-)

My workflow is as follows:

If black and white, process exposed film myself in suitable chemistry (Acufine or DD-X for pushing, D-76 for standard, Perceptol for pulling and ultra fine grain) , if color, take it to CRC for either E6 or C41 processing.

get back chromes/negs

evaluate them on a good light table, outline promising frames in red china marker on the printfile sleeve or on the contact sheet if I've bothered to make one.

make work-prints on 5x7 RC paper/ make decent scans of selected frames, perform any color correction or contrast balancing in PS.

digital:
If destined for digital printing, save out full size tiff file at roughly 6000x4000px for 35mm, or larger for medium format, if intended for web use, resize long edge to 1920, high-pass sharpening, upload.

traditional:
evaluate work print, make variations on other 5x7s, pick the best work print for upscaling into an 8x10 or 11x14 finished print

if on RC, adjust f-stop timing to suit the new enlargement size, perform any dodging and burning necessary which has been predetermined by work prints, and dev,stop,fix,wash,dry. Then mount or file in archive.

if on fibre, adjust the f-stop timing, dodge, burn, slight edge burn, dev, stop, fix, wash, fix, final wash, toner, final rinse/dry. flatten and mount, done.

Hmm... $100 is quite a lot, let me play around with Photoshop a bit longer and let's take a look in a bit.

Thanks a lot!

I processed it in LR3beta2 (I have to say that I'm on my laptop outside, so I wasn't sure I could see it very well. It looks like Pete's to me):

I'll bet LR3 will be out next month (June) and it's only $100 for students.

Just google nik dfine to find it. It's $100, though, and yes it's a PS/LR/aperture plugin. Try the noise reduction sliders in lightroom beta 3 v2. It's free and it's pretty impressive.

Thanks a lot for the tips and the critique guys.

How exactly do I get DFine? Is it a plugin for Photoshop?

have to agree with our Golde Child, that it would look nice after cropping - use the 16:9 format, w/o changing the base - it would look very good

If you do this again, your lens is very sharp at f2 this and at that distance I think your DOF would still be OK. This would allow a lower ISO setting.

Just bought the lens, like the lens actually

Pete

Yup, this is NYC, from up on top of the Empire State Building. I shot this photo from the 86th floor. I also went up to the 102nd floor. Although the view is wonderful up there, keep in mind that you will be shooting through glass- it's fully enclosed, unlike the 86th floor. But the 86th floor, there's also a lot more people, and it was incredibly windy, another reason for the high ISO.

RAW + jpg would be a good idea, but it's a slow camera as it is.

Yes, I used a high ISO because I had to shoot hand held- also because I screwed up- I left auto ISO on, and it picked 3200. That was a bad mistake. I tried to prop the camera against the railings as it is.

Cropping out the sky sounds like a great idea, but wouldn't that end up in a weirdly shaped photo that would end up more like a panoramic photo?

One more thing- any recommendations on lenses? A long zoom would be nice. The one bad thing is that they don't allow tripods. I took this with a 35mm 1.8 at F/4.5.

Still need to learn a lot about Photoshop, thanks a lot for your comments!

NSXType-R said:
Yeah, I need serious help with work flow.

I just started editing my first batch of RAW photos the other day, culminating in a grand total of just one total edited file.

I first converted the RAW to JPG, looked through them to see what I liked and didn't like, and then edited it with Camera RAW.

I am using Photoshop CS2.

On the plus side, I liked the results. The minus side- I took nighttime shots with a D40 and it came out incredibly noisy.

Great picture, here is after a bit of dfine work

Pete

A little more advice... ;-)

I'd shoot ISO 200 unless that's a problem (for example, if you're shooting handheld). I think the sky could be mostly cropped out, as well. And if you dial in exposure compensation, try positive before negative—it doesn't matter if you get clipping on some of the lights.

NSX - shoot RAW+JPG, You will skip one time consuming part of converting to jpg's as for the rest, use noise ninja or any other photo to remove noise (as it's very visible on Your photo), You can also play a little bit with colors (as most of the times noise is reddish, so just try to minimize the red color saturation), as for this particular photo, get rid of the white dot (center - right, on the sky), apart from that nice composition (that's NYC?, ain't it?)

Yeah, I need serious help with work flow.

I just started editing my first batch of RAW photos the other day, culminating in a grand total of just one total edited file.

I first converted the RAW to JPG, looked through them to see what I liked and didn't like, and then edited it with Camera RAW.

I am using Photoshop CS2.

On the plus side, I liked the results. The minus side- I took nighttime shots with a D40 and it came out incredibly noisy.

dayum johnny, that's time consuming. but hey, if you're getting paid then it makes it worthwhile.

as for someone who doesn't get paid:

shoot event, gathering, whatev
dump on computer into library -> year -> YYYY-MM-DD Event name folder with copyright info
reject (x) bad shots, flag good shots (or if a hierarchy of good to real good is needed, ill sometimes use 3, 4 and 5 stars)
clear rejected photos
process good shots
-CA is a big annoyance to me and always gets fixed on the photos i really like
add keywords (if i'm smart)
export to show off :P

View NX to Pshop Cs3